The Palouse in Idaho

These are the last of the images from our trip last weekend.  Here's what we did after leaving Spokane.  

We traveled over to Coeur d'Alene on the Idaho side and drove down to Lewiston, Idaho, before crossing back into Washington.  Although I've shown this image before, I think it bears repeating for those unfamiliar with The Palouse.  Among the largest wheat-growing regions in the world, it is mainly located in Washington, but also extends into Idaho and Oregon at its eastern and southern edges.

But before I go on, as I was looking at my posts from last fall, I came across this next image

which was taken standing in almost exactly the same place as the image below. 

You can see the town of Colfax in the middle of both images.  Quite a difference between spring and fall, eh?

Moving on, Mike and I both noticed the absence of trees on the Washington side.  After all, Washington is the "Evergreen State", and so we believe this entire region was once covered with evergreens that have been systematically cleared as farming increased.  The Idaho side was remarkable for the fact that there are still trees in relative abundance.  This next image is only one example of what I'm talking about.

As always, there were picturesque farms all along the way.

Red barns on green fields are beautiful to this photographer's eye.

The undulating hills were less evident in Idaho, but the characteristic bands of greens, tans, and purples were still there.

There was a viewpoint from the highway as we approached Lewiston, Idaho.  It was a little hazy, but we were intrigued by this winding highway and the accompanying sign.

I'll let you read the sign for yourself.

Although the main highway continued on, we decided to take the winding road down into Lewiston, and then we crossed back over into Washington.  We backtracked a little ways before crossing into Oregon.  We stayed in Pendleton, Oregon for the last night of our trip.  Like Spokane, Pendleton is an old city, and the downtown portion was lined with historic buildings.

After riding in the car for most of the day, we got out and walked through some of the historic neighborhoods and the commercial district of downtown Pendleton.  There was almost an entire street of historic homes with signs explaining their pedigree and their architecture.  Here were two of my favorites.

Also, we did some window shopping.  It was Sunday and most everything was closed.  Mike thinks he's missing something while wake boarding in the summer.  He's in the market for some cowboy boots now to round out his wake boarding apparel.

Also...

And exactly what is the association between tattoos, piercing, and kitties?  

I ask because my own town of Newberg, Oregon, has this little gem of a shop that you see below:

Kitties with inquiring minds want to know.

We walked around for about an hour and a half, and then it was time for dinner.  There was a bit of a wait for a table...make that a *good* table.  They tried to seat us next to the kitchen, and I didn't want to be next to the noisy kitchen with wait staff rushing by every two seconds.  I'm getting cranky in my old age.  That was fine, we were happy to wait in the bar.  We don't often belly up to the bar like this, but sometimes it's fun.

I decided to order one of their specialty drinks off the menu and the first thing I laid eyes on was the Black Cherry Cosmopolitan.  I didn't look past the title of the drink, which was a good thing.  As you can see it contains bourbon, which is not to my liking.    Nevertheless, it was so good, that I took a picture of the ingredients so that we could try to recreate it at home.

Pretty, huh?

We were in a restaurant that was an addition to a historic building and we were advised by one of the locals to go down these stairs...

to see their beautiful wine cellar below.  What an inviting place.  Mike and I are wine enthusiasts, and so we were glad we took a peek.

At the top of the stairs was this sign.  Thank goodness because I hate having to use the outhouse.

I was wishing I'd taken my camera in with me because there were pictures of hunky men adorning the walls of the women's restroom.  

After having our dinner, we headed back to our hotel which was within walking distance.  The next day we headed for home.  We visited two quilt shops this day, and I'll tell you about them in separate posts.  For now, I need to get going to the grocery store or there will be no food for tonight's dinner.