Across Washington in the Winter

This post is for all our non-Washingtonian friends. Every time Heather and I drive across Washington between the Seattle and Spokane areas, we wish we could bring all our friends from other places to show them what our state is like. Of course, we assume you would all actually want to come. This time, as we were driving back from my parents' house in Newport to Seattle, I decided to photo-document the five-to-eight-hour, 320 mile drive. Imagine that you are riding along with Heather, Ginger, and me, as I drone on about each interesting landmark or geological feature. Please try not to fall asleep, as this will be very interesting and educational. After all, you're getting the condensed version!

Feel free to click on any images you find particularly pleasing to see them at a higher resolution.

We woke up in Newport to fresh snow, so Heather had to clear off the driveway with my parents' snowblower. She truly lives for this experience.

Newport is at about 2500 feet (762 meters) above sea level, and there are hills and coniferous trees. The drive from Newport to Spokane, south on Highway 2, takes about an hour.


We pass Diamond Lake, which is frozen over, and the building where my church used to meet, originally Rogers High School, and now for many years the Diamond Lake Grange.


Heather handles snow driving expertly, but some situations are more difficult than others (British friends: the 'lorry' you see in this picture is actually called a 'truck'. The second image features a 'snow plow').


We drive through Spokane, then out on Interstate 90, past the trees into the center of Washington.


The center, which includes such wonderful areas as the Columbia Basin (technically a much larger area), the Palouse, and the Channeled Scablands, is mostly flat with rolling hills or plateaus, and gets less precipitation than the western side of Washington, lying in the rain shadow of the Cascades.



The town of Moses Lake – the lake is also frozen over.


Next, we approach the mighty Columbia River, which flows down the middle of the state, then goes down to form the Oregon border. Driving down into the Columbia Gorge:


The Columbia Gorge is a very windy place, and a large wind farm was recently built on the west side, at Ryegrass.


The land gets a little more hilly, and we approach Ellensburg, the home of Central Washington University and about 600 fast food restaurants aimed at travelers halfway across the state (British friends: after returning from Glasgow, Heather and I had a very hard time remembering how to pronounce Ellensburg properly--hard 'g'!).


Hey!


Now we are starting to climb into the Cascade Range of mountains - to most Washingtonians, the border between Eastern and Western Washington (completely ignoring Central!). Not a very good day to photograph them, but I tried anyway.


Going over Snoqualmie Pass, traffic was reduced to one lane because of an overturned tanker truck. This added at least an hour to our trip, and we had to stop in the tunnel for a while.


Nighttime in the Cascades.


Then home to Seattle! Thanks for riding along. We'll do it again in the summer sometime, and give you a better look at the Cascades!

This cold country: walking

The Kelvin River and a defunct railway (can you spot the icicle?)

Sunset in the arboretum - Kelvin walkway

Man in the trees

content with my snowangel

snowy branches

This cold country

This is an accurate representation of the past few weeks here. As expected, even though there is less than an inch of actual snow (in Glasgow), everyone here is FREAKING OUT. Apparently there have only been 2 or 3 winters colder than this since they started keeping records in the early 1900's. So.. the council isn't exactly brilliant at keeping the roads and pavements/sidewalks safe. I, however, am thoroughly enjoying it, and MUCH prefer this to the incessant rain that is typical of this time of year. I've been walking to and from work, and a lot within work as usual, and yes, it is lovely to walk in the ice and snow. Give me ice and snow any day over pouring down rain.

I do have sympathy for the older folks though. Relying on buses and walking anywhere would be a bit more scary with aged bones and slower reaction times.

Looks like this will stay with us maybe even until we depart this cold country. We really will be moving to warmer climes! (Everyone here has been asking me if I'm glad to move to warm weather.. I think when most Scots think 'US' they think 'California' or 'Florida' and don't realise some parts of the US are similar in climate to here) (The other question I get asked is, 'do you have a job waiting for you there?' Anyone know how I can set it up so I have a job waiting for me? Please? Can one actually do that?!?)

Thanks to Jeanne for the photo!

Up North - Banchory, Aberdeenshire

Hello friends! As you may have surmised, our lives have been very busy, and blogging hasn't been on the top of our to-do list. Sometimes we really get caught up in the actual living that we neglect sharing our lives with others. Living itself really does take quite a lot of energy, doesn't it?

We have been so grateful for spring literally blossoming around us. It's now fully light when our alarms go off, and stays light long enough for us to forget to make dinner until 7pm. Wonderful! This week has been warm, I suppose it hasn't truly been over 60 Fahrenheit, but it has ironically felt like summer (My office, however, has actually been over 80 Fahrenheit). The cherry trees are blooming, and we've enjoyed a couple of bicycle rides. There's a lovely bike path next to the River Clyde that goes to Glasgow Green, a large green park just outside the City Centre. We rode there after work earlier in the week and really enjoyed getting some sunlight and exercise.


But what I really wanted to tell you about was our journey up north last weekend. We went up to Banchory, a small town in Aberdeenshire, to visit our good friend Michaela (there she is!). Michaela is a close friend here, who we feel mutually encouraged by and truly appreciate the time we get to spend with her. She is teaching up north just now, and so we bussed up and spent the weekend with her at her parents' house, with 2 adorable boxer dogs and sunshine. It was a bit like going back into winter, as you can see. We took a hillwalk up a local hill and were surrounded by snow and cold sunlight. We also went to the sea... which we love. To live on an island surrounded by the sea, it is a shame how difficult it is to get to see broad, open sea. Ah.. peace. Contemplative harmony with the world. I love the sea.

It was wonderful to catch up with Michaela, hear how she is doing in her life, and spending lots of time outside. The photos are from our hike up the hill (the snowy ones), and our walk by the sea, in Stonehaven. The castle is Dunottar. Nice, eh?

The promised photos

Here are some of the best pics from our trip back to Washington/Idaho. There are lots more we'd like to have from Moms and Dads, friends, etc! Please send them if you have any good ones. Especially ones of cats. We like those.

This is us in Newport, at Joel's house of youth. What beautiful snow!!


The Lokster (Loki)... how can something be so freaking adorable and at the same time so obnoxious??

My first experience with a snowblower was grand. I always loved mowing the lawn growing up, and this is similar, but has the fabulous snow chute thing. Awesome! I keep thinking there must be some use for the massive amount of excess snow around during the winter... someone has got to capitalise on this! I'll be coming up with ideas. If you have any I'd love to hear them.
This is a humongo danger icicle outside of Joel's Dad's classroom! It's like, thicker than YOU are! This is the kind that is caused by bad design, and causes further problems in the walls and ceilings. Nature conquers architecture! Mua ha ha...

*Thanks to D & T for the USB camera cord thingy.
**Here's more photos of our trip back to the states.