We quite often travel from one side of Washington to the other to visit family. It used to be a trip that was rushed and the drive was more often than not a trip straight through stopping only for gas. Coffee and food were bought at a drive through or the gas station where we were filling up. But a couple of things have changed. First, we got a dog that needed regular breaks from the road. Second, we got a Jeep that needed regular breaks from the road. Now, unless there is some pressing event taking place at one end or the other we take back roads and make stops at places that seem interesting to us. Here is just a sample from one such trip from our home near Seattle, WA to our hometown of Colville, WA, and then back again.
Make the jump to join us on a couple of the little side trips and stops we have made.
As we headed east past Vantage, WA, crossed the Columbia river, then headed up the hill we decided to follow one of the many roads we often see on the GPS that heads up a hill somewhere. At the end of this road, or rather, when we got to a "NO TRESPASSING" sign this is the view we found. It is literally up a hill, past a couple of cherry groves and grape vineyards and then into the open on the top of a hill. Open spaces and no people for miles. Perfect place to relax for a few minutes.
Emma is a Border Collie and wide open fields are her natural environment. When given the chance, running is what she does. Happiest dog in the world!
It is rather hard to catch a good photo of a happy and running dog. But I think you get the idea.
A few days later we headed back toward home taking one of the many back roads to navigate around Spokane. We chose the road not so much because of where it went, but it was a way we hadn't taken before. This one took us past a small park at the base of the Long Lake dam on the Spokane river.
Emma checking out the place as usual. In wooded places like this she doesn't spend as much time running, but she does like to explore. Lots of new smells to smell and birds to chase. And the occasional person who must be there just to pet her (much to the dismay of a local fisherman).
Flying around the end of the reservoir were a couple of bald eagles. Growing up we were always told how endangered these birds are. Now they are no longer endangered and they can be seen everywhere, but we still find it exciting to see them.
A few hours later into our return trip home we drove past this little abandoned house in a field. Seemed like as good an excuse as any to go have a look. There used to be many more houses and barns like this on just about any drive across the state, but it seems that people don't like to be reminded of a simpler time and most have fallen, been torn down, or burned down by vandals. Still, you can find them in a few places where they haven't been destroyed completely.
Making way for skylights? The roof has long since blown off, which is common in this area given the amount of wind here. Most disused barns and houses in this area are like this with half the roof missing.
The view out the bedroom window looking south. Nothing but farmland. There is a small community a couple miles west of here, but other than that, this house sits by itself on this farm. Could you imagine looking out any of the windows where you live to see this? Must be gorgeous in the late spring when everything turns green with the wheat waving in the wind like waves on an ocean.
This is where a garage or shop was located. Quite often you can find artifacts of the past in a foundation like this. When the house was abandoned everything gets taken. Either for sentimental value or dollar value, but almost nothing gets left. Garages, barns, and shops on the otherhand always seem to have remnants of the owners trade or what the building was used for. There were a couple of old oil cans, a gas can, a couple of rusted tools, a tire. Not much, but enough to show that whoever used this garage, cared for their car and probably did their own work on it instead of paying someone.
Emma checking on the new digs and taking a break from running in the fields.
Mountains far off to the west. Not much going on. Which I'm guessing the occupants of the house liked. Right now crops are just starting to pop out of the ground. Not much to be done other than work on the the farm equipment and pray the weather doesn't destroy your crop.
So this brings us to the end of the weekend trip to visit family. We will leave you with a few pictures of a sunset from Debbie's parents front porch. Don't forget to check out the rest of the pictures in our gallery linked to at the bottom.
Our
OneDrive Gallery of this trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment