An Overnighter in Yakima

Good morning, my friends. We're back from our little get-away to Yakima, Washington. Saying it was a get-away makes it sound like we were on a little vacation jaunt, but we were actually delivering our truck camper to the manufacturer there for some work on its slides. We'd taken it to the local dealer where we bought it. After a week or so of nothing from them, Mike called to see what was going on. When they sounded as if they didn't know what the heck they were doing, Mike told them to stop all work, and we took it back to its birthplace instead. Fortunately, the folks at Adventurer were friendly and spoke competently. We felt we'd left it in good hands when the "main guy" said, "Whatever it is, we'll make it right." That was all we wanted to hear.

So I have some pictures to show you. I didn't start taking pictures until we crossed the bridge near Goldendale, Washington. We drive through the Columbia Gorge so frequently, it has ceased to hold much magic for us. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful area. With all the rain we've had, there was lots of water flowing over Multnomah Falls.

It's been many years since we visited Yakima. We were there in 1979 for a wedding. I don't remember anything about it, except that it was a long drive. Crossing the bridge, we were up and over. I was looking for the "Welcome to Washington" sign, but it didn't appear until well after we'd crossed over, and I was busy taking pictures of something else by then.

Looking east, this is the Columbia River.

We were very lucky with the weather this trip. It was cold, but sunny. After days of rain, it was a nice weather interlude. We don't often see the Columbia Gorge from the Washington side. Looking back, I took this picture through my window. Sorry for the reflections.

And here...now what's this? It's Washington's replica of Stonehenge! I had no idea this was here! 

So we filed that away to stop on our return trip. Weird. Who knew?

After that, we still had a couple of hours' drive to reach Yakima. We dropped off the camper, and then got some lunch. It was still an hour before we could check into our motel, and so we took a little tour of some of the area quilt shops. (Mike napped in the truck while I shopped.) Our first stop was The Quilter's Cafe.

Here's how it looked as I walked through the front door.

Neither of the shops I visited inspired me to take many pictures. For one thing, there were women coming in and out and chatting with the women working there. It makes me uncomfortable in a small space since they obviously knew one another, and were talking about personal things. I always feel very conspicuous in that kind of atmosphere, as if I'm being rude, eavesdropping on a private conversation.

I ended up choosing this fabric for my regional print. Yakima was originally the home of the indigenous Yakama tribe, and so this seemed like a good choice.

Moving on, and just a few blocks away, we visited Sandy's Sewing Center. 

It was the same story there, and there was a group congregated near the front door. I took this next picture from the back corner. You can see it was kind of crowded in there.

This fabric tempted me mightily. Who remembers learning to write on paper that looked like this? I couldn't think of any possibilities for using it in a quilt, and so I passed it by. I'll probably regret this for the rest of my life.

There wasn't much fabric in either of these stores, and so I didn't spend a lot of time at either one. This framed wall-hanging caught my eye. It was behind glass; thus, the reflections.

There was some really pretty thread work in this piece. My current challenge piece will involve a lot of thread work, and so I'm paying attention to any I see right now.

There weren't really any good regional prints in this shop, but I ended up purchasing a yard of this one. It will work as a back for my current challenge piece. I can't say why, but trust me...it's a good choice.

These shops were small and uninspiring, and so I'm not going to write separate blog posts about them. Yakima isn't a large town, and there are four quilt shops there. I visited just these two, but I think I have more fabric in my own sewing room than I found in either of these shops. To quote Dennis Weaver as McCloud: "No brag, just fact." (Please tell me you're old enough to remember Dennis Weaver playing McCloud. Bonus points if you can remember when he played Marshall Dillon's sidekick, Chester, in Gunsmoke. And here's a fun fact: his nephew, Chris, went to the same high school as Mike and me.)

Okay, so by that time we were able to check into our motel for the night. We'd been driving all day, and we'd had a big lunch. We were both ready for naps. It's been such a long time since we've stayed in a motel. The room was nice, clean, and it had a comfortable bed and pillows. I've always liked the crisp clean feel of the sheets in a motel room, and the fluffy white towels. On the other hand, this life-size objet d'art was hanging on the wall above the bed. Is this creepy, or is it just me?

We headed for home the next day. Of course, eventually, we'll make this trip again to pick up the camper once it's fixed. My friend Tina told us about this little White House Cafe as a place for breakfast and lunch, and it seemed like an overnight trip deserved a breakfast better than Egg McMuffin. So thanks, Tina. It was worth a stop. Here's how it looks from the outside.

It was fricking cold and breezy, and so we didn't stay outside for long. On a warmer day, I might have liked strolling around the place. There were lots of little fun doodads sitting around, including this little table top greenhouse.

There was a nice outdoor dining area, but it was too cold to consider that. Instead, we ate inside. There was a gift shop off to the right of the front door. See the quilts sitting on the ladder suspended from the ceiling? They were vintage quilts, all hand quilted. And there was a lot of other fun stuff to see here.

So we had a nice breakfast in their cozy dining room, and then headed for home. Along the way, we saw Mt. Rainier. It isn't often we see it from this side.

We passed through the little town of Toppenish. It calls itself the "City of Murals."

