Odessa or Bust?

Today I am leaving for Odessa to attend my Uncle's funeral. While the sadness of the loss lingers, I am a bit excited to see the family. We have a pretty large family, and as most families, we tend to get together for funerals and weddings. To give you an idea of how large our family is, my grandfather was one of 12 kids. And all those kids had multiple kids, and so on and so on.

The family lived in a small town called Irby, Washington. Irby consisted of a couple houses, a grain elevator, and a post office. Its about 11 miles West of Odessa. My folks have their "summer" home in Odessa. I laugh at the "summer" home part since most people associate a summer home as a place of refuge, a vacation destination, if you will. Odessa, really isn't that place.

By the grace of the internet, Odessa has its own website. I almost spit my coffee out when I saw it. It has a fantastic photo of the town, so you can truly see the small town-ness of it. And I have to say, considering what I know about Odessa, its a pretty nice website for that sleepy town.

On the photo of Odessa, you'll see a huge white grain elevator next to a big metal building. To the right and slightly behind that grain elevator is where my parents "summer" home sits. And if a website isn't enough, the internet provided me with a town MAP. X marks the spot of the family summer home. Note: no water around. In fact, mom and dad have a great view off their front deck of a...gravel pit. Literally. A 4-5 story high gravel mountain. Oh, the glory of Odessa.

Now don't get me wrong, this .8 square mile little town does have its charms. It has some oddness to it too. For example, its the land that Starbucks forgot. Not a single Starbucks anywhere. They do, now - finally, have a DRIVE THROUGH espresso stand. And by drive through, I mean you don't have to get out of your car. Unlike the drive IN burger place, where you do have to get out of your car.

The Wraspir family has been a main family in Odessa for years. Our GREAT GREAT grandparents settled there from Bohemia. And some family has never left. Its where my dad grew up. Its where my brothers and I spent summers there. Its a family town. Its just not my kind of town. Its small, quaint, and way too quiet.

Though my last visit there I was shocked and stunned to see they have a brewery too. A brewery! With pretty darn good beer too I might add. I'll take dad down there this weekend maybe for a birthday drink.

Well, I'm signing off to head East. Wish me luck. Oh and the best part about this trip, mom and dad weren't planning on returning quite so soon to Odessa, well and so sudden, so we won't have any running water in the house. It'll be like camping. Oh goody!