Ann finished her testing for Montessori certification on Friday and we left for Oregon on Monday. As usual we took the ‘slow road’ so we could stop and smell the roses and I could take pictures of the roses. We drove west of Kalispell on Highway 2, which may not sound like a ‘slow road’, but believe me….it’s slow.
The weather was crappy! Rain, and wind and gray skies! We didn’t get out to smell the flowers until we were in Idaho at the Moyie Springs bridge…the second tallest bridge in Idaho.
We stopped in the bustling tourist town of Sandpoint, ID for a break and to eat lunch. Now, along with the ‘slow road’ principle, we’ve recently adopted another technique and that is one of eating at local, rather than brand-name, food places…call them ‘Mom and Pop’ places or local favorites. They usually have much more interesting food and waitstaff and customers. At one of the shops we asked for such a place from the owner and headed that direction, weaving our way in and out of cute little shops, but not buying much of anything. To get to our place we had to walk clear to the other end of main street, but it was a neat little bistro. I had the ‘organic’ chicken tostada, which was good but had an interesting spice that I couldn’t identify. I don’t recall what Ann had.
We left Sandpoint after lunch and walking Yojii. About 30 miles outside of Sandpoint we were stopped in a line of cars, which extended in both directions, that were blocked by a serious accident between a small car and a belly-dump sort of semi-truck. The car lost. The engine was ripped out of the car and tossed into the bushes by the side of the road, but no one died! An incredible miracle in my mind.
Finally the rain started to clear, just about the time we arrived in Spokane.
The next day we drove to a wildlife refuge and were, for the most part, disappointed by it’s lack of wildlife. So we drove north to an area I was familiar with from my college days: Davenport, WA and Porcupine Bay NRA. A flood of memories filled my head as we drove. The summer after my first year of college I took a job as a lifeguard at Porcupine Bay, a part of the Coulee Dam National Recreation Area and shared a ‘surplus’ military style trailer with another guy named Dave Crosby or Cosby, from the dinky little town called Wilbur, Washington. Next to us lived the campground maintenance man, Joe Riddlington, from Coulee Dam…his dad was the MAYOR of Coulee Dam (I don’t know why, but that impressed the heck outta me…heh). The summer was filled with sun, girls, and water!
Porcupine Bay is nineteen miles north of Davenport, which is the heart of wheat growing country in Washington. It’s claim to fame: only one county produces more wheat than Lincoln county, of which Davenport is the county seat. It’s rolling hills are covered by MILES of wheat fields….and OLD BARNS.
So, once we left Porcupine Bay, we drove the backroads of Lincoln County looking for photography opportunities. I found that they are abundant.
The following day took us south of Spokane and into the Palouse Region of south-east Washington. The Palouse is a rich agricultural area of gentle rolling hills and green fields that have been the subject of many photographers. I’d only been through this area once before…three years ago…but it still held me in fascination and awe. One of the best ways to see the Palouse is from Steptoe Butte, which rises above the surrounding countryside, and is home to dozens of electronic antennae (which are just not that photogenic!).
Steptoe Butte
The Palouse Region of Washington (taken from Steptoe Butte)
A site we’d had to by-pass three years prior was Palouse Falls. The interesting thing about Palouse Falls is that it isn’t near anything….nothing. It’s in the middle of nothing but sagebrush and more sagebrush…you HAVE to be going to Palouse Falls to get there. Recently a crazy man paddled a kayak over the falls to break the world record descent in a kayak…184 feet! What makes people do that sort of thing???
We ate lunch at the falls in the shady picnic area they had there. Did I tell you that we were in the middle of nothing? It was hot too! Our trails in Glacier Park have warning signs that tell hikers the hazards of hiking that trail: Ursus Horribilus…aka Grizzly Bear. At Palouse Falls they had signs, near the toilets, telling of the RATTLESNAKE hazard! It said they FREQUENT the area! We didn’t stay long at Palouse Falls.
Near Walla Walla, well actually surrounding it, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of wind turbines. They line the canyon walls of the Snake and Columbia River gorges. As we neared Walla Walla, we found some interesting imagery of mustard fields and wind turbines and drove a road that we probably weren’t authorized to be on…but didn’t see the NO TRESPASSING sign until we were leaving the gated road…heh…plausible deniability works for more than politicians.
Once we were beyond Walla Walla, we joined with I-84 and were swept by the hordes of tourists into Portland and our idyllic day of meandering was at an end but made myself a promise to return and do a ‘study’ of the area and its old buildings and empty fields after the harvest.
Blessings,
D.
