Hello, lovelies!
Well, at the conclusion of my adventures in Yellowstone, I had a decision to make: start backtracking to the East Coast, or press on for another 800 miles to the West Coast.
Upon consideration, I realized this was a ridiculous thing to be debating with myself. I’ve never seen the Pacific Ocean. I’m on a Great Trek. Duh.
Onwards it is, then.
I broke camp, packed up Parker once more, and set off in the general direction of Washington state.
I had only to exit Yellowstone; drive across Montana, Idaho, and the width of Washington; and remember to stop driving when I reached the Pacific shoreline.
Easy, peasy.
Thing is, Montana is the Pennsylvania of the West- mountainous and takes absolutely freaking forever to traverse the width of it. It was going to take me two days to reach the West Coast.
I set out from Yellowstone with fantasies of stopping that evening, getting a hotel room, and…
taking a shower.
I was filthy.
Montana observations
The eastern chunk of Montana looks very much like the western part of Wyoming, except grassier. Crossing the Continental Divide on I-90 was glorious- there were these huge rounded boulders and evergreen trees. This was the state where I started seeing chain up and chain removal areas. I really appreciate this Montana approach to wintertime interstate driving, as opposed to South Dakota’s hysterical closure signs. I can absolutely see how you’d never get up I-90 in the winter without chains on your tires, and these chain up/removal areas continued in Idaho and Washington.
I am sure Montana would have offered some lovely views, if I could have seen them. I spent the entire drive in thick haze, at least as thick as that pictured above. It seems the fires in California had sent smoke speeding all the way to Montana. It was like driving in fog, but my lungs were less fond of it.
About twenty miles from the border with Idaho, the land changed. Trees became more numerous and they were patently happier than those I saw in Yellowstone. The trees predominated over grass, actually. Driving the last few miles to the Idaho border is one big uphill haul, preceded by another chain up area.
Idaho observations
Idaho was full of trees and fairly mountainous, the panhandle bit that I went through, anyways.
Look, the panhandle bit is all of 70 miles across along the I-90 corridor, all right?
Not entirely sure why it isn’t just part of Montana.
A taste of civilization
I reached Washington and realized I was bloody tired.
So I pulled off in Spokane, two different exits, and just found it to be the skeeviest city I ever had the misfortune of getting off the interstate for. I elected to keep driving.
Of course, thereafter is a desolate swathe of grass and sagebrush. Next snippet of civilization that I drove by had its two hotels full. Happily, I drove on to Moses Lake, where I got a lovely hotel room.
I chased down some fast food and ate my french fries in the freaking shower.
SHOWER.
But rather than the relaxing delight that I envisioned (yes, I had been fantasizing about my first shower in THREE WEEKS), it was hard work. Had to take a second shower in the morning and still have skin sloughing off. Was super gross- apparently I really missed oodles of exfoliation. Also, half my tan that I was so excited about washed off in the shower.
It turns out a good tan is only skin deep.
Slept in a bed. Watched tv- I have a bit of a tradition of watching Turner Classics whenever I stay in a hotel. They offered a “grab and go breakfast.”
So I grabbed and went and ate hotel breakfast food for the next three days.
There was wifi. Electricity. The wonder of tea coming out of a machine instead boiling in a kettle over a camp stove! A counter and sink where I didn’t have to wipe a sea of dead bugs and grey water away before I brushed my teeth.
It was almost as if I were a civilized creature once more.
I used every single towel in the room.
The fact that I am this delighted with the plague-limited amenities of a 2-star hotel is perhaps an indicator of that the end of the Great Trek of 2020 and my sojourn among the gross unwashed masses may be nearing an end.
Driving across Washington
Before we set off again in the morning, got a car wash for Parker- who, let’s face it, really deserved it. For one thing, she was filthy like me, having spent a fair amount of time driving dirt roads, and, for another, she’s a freaking awesome badass beast who has been busy helping me save damsels in distress, and carting me and my gear over many thousands of miles.
All cleaned up, she sparkles like a jewel. She is gorgeous.
Now, a note about eastern Washington State. I got faked out by the end of Montana and Idaho: eastern Washington state has no trees! It’s grasses with sagebrush! What the hell?
Up to Moses Lake, it was mostly ranch land, and, thereafter, still some cattle, but also started to see fields of various crops- corn, hay, some beans. Never saw hay country like this before, but, I suppose with its being so dry, grass is actually one of the few crops that’ll take without crazy irrigation- and the cows need food in the winter, of course. Getting on the interstate from Moses Lake, there was a caravan of six tractors with balers hitched to them, with a couple of dump trucks doing the oversized load protective squad detail thing. Imagine a field of hay big enough that six balers would be necessary!
Honestly, I was wondering if I’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and actually wound up in Arizona or Wyoming- it did look rather a lot like when I was heading out towards Cody- a little grassier, I suppose.
