by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
Spent a few days last week in wonderful Hood River, Oregon. Always a great getaway to enjoy food and shopping. This trip I stumbled upon another fabulous treasure – Foothills Yarn & Cascade Alpacas, a true treat.
Happened upon their listing on the www.hoodriver.org shopping site while doing my normal pre-shopping recon the day before I left. Through the magic of their website I learned I could drive 10 minutes South of Hood River and find not only alpaca yarn, but alpacas too!
Imagine my joy when there were baby alpacas. Toured the shop and bought some alpaca yarn and socks, then went outside to feed the alpacas and take photos. Also learned about resident cats Knit and Purl. Think I met Purl.
It was a great visit and a gorgeous view from the alpaca paddock or whatever you call that enclosure. On their web site I learned about the William Shatner connection. Seems one owner flew to Los Angeles this past summer to be interviewed by William Shatner for a book he is writing entitled, “Hire Yourself.” The book is for people beyond age 55 who are out of work.
The Foothills Yarn and Cascade Alpaca husband and wife team decided to start the business after 50. It is an amazing place. So while the alpacas might look like really big fluffy tribbles, they are real. Can’t wait to read Shatner’s book and see what all is in his interview.
As writers we hire ourselves every time we write. Maybe if we looked at our craft that way, we might have a better feeling about our “writer job.” One of the fabulous things about writing is you can do it for as long as you can make the computer keys move or talk into a digital recorder or computer software program.
Even if you are knitting with alpaca yarn!
See a video about the farm here:
Interesting animals. Got a kick out of the way they use their long neck to steer when they run! I’ll be looking for Shatner’s book too.