Raving Amicks

To celebrate the end of my 30th rotation around the sun, I invited some friends to Crawfish King in the International District last Saturday. I’d never been there before, but a friend from work whose culinary taste and skill I admire recommended it. I’ve been to Crab Pot and had a good time, but this place makes Crab Pot look like Sizzler. Anyway, we got crawfish and sauce all over ourselves and it was fantastic.

Even before we ordered food, my friends had perched a cardboard box of unusual size upon the table. After navigating (with assistance) the styrofoam puzzle within, an incredible form emerged: two chicks at the same time.

The statue was purchased from a strange store in Leavenworth that appears to specialize almost exclusively in naughty statues. Our favorite is a busty pirate named “Trixie”, but she is also life-sized and requires some creative engineering to fit on a coffee table. My drinking buddies understandably opted for the table-top version.

I’m sure Mindy is reevaluating our relationship accordingly. ^^

More than a month ago, Tyler, some friends, and I went to the first weekend of Leavenworth’s Oktoberfest. Most places in the US have one weekend of festivities, but not Leavenworth. They have three weekends because they are just that much greater than the rest of the US.

Almost anything goes at this Oktoberfest, too. It’s not like the boring Seattle one where people just get drunk and pee in the open. No, people here take it the next level. They wear lederhosen and dirndls (both fake and authentic), or random costumes like beer kegs and pirates. The more “subdued” people stick to funky hats that may or may not have anything to do with Oktoberfest, beer, or Germany. Case in point: Tyler picked up a “rice picker” hat to wear.

The six of us (Elaine, Chris, Vlad, and Lam—whom I think the Amicks have all met by now) had a lot of fun. We originally had two rooms in the same hotel, but Elaine and Chris had a bunch of crazy army guys in the room next to theirs and couldn’t sleep. So we carried their mattress complete with sheets and covers into our ridiculously huge room the second night and the six of us had one giant slumber party. Our ridiculously huge room also had a ridiculously spacious bathroom and an awesome balcony that overlooked the main street. That awesome balcony was most definitely the best spot in all of Leavenworth to watch the Saturday Oktoberfest parade that goes along Front Street and ends at the mayor’s Ceremonial Keg Tapping.

There is talk of going again next year, maybe the week after we go to the real Oktoberfest in Munich.