I was delighted to find that La Quinta had also gone the way of the DIY waffle station. Here, however, you were required to fill your own cup with batter, as opposed to having lots of premeasured cups at hand. I made a terrible miscalculation and ended up with only 3/4 of a waffle. Still, better than 0/4 waffle.
We were out of the parking lot at early dawn, and I carefully navigated us past icy patches in the gloaming. There was a bit of a…discussion prior to leaving concerning the apportioning of driver duties for the day, as foreshadowed ad nauseum in earlier posts. This left me grumpy and taciturn for most of the day.
Eastern Washington is largely ranch land, with some farms scattered here and there along the roadside. It is high desert, meaning that it is a desert environment at an elevated altitude. I was reminded of the lava fields of Hawai’i in some areas, as the rolling hills often appeared to be studded with rocks, such that a lot of work would need to be done before plowing was attempted. It was not the landscape that I expected, as I somehow thought that Washington was completely covered in temperate rainforest. That is only the column of land from the Seattle region on up North into BC.
The wind had picked up a lot by the time I turned the reins over to Jill. Even as the passenger, I could feel the car being affected by the gusts. The day was partly sunny, but we did go through some sprinkles and completely overcast areas. As we approached the Columbia River (which ends just west of Portland, OR) the landscape became more dramatically carved. These foothills are serious business. The river gorge itself was just spectacular. It’s a wide river, and the I-90 bridge offers a fantastic view, although I wondered if we were going to be blown off of the bridge.
After the Columbia River, the Cascades began. I kept checking the map to see how close we were to Snoqualmie. We didn’t speak much during this time, but we were both thinking of the same thing: what if something happens up there? Will we be stranded for a while? Is this place far removed from support services? What about Elaine, does she have enough x, y, and z to make it through a long stoppage?
Finally, we were about 10 miles from the pass. We drove under a huge system that was parked over the mountains, and our blue skies disappeared. A large electronic sign informed us that traction tires were required on the pass, and to expect slush and snow. We kept passing houses and trailer parks that were built near the freeway exits. A third lane opened up. We passed a building advertising towing services. And then…we were there, at the summit, and…and…and there was a ski lodge right at the top. It’s a freaking tourist destination!. Furthermore, there was no twisty curving or tricky driving. As Jill said, one could see that if there was a heavy snowfall, that it would need to be dealt with, but this was nothing compared with Idaho.
A few minutes after cresting the summit, we had come back out into the sunshine. We were about 40 minutes from Seattle.
We reached I-5 and headed north for home.
When we arrived, there was much jubilation. We also faced some unfortunate realities: the house was about 45 degrees inside, and we would be sleeping on the floor for at least two more nights. Still, we had arrived home – our OWN home – and we were ready to get started building our new lives.
However, before we could get started with that, a flock of enormous crows surged down from the trees and attacked us. They pecked and clawed and tore with their strong beaks, until we had succumbed to the inevitability of death. My last, red-stained sight in this world was seeing poor Elaine being almost lovingly carried off by a monstrous crow, about 8 feet from talons to tuft. I think they mean to raise here as a crow-girl. I'm sure she'll be very good at it, if she sets her mind to it.
Sorry that I didn't get any pictures of the crows.
High desert of Washington, approaching the Cascades
Finally!
Elaine's (and my) first ferry ride, as we head to Jill's cousins place at the Naval base in Bremerton, across the Sound
I hope your beds have arrived in the meantime!
ReplyDeleteYes, after our resurrections, and two nights on the floor we got our truck. We had help unloading it (3 guys for hire--totally worth it). I have at least OPENED all of the boxes, but we're still acquiring and assembling wardrobes and bookcases to house the stuff. Our living room will be empty for awhile, and we won't have a dining room table for awhile, so we haven't sorted out what rugs and pictures/art go where.
ReplyDeleteIn short, there's still a lot of work to do, and with Jill gone for most of the day, it is going very slowly.
3/4 of a waffle is WAY BETTER than 5/4 of a waffle, too, btw. They had these cast-iron workhorses in all the U of M dorms while I was there, and people would insist on filling the device until it *looked* full... leading to slimy, swampy leakage. *blech*
ReplyDelete