Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Eastern Washington

On March 22 and 23 we were in eastern Washington to visit our handicapped son and celebrate his birthday.  We drove there through the night and so did not have opportunity to take any pictures.  We probably would not have gotten many pictures in any case since the weather was terrible and the passes and roads very bad.  On the way home, however, the weather was changing and we had beautiful skies and some sunshine.  We had gone by way of Interstate 90 and Snoqualmie Pass, but went home by way of State Highway 2 and Stevens Pass.  Highway 2 winds through the irrigated farmland of eastern Washington before crossing the Columbia River and crossing the North Cascades.  We love traveling through this area because of the many abandoned homesteads and old buildings and barns along the way.  The land is still intensively farmed, but the smaller farms have disappeared and only the abandoned buildings remain.


















After negotiating Stevens Pass, stopping once for pictures, and after fighting rush hour traffic north of Seattle, we arrived home to clear skies and a setting sun which had turned Mount Baker to gold.



4 comments:

Julie Ali said...

Hi Ron,
What a gorgeous church! These sorts of churches occur all over Quebec and along the Gaspésie coast (see this link:http://www.tourisme-gaspesie.com/accueil.html). I love old broken down nag buildings as much as you and your wife do--it has something to do with the patina and richness of their history and "experiences". I sometimes feel like that collapsed building (the third picture before the last) and as faded paint as all of their exterior siding!

The X picture--with the landscape behind it --is very graphic--did you pick up on the sign or was it just serendipity that got that X in the photograph?

The countryside you are in is almost as beautiful as Alberta and Quebec--almost but not as beautiful.

Julie

Ron said...

Hi Julie,

We'll let you think that Alberta and Quebec are as beautiful as Washington - you're Canadian, after all. As to the old buildings, our travels are sometimes rather slow because we stop for every old building. Our trip back from eastern Washington should be about six and a half hours but took us over eight hours.

The "x" in the picture is an old fence post and it was deliberately included to add some foreground. Didn't realize, though, that it looks a bit odd with a big "x".

Regards,
Ron

Upupaepops said...

Oh Ron , I swoon. You know how I feel about eastern WA. I love the high lonesome buildings and fields shots.

I pondered heading over to the Waterville area but snows are threatening the next few day and I don't want to fight the avalanche patrol

Heading to the beach

Ron said...

Thanks, Marti. We use every trip to Spokane to see more of eastern Washington, if the weather is halfway decent. It has a beauty that really grows on you and becomes compelling.