Raisinettes and Monoculture in George, Washington

Though quite happy in this new environment, surrounded by peers and given the opportunity to dip my toes in waters with new horizons and lower concentrations of dependence and security, I often found myself thinking inwardly of personal issues: those dealt with exhaustively in the past, though not entirely out of mind. So when my high school friend Adam (recently relocated to Bellingham, Washington, from Los Angeles) called me up on Tuesday to ask if I'd be interested in a two-day adventure to Eastern Washington in order to see the Dave Matthews Band in concert, I realized that not only was I being given the chance to see an amazing show, I was also being given the opportunity for a temporary respite from University life, during which I could examine my new situation from an outside perspective. I eagerly accepted his invitation, and by Thursday afternoon, I was driving eastward through the Cascades with Adam and his sister Jamie.

All of Thursday consisted of driving down randomly chosen highways and country roads, looking for a campsite. We eventually settled on a site in Alta Lake State Park, about 200 miles east of Seattle and 100 miles north of our eventual destination at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington ("the only city in the nation named after the full name of a president"). How we ended up at the campsite, I have no idea, but if you're ever driving through Eastern Washington looking for a campsite, settle on the first one that you find.

On Friday, we continued on our journey to the concert and reached our destination in the late afternoon. The show was amazing, the venue beautiful.

But as much as I would like to spend time on the intricate details of the trip and the concert, since this is a food blog, I'm going to use the rest of the post to relate to you my interaction with food throughout the trip. We subsisted mainly on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bananas, apples, Raisinettes, and tortilla chips. Healthy? Generally not. Organic? Not at all (Though the peanut butter was labeled "Natural," whatever that means). Quick and easy? Well, it has to be on a trip like that. Simple, tasty, most likely as a result of genetic engineering.

One of the most interesting aspects of the trip, for me at least, was the abundance of monoculture in the area around the venue. Fields upon fields of corn, green leafy vegetables, and other assorted produce. It was amazing to see what we've been discussing in class in real life. Monoculture is very real and incredibly prevalent. Though the pictures are slightly blurry and are literally only a snapshot of the bigger picture, you can see for yourself what monoculture actually looks like. Those huge metallic, spider-like machines featured in All Over Creation sat on every single field spraying water and (most likely) pesticides on the plants.

Everything about the trip was eye-opening and wondrous. I'm glad I was able to partake in such an endeavor through Washington so soon after my arrival.