Washington State

June 15, 2009

What a surprise! It is a short drive across the Idaho panhandle to Spokane. Once through the city you are in rural Washington, Gone are the rugged peaks of Montana and Idaho. The land opens up to rolling hillsides covered with agriculture. The growing season was in full swing with mile after mile of farm land. You could smell the alfalfa being mowed and bundled. We saw row after row of Quonset-type portable buildings full of hay. We loved the smell of it storing in the barn. Alfalfa is dessert for cattle, heaven help the person who gets between a longhorn bull and alfalfa! In one area the farmers even had signs on the fences to tell what was growing. We loved that. We thought Washington was just for apples-how very unenlightened of us.

About mid-state farm land plays out and hillsides become more rugged. Our next shock was a gorge that opened to reveal an amazing lake, deep blue with black cliffs dominating the sky. We crossed a beautiful, modern bridge on our way to another drastic topography change. We entered the forested tall mountains with plunging waterfalls and one lake after another. Our trip on I-90 was one jaw dropping experience after another.

NEXT TIME: STOP!