To state the obvious for PNW'ers, June-uary rain has been the order of every day lately so last weekend we decided we'd head for the rain shadow east of the Cascades to find some Vitamin D. We decided on Pullman as a destination (rare to see those two words so close to one another) via a scenic route defined only by two conditions 1) I wanted to drive some roads I've never driven before, and 2) Palouse Falls would be a required stop along the way.
After typical Friday afternoon stop-go traffic on 405, our progress steadied once eastbound on I-90. We hurdled over Snoqualmie Pass, stopped for a snack in Cle Elum, then took the Hwy 26 cutoff after crossing the Columbia (or, from the kids' perspective, watched three episodes of "Sponge Bob," two episodes of "Adventure Time," and half of "Despicable Me"). Instead of continuing eastbound on 26 we headed south along the Columbia on 243 (the start of my satisfying route condition #1).
We soon hung a left at what Google maps calls "Rd 24 SW" which put us in Mattawa, a small, sleepy town in a parched but fertile region cradling orchards, vineyards, and cropland. The unemployment rate seemed much lower here than in the rest of the country as evidenced by the many "Trabajos" signs posted along the highway.
East of Mattawa, Rd 24 SW is free of traffic and straight as an arrow for as far as can be seen so after a quick roadside pee-stop for Zach (especially quick after informing him that he was actually peeing on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation) I decided to test the high-speed handling of our 2006 Honda Odyssey. No, I'm not proud to drive a minivan but I don't want to hear smack-talk from any of you minivan haters out there until you've driven a 2006 Odyssey with 103K miles on it at 102 mph on a high desert road (while the kids watch Sponge Bob on the rear entertainment system). And, at 102 mph our tach was only at 3500 RPM so I could've pushed it much further…but my dad instincts kicked in at that point.
At the end of Hwy 24, we navigated a shortcut just south of Othello through to Hwy 17. Agriculture still dominated the sight-seeing. We came to realize how important the extensive canal systems are to this arid region (although I'm guessing whatever local joe that removed the first "C" from the roadside "Canal Siphon System Project #76" sign probably did not appreciate their importance as much as we did).
Connell was the next town to approach and recede followed soon after by the turnoff to Palouse Falls State Park. Palouse Falls is probably the most underrated waterfall in the Western U.S. (and maybe even the galaxy). The fact that a waterfall exists amongst this stark, rolling, arid scrub-land is astonishing in itself. But, after passing the gate to the park, we were believers once again upon catching sight of the deep horseshoe-shaped bowl and the roaring rush of white water pouring into it.
So we stopped, dropped jaw at the first lookout point for a spell, then made our way around the ledge-hugging pathway to the other lookouts. The kids chased the numerous, cliff-dwelling marmots and snapped pictures with their iPods while Amy and I read the viewpoint markers describing the ancient, great floods that carved this rugged and diverse landscape.
After departing Palouse Falls we made good time getting to Colfax and soon after found ourselves rolling into Pullman with a bit of daylight still left. We had dinner at Sella's (me: my standard "The Italian" calzone with a one-quart Mason jar of Hefeweizen) then checked into our motel for the night.
After the morning motel continental breakfast frenzy we headed for "The Dunes," the closest thing to a beach that WSU students have. It is a sandy slice of riverfront on the Snake River about 45 min outside of Pullman just past the Lower Granite Dam. Thanks to the terrorists (or our overreaction to them), the dam is gated at both ends and we had to show ID's prior to driving across.
We lucked out on the weather-front with partially sunny skies and comfortably warm temps and had the whole river shore to ourselves, an eerie experience as I was used to sharing the space with hundreds of fellow collegians back in the day. We explored a bit then waded out onto the sandbars where we found ourselves only knee deep in water even when over 100 yds from shore. Then, we hiked inland, climbed the largest dune, and did a little dune jumping.
We lucked out on the weather-front with partially sunny skies and comfortably warm temps and had the whole river shore to ourselves, an eerie experience as I was used to sharing the space with hundreds of fellow collegians back in the day. We explored a bit then waded out onto the sandbars where we found ourselves only knee deep in water even when over 100 yds from shore. Then, we hiked inland, climbed the largest dune, and did a little dune jumping.
We soon decided to yield our space to the younger groups that had slowly begun filtering in so piled into the van and hit the road once again. On the way back, on a whim, we decided to stop at the Lower Granite Dam visitor center and have a look around. Despite being the only people in the visitor's center, I asked the lady at the desk if she'd take us on the dam(n) tour. She reluctantly agreed. This lady was a trip. An Alice Cooper look-alike (in his better days if there ever were any), she adeptly gave the whole tour on a pair of crutches and spoke in a whisper-like voice despite the roar of turbines, spillways, or air conditioning units around us. She frequently reminded us that she had a headache. I think that she thought we were a bunch of rubes so wasn't too keen on giving us even the nickel-tour but she warmed some when she found out that I had an engineering background. Despite her quiet voice and perturbed demeanor, I still got a lot out of the tour but I think that the kids were bored as hell. Only their apparent fear of our guide kept them on point.
We rambled back into Pullman while listening to the occasional emergency broadcast radio alerts for the severe T-storms in the area (we never experienced the 60 mph winds and 50-cent piece sized hail, thank God) and had a late lunch at the Paradise Creek Brewery, located in the historic Pullman Post Office which I was happy to see being reused and revitalized (it was a movie theater when I was at WSU). I had sampled this brewery's beer at the Washington Brewers Festival a week before and was not all that impressed, but the selection I had here, Hop Hammer IPA, was excellent. I highly recommend it.
Sight-seeing in Pullman followed (again, two of those words don't normally belong together) including a stop at the Grizzly Bear center where we all got a kick out of getting up close and personal with the adult grizzlies and watching the young cubs play. We also checked out the Martin Stadium remodel which was quite impressive, especially for Pullman. The new addition more than doubles the size and height of the original south seating area. I have mixed feelings about the modernization and "ritz-ification" of Martin Stadium. I guess it's progress but I hope that the old-school, blue-collar, tight-community vibe is not lost. After an ice cream stop at Cougar Country, we headed east once again for a low-key night in Moscow, 7 miles and one state border from Pullman.
The trip home was quick and uneventful as we opted to take Hwy 26 only as far west as Washtucna before cutting up to I-90, the express way home.
Despite the lengthy windshield time, this was a great trip. Time seems to slow down a bit once east of the mountains so we felt as if we'd been gone a week instead of three days. The character of the coarse terrain of central Washington and the beauty of the fertile, rolling hills of the Palouse provided a much needed "spirit reset" for me as well.
