Taking A Sunday Drive #8

The first time we set foot in Washington State it was just so we could say we'd been there in order to cross it off the list. We were on our way home from visiting Kari and Ken in Portland. They had told us about the Washington Stonehenge so we knew just where to go. We crossed the Columbia River on Hwy 97 toward Maryhill and followed the signs to Stonehenge Drive.

The Maryhill Stonehenge, made of concrete, was commissioned by businessman Samuel Hill as a memorial to Klickitat County soldiers who died in WWI. The full-scale replica of England's Stonehenge was completed in 1929.

The next time we visited Washington State was again on our way home from Portland in late September last year. This time we decided to take the Washington side of the Columbia River in order to see some new sights as well as hook up with I-90, the 'northern route' as we called it.

We left Kari & Ken's in morning rain. The clouds were hanging low over the Columbia River Gorge.

Phoca Rock seen from the Cape Horn overlook. This landmark was noted and named by Lewis and Clark during their Expedition (November, 1805). It has also been called 'Lone Rock' and 'Sentinel Rock'.

Not long past Cape Horn, the sun began to break through resulting in this rainbow seen out the back window as we drove down Hwy 14.

I believe this picture was taken near Wishram, WA, named for the Wishram tribe of Native Americans who once lived along this side of the Columbia. What the structure is on this little spit of rock I have no idea. I want it to be something to do with the Wishram descendants and their catching and drying of salmon.

Turned away from the river now and headed toward Yakima and then Spokane. Bud got this amazing view of Mount Rainier off in the distance.

No photos of the eastern side of Washington, the landscape of which is so very different than the western side. I could not help but think of one of my favorite reads.....

.....East Of The Mountains by David Guterson. I passed my copy of this book on to a classmate who lived in the area and reminded me of the book's protagonist. It is a book I plan to re-read after my next trip to the library.




There is an area of Washington I would still like to visit - again after reading about them - the San Juan Islands.

It is an area my son has talked of sailing. If there was any way I could afford it, after the year he has had vanquishing cancer, I would give Doug a trip to sail the San Juans. We'd make it a family adventure, picking Kari up in Portland and taking her along.