R Scott Jones

Well, it finally happened.  It took her, well, nearly half a decade, but she did it.  Kim finally broke the 200 barrier in bowling.  The last of the original bowling crue to accomplish the feat, she did it in style, on the first game of the night.  She started with a 7-spare, but followed that up with five straight strikes–her first 5 bagger.  On our last bowling outing, she managed her first 4-bagger, but then proceeded to tank after a tough split.

This time was different however.  Even after missing a tough split in the 7th frame, she regrouped and followed with her 6th strike of the night.  Even better, she rose to the challenge and picked up a split in the 9th frame.  She needed just a few pins on the first roll in the tenth to break 200.  She striked again, and nearly again, finishing out the extra rolls with a 9-spare.

Looking up at the scoring monitor, her eyes lit up.  A 226.  Not only had she broken 200, but she shattered it.  And topped her previous high score by 30 points.

I’m very proud of her, and glad to see that she finally got the 200 monkey off her back.  Congrats, Kim!

Or, should I say, congrats Kim “226″ Parlee.

Kim and I took a few hours out this weekend and headed down to Florence to check out McFarland State Historic Park.  We’ve driven past it once before, and though it didn’t look like much, we decided to come back.  Well, it’s not much, but neither is the admisison charge.  The best part of the state park is definitely the building itself.  The first part you’ll see is the historic courthouse, which was in use for the first dozen or so years until a better courthouse was built elsewhere in Florence.  At that time, the building was turned into the county hospital.  The building, made of adobe and remodeled on several occasions, is on the historic register.  There’s not much more to the park beyond some small exhibits.  The largest one–by far–is devoted to the Florence POW camp that was located nearby during the second World War.  While we certainly weren’t overwhelmed, we did enjoy the hour or two we spent there.  Feel free to check out some of the pictures.