The chamber of commerce website explains it thus: "The idea was formed when state seed money was distributed to small communities in correspondence with the State of Washington's centennial celebration. A group gathered and brainstormed the idea of historical murals and hosted the first annual MURAL-IN-A-DAY event in which an entire wall sized mural is painted in one day by a dozen or more artists. Since the first mural was completed, a Mural Society was formed and the organization has completed 78 additional murals, including  a single  mural in a day each year on the first Saturday in June. Hundreds gather to come and watch paint dry."

Okay...so what fun! It's like a giant-sized version of barn quilts, although I didn't notice any quilts in any of the murals. We stopped off to photograph this one:

My shadow self was so excited about this!

There's a key and a map pdf located right here. Perusing the pdf, I was able to identify this mural as #51, "All Aboard" depicting the busy Toppenish Depot nearly 100 years ago. There are strict guidelines for each mural and the criteria is that they must be historically accurate from 1840-ish to 1940-ish and also be historically accurate to the area. 

Here's another one we saw as we drove by. It was large, and I couldn't fit the whole thing in a single image. If I'm not mistaken, this one depicts The Marion Drain, depicting the work on a flood control project to prevent the Yakima River from flooding the Yakama Indian Reservation.

When we come back for the camper, I'd like to spend more time here and see more of the murals. The painting of murals didn't begin until 1989, which was a full ten years after our one and only trip through the town. It was all new to us, and it would be fun to see more of it.

Okay, so on we traveled. You know you're approaching Oregon when Mt. Hood comes into view.

There were a few barns nearing Goldendale, Washington, just across the river from Oregon.

This next one was kind of interesting. There are actually two structures there with a space about one yard wide between them.

We'd already decided to stop off at the Stonehenge replica to see what it was all about. From there, we had a fabulous view of the Columbia Gorge, looking west. You can see Mt. Hood in the upper right hand corner of the image below.

You can read more about this right here.

As it turns out, it is a World War I memorial to the veterans from Klickitat County who lost their lives in the great war (if any war can be called "great").

In the middle was a large alter stone where folks had stacked rocks and left little messages. It appears aliens have visited this site.

Here's another example. 

And except for that little dash of humor, this is a somber place.

Wikipedia tells us that it "was the first monument in the United States to honor the dead of World War I – specifically, soldiers from Klickitat County, Washington, who had died in the then-ongoing war. The altar stone is placed to be aligned with sunrise on the summer solstice.

There are name plates with the names of those who were from Klickitat County.

Following the then-prevalent interpretation of ancient Stonehenge, the promoter, Sam Hill, thought that the original monument had been used as a sacrificial site. He was a Quaker and concluding there was a parallel between the loss of life in WWI and the sacrifices at ancient Stonehenge, he set out to build a replica on the cliffs of the Columbia as a reminder of those sacrifices and the “incredible folly” of the war.

Guided by leading authorities on archaeology, astronomy, and engineering, Hill combined their knowledge to duplicate, as nearly as possible, the original size and design of the ancient Neolithic ruin in England. The original idea was to use local stone. When the rock proved unsatisfactory, Hill decided to use reinforced concrete. The rough, hand-hewn looking texture was created by lining the wooden forms with crumpled tin.

Here, we could see Mt. Hood through the pillars.

The monument is located within the former site of the town of Maryhill; the town later burned down, leaving only the concrete replica standing. . . . A second formal dedication of the monument took place on its completion on 30 May 1929. Sam Hill died in 1931, but lived long enough to see the re-installation of his Stonehenge replica completed.

On June 8, 1918 a total eclipse of the sun was predicted, with the best viewing point in the vicinity of Goldendale, Washington. Consequently, some of the best astronomers of the day were in Klickitat County. Professor Campbell, of Lick Observatory at the University of California, agreed to fix the position of the altar stone. 

Unlike the ancient Stonehenge, it is aligned to the astronomical horizon rather than the actual midsummer sunrise. This results in a three degree difference from the original structure. Combined with a five degree difference in latitude and the manner in which the surrounding hills obscure the actual horizon, Stonehenge Memorial is difficult to use as an astronomical calendar.

Here is a picture of the plaque explaining the memorial. I believe the scratched out word there is "Memorializing," and so I'm not sure why someone felt it necessary to scratch it out.

Okay...so that was interesting. When we were too cold to stay any longer, we headed across the river and back into Oregon for the drive home.

When we arrived, I found a surprise package from my quilting fairy godmother, Ila. She sent me another box of beautiful threads. Thank you, Ila.

I've been looking for a particular thread color that I want to use in my challenge quilt. That one I've marked with an arrow, is exactly what I'm looking for.

The kitties were in fine fettle when we arrived. They wanted to go outside immediately. It's a little chilly for them these days, and so they never stay out more than about 10 minutes. Then, Smitty helped me unpack my suitcase. Suitcases are an unfamiliar sight here at the Three Cats Ranch. He had to get inside and see what this was all about.

And that's all I have to tell you about our trip. We packed a lot into a short period of time.

Today I'll be happy to get back to my sewing. I have a small housekeeping chore to do, but I'm also heading out for my monthly pedicure. (It's been a busy week.) I need to pick up a couple of items at the grocery store, and so I don't expect to get at my sewing until late this afternoon. Fortunately, tomorrow is a free day.