Duvall - "The River" runs through it!

Last night we stopped for dinner at the Armadillo BBQ in Duvall. We - well I should say I like BBQ, Chris will eat it because he loves me, and he said yes to eating at the newly opened Armadillo BBQ last night because he loves me. The Armadillo BBQ was located in downtown Woodinville until about 5 years ago when the building they were in was torn down to widen the road into Woodinville. While I appreciate the widening, I regretted that we'd not be able to eat there on the rare occasions I would ask for BBQ. From there they moved to their catering kitchen, closing their doors to the public until they lost that lease about a year ago. A month or two ago the location in Duvall became available and they opened their doors last week. Hows that for convoluted???

While I love their food, part of what makes eating there so good is the, irreverent, atmosphere. First of all there is the motto: We strive for adequacy. The music is supplied by an old portable turn table that one of the guys replaces the current record for another record from their vintage selection. This is one of those "bus your own dishes" kinda places. I think they'd have peanut shells on the floor if it didn't take away from their BBQ duties. Then there is the attitude of the guys who have been creating the amazing food for the last 20 years. Last night we split a half chicken, pork ribs and beef ribs. For sides I got Chris corn muffins so fresh he said they were hard to hold, with LOTS of honey, and for myself, an ear of roasted corn. Normally I like my corn drowning in butter and salt, and maybe some pepper. As that wasn't an option, I dunked it in BBQ sauce. They make the BEST BBQ sauce. They have it delivered in a 55 gallon drum.

After dinner we walked down to City Hall where they had closed off the street for a street dance. Duvall is celebrating. After 9 months of construction, today was the "baptism", to quote the local paper, of the newly remodeled portion of HWY 203 that runs through Duvall. In that time, water pipes have been replaced, power lines have been buried, sidewalks widened, medians placed in the middle of the road and all types of aesthetics added to the 1/2 mile strip. In today's ceremony, this strip was being "christened", again from official descriptions, "The River". All of the banners, tree guards, new benches, concrete stamping and theme of the remodel had this theme of the river running through it. No pun intended. Last night street dance started off the celebration. And the local band selected to play - Free Rain. We had a great time dancing with friends old and new.

I had my camera and took some photos. I found some flowers to take shots of, they'll be on Flickr later this week, but here are some dance shots and a portion of one of the wood banners:

These 2 couples showed up the rest of us. They cut a good rug!

Free Rain!

This is one of 10 banners that now hang from poles staggered on either side of this road. This one depicts the story of the local Indian tribes that lived here.