This weekend, coming back from the coast, we saw a sign for a covered bridge. Since we were just meandering home anyway--our only appointment was to get to the Spirit Mountain Casino for lunch--we decided to check out one of the Bridges of Tilamook County. It was about a mile off the main highway, which was a good thing, because if it were any further, I'd have been pissed that we'd driven so far just to see a bridge that happened to have a roof over it. WHAT is up with the romance of those things? I don't even know why they were covered in the first place. Was it to keep the bridge dry? A safe haven for trolls? A use for left over lumber from last week's barn raisin'? There were some road workers there who looked at all the gawkers with bemusement--I'm sure they were thinking "look at all them there city folk lookin' at a stupid bridge." Now if they would build a covered walkway between my work and Taco Bell, THAT'S something I would marvel at and use all the time. That would fulfill all the reasons listed above: walkway dry--check (this IS the Northwest--moss even grows on CARS here); troll haven--check (you would not believe how many ugly people are walking around); excess lumber--check (we have to find uses for all the trees we clearcut here). Eh, who am I kidding? A covered walkway is just as likely to be built as our schools to be adequately funded!