Smooth as a New Parking Lot!

We're doing land office business today! I'm not at all sure where that expression comes from or why it means that business is booming, but that's where we are today. It's kind of unusual for a Monday, but perhaps today's slightly cooler temperatures are encouraging people to venture forth. Whatever the reason, we're glad they chose us for visiting.

We work hard at reaching the public ... with a mission that demands that we engage in "...sharing the heritage..." it's our duty to bring artifacts (and their stories) and people together. How we do that is quite varied. First, our newsletter is sent either electronically or via 'snail mail' to our members. We also send out lots of news releases to various entities, including print, radio, and television. We try to reach travelers through our rack cards that appear in regional hotels/motels and B&Bs. We make appearances at community events like Farmers Market and the recent '4th of July in the Park.' We create posters that get distributed throughout the area. We take ads out in a variety of places. And for many folks, we keep up our web site and reach more folks with this blog.

Through it all, the one thing that reaches more people, at least in terms of where our visitors tell us they heard about the Museum is 'word of mouth.' I can testify that many of the people I meet at the Farmers Market tell me they have friends or relatives coming to town soon and they will likely bring those folks out to see the neighborhood treasure house. Many of our phone calls are folks asking us about our times of operation or rates of admission (10 am - 5 pm daily, April through October; $7/adults, $6/seniors (62+) and students, $3/ children 6-12, and FREE to members and kids under 6) because "my Dad's in town" or "my husband's family is visiting."

We also appreciate that unofficial cadre of ambassadors who help spread the good word by telling all theiur friends and family about the great time they had at Fort Walla Walla Museum. That amounts to a lot of people ... we are within three states (Kansas, West Virginia, and Mississippi) of receiving visitors from 50 states; last year we had a record 42 countries represented by our visiotrs. When people have a good time her, they often tell others. It never hurts to be from an excellent, friendly community, either.

Construction update: Last Friday the crew got our parking lot paved. Fresh blacktop looks pretty neat before anyone's driven on it and even before the lines are painted. Today's photos include (top to bottom) the smoothing of the black top; the first blacktop spread; John, Bunmee and their daughter Thaireen from Wales with their Walla Walla friend; Christina, baby Angel, Katherine & Kamika from Georgia; and Marc-Thomas & Urte with son Nicholas from Germany.

Here's something about blacktop, also known as asphalt, you may not know if you're much younger than me ... the term "tarmac," often heard when a person lands at an airport ... sometimes those greatly happy to be at the place will literally kiss the tarmac ... comes from an older expression, "tar macadam." John McAdam, a Scottish engineer/road builder, developed a process in 1816 now known as 'macadamization,' using crushed rock on a bed of larger rock to create a smooth surface and raised in the center for water run-off. It was the first major change in road construction since the days of the Roman Empire. In later years, an application of tar was used to bind it all together, thus tar macadam ... it was shortened to tarmac and is now used as a reference to any large, paved surface.