Eventually, I spotted mountains in the distance- brown hills, covered in rocks and dead grass- it was so very dry and brown in eastern Washington. Right when I reached them, there was a scenic overlook area for Wild Horse Monument, and, considering the beautiful rock formations, I thought, hey, I should investigate this.
I was at an overlook of the Columbia River where it’s dammed into Wanapum Lake; one direction, can see the bridge that I-90 uses to get over the river ahead; directly across is a state park that I’d love to go back and visit someday- Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. As the name indicates, it’s a petrified forest that includes ginkgo trees, which no longer grow wild in North America.
Anyways, the smell was great… a grassland smell, but not sweet like in South Dakota, probably cuz it’s dominated by sagebrush. Clean, fresh- not that weird acrid smell of the meadows in Yellowstone.
The view was spectacular, but not at all what I expected Washington State to look like.
I pictured the whole thing as hipsters drinking coffee and wearing flannel in evergreen forests while it rained.
After you go over the Columbia RIver, you start climbing and climbing, up to 2,500 feet. You suddenly see in the distance this snow-covered peak… Mount Rainier, I believe. Absolutely glorious- looks like someone just dumped a dollop of whipped cream on top of all the other mountains.
Then, there’s a bit of a plateau. I started to notice that the mountains in the distance were not all brown, anymore. The tops of some of them have a dark green tinge to them. It looks like the forest kinda crept over the top of those mountains to look around and said, “Oh, whoa, hell no, not doing this! Too dry on this side! Inhospitable!” I mean, I saw signs out on the interstate warning you to not idle in the long grass on the shoulders cuz the fire danger is so high.
[Obviously, I am slightly late posting this update on the Great Trek, and had passed through the area prior to the devastating wildfires occurred. There were “no burn” signs everywhere- could see these big, beautiful trees were parched, and all the grass was dried out.]
Cle Elum Lake
Now, I possessed a distinct advantage in Washington state: friends who were happy to recommend natural wonders to visit.
I was not simply left to my own devices and sense of adventure.
I had insider information!
One of the suggestions was Cle Elum Lake up in the mountains- just a twenty minute drive off the interstate, right before you reach Snoqualmie Pass. I really wish I’d had more time to spend there.
This lake is where Washington starts to look more, well… like Washington.
You know: trees. Mountains.
You get off the interstate and drive through the town of Cle Elum, and then Roslyn. They both put me in mind of the predominantly summertime communities that you find in New Hampshire, or Vermont- particularly Roslyn, since it had a brick downtown that reminded me of the mills on creeks in New England. Certainly there was a Pacific flair to things- wouldn’t have mistaken it for New England, but there was a resemblance. A little bit of a Jersey Shore feel, too, with the little cottages/cabins packed close together in the towns… nothing great to look at, but it’s such a fantastic location that I’d take anything up there if I could spend a few weeks of the year there. Speed limits drop down from 45 mph to 25 mph as you near a town- if that isn’t a trap for tourists, idk what is.
So you’re driving up winding roads into this beautiful evergreen forest. Cle Elum Lake is gorgeous- beautiful, peaceful, tucked up in the mountains.
My favorite part? Everyone just drives out and hangs out on the beach with their car.
That’s right- Parker and I just drove straight onto the beach. Was glad of the 4 wheel drive. I’ve never driven on sand before; it was really something. Loose sand just saps all the momentum out of your tires- even though we were going down, I had to put it in 4 wheel and hit that gas to keep us moving towards the lake.
Driving. On a beach.
So exciting!
Backed up, popped the bed open, and tailgated on the beach. I sat on the tailgate, drank tea, ate a scone and an orange that I snagged from breakfast at the hotel this morning. The water wasn’t too cold- very choppy, though- and it was a glorious deep blue. There was a strong wind, the air was cool, and the sun was warm- just perfect. Looked like an amazing place to go for vacation.
Right. After my delightful detour to Cle Elum Lake, I sat in ridiculous traffic on I-5 as I headed towards the Pacific.
Near the shore, I drove through a city called Aberdeen, which bills itself as the logging capital of the world. Its slogan was, “Come as you are.”
From the look of things, people came as they were and stayed that way.
The Other Ocean
You’ll have to tune in to the next blog post to hear all about my adventures in Washington state.
However, I would like to assure everyone that I did, in fact, stop driving when I reached the Pacific.
I arrived in time to see the sunset, and it was like no other I’d ever seen.
The sun does indeed just suddenly drop below the horizon. There’s a flash of green- and then, it’s gone.
It isn’t at all the way a sunset gradually oozes below the horizon when there isn’t an ocean to the west.
This blog post is brought to you from the sugar and caffeine and wifi I acquired at the nice quirky outfit that is Ocean Beach Roasters in Ocean Shores, WA. They make a huckleberry latte that is- oddly worth trying. Ditto of the extremely unusual but unexpectedly tasty chocolate/beer/cream cheese cake.