My schedule at work is such that the middle of the week is my weekend so I have to make the most of it each time it rolls around. So on Wednesday, I took the opportunity to drive on up to Longview to visit with my friend Ryan, check out a few stores, and see how my hometown decorates itself over the holiday season.
It was good to catch up with Ryan as I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years. We caught each other up on how our lives are going and discussed ministry as well. The venue for our meeting was the Intermission Coffeehouse on Ocean Beach Highway across from Fred Meyer (they took the old camera shop that was there and converted it into a really neat place). The people there were great and the food was awesome as well.
I must make a note that Intermission is a small piece of the revitalization of Longview. If you search my blog, you’ll find posts speaking of previous trips to Longview in which I had noted that the city is starting to revive itself in a sense again. I don’t live there and I don’t have a good pulse as to how things are on a day-to-day basis in L-town, but it has MUCH more to offer now than it did when I was growing up across the river. That is encouraging to me, and I’ve always maintained that someday I want to move back there. I don’t know why, but I do.
I was going to visit my grandmother’s gravesite at the Longview Memorial Gardens on Mount Solo, but I arrived shortly after the place had closed and was unable to find her grave by memory. I’ll head back next week and try to find it again.
The Three Rivers Mall is on a close deathwatch, as it has been for a few years now. It’s filled with chintzy mom-and-pop stores, the food court is 3/4 of the way empty, and the anchor stores are holding on because they have nowhere else to go. In an encouraging twist, The Father’s House church rents space inside the old Emporium each Sunday for their worship gatherings. Why I went to the mall I’m not sure…I guess I’m waiting for the time that old mall has the plug pulled from its life support system. It was only really good in the 90’s and once Emporium shut down, the mall never recovered.
I drove around Longview and Kelso looking for Christmas light displays and to my dismay, there were WAY fewer lights up than I remember. The economy sucks and people are penny-pinching, and if that means no Christmas lights then I guess that’s what’s gotta happen.
I also drove to the Kelso COGOP and thought very long and hard about attending their Wednesday night Bible study. I didn’t see anyone in the parking lot five minutes before 7 p.m. so I pulled away. I guess it would have been awkward if I were the only one there.
The weather was nasty all day, and it made it nearly impossible to get out and take photos. Especially so because my lens cap disappeared somehow.
It is really good to see Longview/Kelso getting back into decent shape, and I hope and pray good things for the people who live there. Especially my friends.
Nice post man. It is sad that the mall is dying. I remember going there when we were kids to do our Christmas shopping. As we got older, I remember a couple of time when we made our way to Washington Square.
Sorry that you didn’t get any pics. That is usually one of my favorite parts. You take really good pics bro.
Again, nice post, and we are missing you at home this Christmas Season. Maybe next year we will have a reunion of the Brewer Band Clan. Love ya!
That’s a great post man.
You seriously could write some articles on small towns for mags dude. You should try it sometime. Until then, don’t be smokin’ them cigarettes John Boy!