The Out-Of-Towners What Do Tourists Wonder About The Inland Northwest? Our Reporter Went On A Journey To Answer This Question At The Visitors Bureau

The fine folks at the Spokane Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau don’t know it.

But I’ve been doing their job for them.

There’s no money in it. But I like the work.

Let me explain. I often use the newspaper’s back door, which exits on Sprague. And it seems I’m always encountering tourists from, say, Iowa or Saskatchewan. I see them wandering around under the summer sun, looking lost. They’re trying to find the downtown Visitor Information Center, which happens to be hidden in the newspaper building.

So I try to rescue them. I slip into my secret identity, Mr. Friendly.

“Hi there! Help you find something?”

Confused tourists are easy to spot. They tend to resemble soap-opera amnesia victims in sandals. Many can be heard saying, “No, Jeremy, you stay in the car.”

Hey, it’s not easy being on vacation. So most people appreciate assistance, at least after they figure out that you’re not a panhandler or street preacher.

Some just want simple directions. Others ask about the odds that grizzlies will show them who fits where in the food chain.

One guy wondered if I had known Bing Crosby. (I said no, but added that I’d seen the Oscar he won for “Going My Way.”)

This has been going on for years. And it has been fun. I enjoy talking to travelers about where they’ve been and where they’re going.

In addition to that, there’s the simple pleasure of knowing I might single-handedly shape some stranger’s impression of our city.

But it looks as if yours truly is about to be out of a job. The visitors bureau has announced that it intends to find a better site for its downtown information center. So my days as a self-appointed sidewalk good will ambassador appear to be numbered.

With that in mind, I decided to say good-bye to the info center by hanging out there for a few hours one recent weekday morning. I wanted to see what happens when people somehow manage to find their way there without my help.

Loralee, Phyllis and Bob were staffing the place, a cozy but not claustrophobic room dominated by walls of brochures in racks.

When I arrived there, someone had just phoned the center and was trying to track down the nearest Mexican consulate.

At 9:20 a.m., a sixtyish guy from Boise in a soft, short-brimmed hat came through the open door.

“I found you,” he announced with a definite lack of cheerfulness.

He wanted to find out about bus tours of Spokane. And he just had to know what those big machines were that he could see through the windows outside.

Told they were newspaper presses, he declared that it was a dumb place for them.

I refrained from suggesting where else they might fit.

A few minutes later, a twentysomething couple in shorts came in, moving tentatively.

“We should know how to be at Riverside Park,” said the man, speaking with a strong accent.

Phyllis smiled and helped. And soon we all learned that they were from near Genoa, Italy, and were eventually headed for Grand Coulee Dam and then Vancouver, British Columbia.

They probably didn’t understand half of what Phyllis and Loralee told them. But one thing was certain. They knew that some people in Spokane, Washington, had been nice and had tried to assist them.

Plus they got some neat glossy brochures.

Before they left, the guy from Boise returned to complain about a map he had been given. Bob agreed that it was confusing and told him what he needed to know.

Then there was a lull in the walk-in traffic. But the phone kept ringing.

Some people wanted to know about the circus. Some wanted hotel/ motel rates.

One person wanted to know if you could take meat into Canada. Others must have called and essentially wondered aloud if there’s anything to do in Spokane.

That’s like lobbing one in slow and fat to a feared home-run hitter.

“We always have a lot going on in Spokane,” said Phyllis, practically chirping. “We’re up to date in Spokane.”

She went on to talk about the Everly Brothers and other upcoming concerts this summer.

Shortly after 10 a.m., four men in casual attire walked in. One had on a San Diego Padres T-shirt. Another wore a University of Kentucky Wildcats cap.

The youngest, probably in his early 20s, was in front. He carried a backpack. And he did the talking, his words dipped in a heavy German accent.

“We would like to drive to Calgary and would like to know what to see along the way,” he said.

Phyllis happily took on the challenge. Soon she was telling the men, who turned out to be Swiss, things like “Wallace is very interesting; it’s in Idaho.”

There was a lot of nodding and puzzled expressions. At one point, a member of the foursome tried out a fascinating new word: “Mahntahna.”

Phyllis, excited but under control, touted Glacier National Park. And she wanted to mention the Canadian national park just across the border from it. She tried and tried to remember its name. But she was blanking.

This was a job for Mr. Friendly.

“Waterton,” I said.

One of the Swiss guys smiled, and I started to tell him that I had gotten married there. But instead I just smiled back.

A few minutes later, they left with a bag full of brochures. And a woman from Hawaii came in looking for a Washington road map.

After she departed, map in hand, troubling questions popped into my head.

What about the people who have a hard time finding the info center without me? What were they doing? What if some road-weary family from North Dakota was stumbling around on the sidewalk right that second?

I said my good-byes and headed outside.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Staff illustration

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Manager regards some inquiries as definite keepers In addition to those who show up in person or call on the phone, a lot of tourists seek information from the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau by writing. Most such queries are fairly standard requests for details about attractions and accommodations. But some are special. They make it into visitor services manager Jenean Hughes’ keeper file. “We are thinking about going to look at Mount McKinley,” wrote Richard Diversey, a Chicago grade-schooler evidently not aware that the Alaska mountain is a long way from Spokane. “In my family there are 4 adults, 3 kids and 1 baby and 4 cats and the cats always travel with us to other states.” A 10-year-old girl in Provo, Utah, included in her letter that “our family is all girls except for my dad.” A written request from two North Carolina State University students concluded with, “If you can please help us out, we PROMISE to spend LOTS OF MONEY in Spokane.” A teenager writing from San Bernardino, Calif., added a friendly P.S. to his note: “I have a aunt that lives in Wanachy, Wa.” Some requests are quite specific, such as this one from two Spokane girls: “We wrote to ask you to please send us some brosures about local spas that you go and stay at for a couple nights, and you go and sit in spas and have back rubs and workout centers.” Kate M. Campbell of Snoqualmie, Wash., asked for help with a report she was doing for school: “I have chosen Spokane County for the topic of my social studies assignment. I chose it because I have a friend who moved there and she has changed a lot.” And then there’s the thank-you card from the family that accidentally left one of the kids at the bureau’s information center near the Idaho state line. They included a snapshot of the little girl, who was looked after by the center’s staff till her family returned. She’s smiling. Paul Turner