The Slice: Geographically speaking, she’s fairly close

Sometimes it’s all a matter of perspective.

Kay Connors and her husband were recently at a family reunion in New Mexico. “I ran into a woman in the hotel who, when she found out that we live in Coeur d’Alene, told us she went to the world’s fair in Coeur d’Alene.”

Connors said what anyone familiar with Expo ’74 would say: “Oh, you mean the Spokane world’s fair?”

But the geography genius she had encountered set her straight.

“She informed me that, although they called it that, it was really on the outskirts of Coeur d’Alene.”

OK, then. Thanks for clearing that up.

•John, Paul, George and Janelle: Janelle Baker listens to Beatles songs on her iPod while cleaning house. “I always sing along.”

But one of her cats hates it when she does that. “He howls at me until I stop,” she wrote. “And he is Siamese and when he howls it is loud.”

Everybody’s a critic.

•Speaking of the Fabs: Beatles magazines, dolls and cards were among the items readers recalled grade-school teachers confiscating.

Others had to surrender troll dolls, gum, a Super Ball, shoes, paperbacks and a Slinky.

Some of these items were returned, some weren’t.

•Home dam advantage: Not surprisingly, most responding readers said Grand Coulee Dam is more impressive than Hoover Dam.

•Spokane in lyrics: A well-established hip-hop group called A Tribe Called Quest has a number titled “Award Tour.” It includes a line listing the following place names: Chinatown, Spokane, London, Tokyo.

•Sunday quiz answer: Ray Tansy was among those who correctly identified Robert Saucier as the controversial operator of the Mars Hotel and casino. That downtown structure was destroyed by fire in 1999, a few months after Saucier declared bankruptcy and not long before he left town.

•Ridpath memory No. 1: Back in the fall of 1981, Vicky Frickle and her husband, Dan, were dining at the hotel before going to see Roger Whittaker in concert. During dinner, they recognized Whittaker himself seated not far away.

They timed their exit so that they could ride the elevator down with the singer. “He was so friendly and wonderful,” wrote Frickle.

•Slice answer: A Spokane Valley reader named JoAnn Gemmrig said the best corn dogs were the Pronto Pups at Natatorium Park.

•Today’s Slice question: If Washington had a fourth national park, where would it be and what would it be called?