What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Summer's coming to a close for me -- I'm headed back to Fresno this morning -- and it's been a great summer in Bridgeport, and though I've done a few entries along the way, I thought I'd share a bit more.

I worked at Ken's Sporting Goods all summer -- my big brother's store. There's a "hunting and fishing" side and a gift shop side, and I worked in the gift shop. These were a fun part of that ... can you tell what they are? This is Debbie, one of my parent's neighbors. Fishermen -- and women, obviously -- bring their fish into the store to be weighed and they sometimes leave them to display in a freezer outside, too. Jim takes pics of them and hangs some of them up in the store and also gives the customer a copy.
Jim also contracts with some guide services, one of which is Stay Bent. Rey Robles, Jr., the owner, also works at the store, and sometimes parks his boat out front. His website is www.staybentfishing.com if you want to check him out. He and his wife, Kat, brought Jolly Kone shakes to us one day at work, so of course, I'm a fan ...
Every morning when I opened, I'd see Rene across the street opening her place. She's an old friend, and it was fun hollering at her across the street as I set up a sidewalk sale each day.
We sell a lot of t-shirts, and my sis-in-law, Missy, did this window display before I got home.
The funny shirts tend to sell best, and a little raunch never hurt.

And my fave is the fish! Rainbows and browns, 17-inch or 10-inch. What more could a tiny fisherkid need?
Well, maybe a mallard or a chipmunk, too.
Of course, a lot of my time off was spent watching Lacey fly.
And visiting with friends was a key part of the summer, too. This is Amanda and Garth, friends from Southern Cal who come up to fish, at a barbecue at Buck and Ingrid's house (Locals -- Buck's a cowboy and Ingrid works for the Forest Service) -- they're displaying the rub Buck used. Yummy!
Jim and Lacey at the bbq.
Lacey, Missy, and Denise -- Garth's wife and Amanda's mom -- at the bbq, too.
And, as discussed earlier in an entry, these are the crags in the corner of the Valley, and most days, this is what they looked like from town.
But part of the summer, they looked like this ... smoke from fires all over the state. This smoke blew over in late summer from the Mariposa fires on the west side of Yosemite.
And this is the gumball machine outside the gift shop ... in case you didn't figure out the first pic was gumballs. I moved it outside each morning as I opened, and it was great watching kids and adults get gumballs each day. And listen to kids ask for gumballs to no avail ... come on, it's only a quarter!
I'm excited to get back over to Fresno to all my friends there and get settled again, as well as begin my new assignments at Fresno State. But I am also really going to miss Bridgeport. Can you blame me?