5/27/13

Home Again

We arrived home around 1:00 this afternoon.  We spent last night in Pendleton, OR, and it is a surprisingly quick trip home from there.  It is all interstate driving, and despite terrible weather, we made good time.  It was a wonderful trip...the best kind of traveling, in my humble opinion.  We had a general route in mind, but otherwise, no plans or reservations anywhere.  This is the route we took, and we drove a total of 1,064 miles.


Once we got past Walla Walla, we started seeing the characteristic undulating landscape of The Palouse.  Mike and I agreed that it is a landscape best seen from a moving car because as we passed by, it was as if the hills were in motion.  Still images really do not capture its vastness.  The wheat is about a foot tall at this point and everything is incredibly green.


There are wind farms in abundance dotting the landscape.


They are all the big 200 foot towers that turn relatively slowly, but generate a lot of power.  It's a very good place for wind energy.


Recall that when we visited The Palouse region last fall, it was just after the harvest and it looked like this:


Quite a contrast with the greens, purples, and tans we saw this time.






There are picturesque farms spread far and wide from one another.  


It's a very different lifestyle from the one we are accustomed to.  These folks live hours away from the largest cities.  The largest of them, Spokane, is small in comparison to Portland, and so it is as if progress has passed the area by.  Of course, there is much progress in the ways the land is managed, but there are no skyscrapers, and the buildings are from a different era.  Here is a typical site from Colfax, WA, where we spent our first night.


We had dinner at a restaurant next door to the Barktique dog grooming salon.  I knew you dog lovers would get a kick out of this place.


The next day we headed north from Colfax toward Spokane.  We stopped off first at Steptoe Butte where you can get above the landscape and really see it.  This image looks south.


In this next image, I zoomed in a little bit so that you could see the town of Colfax.


This next image looks west.


And the next one looks north toward Spokane.  The sky couldn't have been prettier with its puffy white clouds, and the shadows they cast made the landscape even more interesting.


From there, we drove north to Spokane.  I'll tell you more about Spokane in a separate post, and I have three quilt shops to tell you about.  For now, I'm going to stop.  But I wanted to show you the sign from the Wheatland Inn where we stayed the first night.  I loved this verse from John 4:35.


I'll tell you more tomorrow.  For now, there is unpacking to do, and we need to go over to Matthew's house so that I can pick up my car.  I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend.

20 comments:

Sherry said...

Thanks for sharing the beautiful scenery, glad you are hope safe.

Sheila said...

What a beautiful part of the world; thanks for sharing it with us.

WoolenSails said...

Your photos remind me of "America the beautiful".
I enjoyed taking your trip with you and seeing places that I doubt, I would see, otherwise.

Debbie

Cath said...

Stunning vistas and a lovely change from the America we normally see on TV from over here. Glad you had a safe trip.

Quilting Babcia said...

What a glorious landscape! I'd love to see it someday. So good that you returned before the rash of accidents that closed I-84 westbound tonight.

ytsmom said...

I've never been to your part of the country, but your pictures make me more determined to see it one day! Can't wait for further posts.

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

Many thanks for sharing the glorious sights of eastern northwestern usa. Truly picturesque.

Brown Family said...

I love taking trips like that! We usually have a destination in mind, but no plans on how to get there or how to get back!

Nan

quiltzyx said...

Beautiful!
When I took my road trip, I did the same - no reservations anywhere. When I started to get tired, I pulled out my Auto Club book & found a reasonable motel & got a room. I did stick to the bigger chain ones - Comfort Inn & Best Western - since I was on my own.
Thanks for sharing with us!

Lyndsey said...

Thank you for sharing Barbara. The countryside is beautiful and I love photo of Colfax, WA, it definitely looks a step back in time.It's like a lot of the smaller towns in the UK. Looking forward to the next instalment.

gpc said...

What beautiful landscape, and how wonderful to have had such a lovely road trip! :)

Dana Gaffney said...

Amazing! I couldn't stop looking at that sky.

Mary said...

What a beautiful trip. I loved all of your photos showing the landscapes. Thank you for sharing.

Dar said...

I've never been to your part of our great country, but loved seeing it through your eyes. One day I hope to get up that way. Beautiful vistas at every turn. Thanks for sharing.

Dogwood Lane Rambles said...

Thank you for the photo tour. I've never been to eastern Wash. and it's just wonderful, lonely and vast and beautiful.

Snoodles said...

Beautiful photos...glad you are home safely and had fun!

Kate said...

Beautiful landscapes! Thanks for sharing.

Jennifer Fulton Inquiring Quilter said...

So beautiful. Thanks for sharing the photos from your trip.

JanineMarie said...

What lovely photos!! I can see some real quilt inspiration in these!

Val's Quilting Studio said...

THank you for sharing your adventures with us. The old time pictures are especially enduring. WOuldn't it be fun to take quilt pictures in some of those spots:)