Highway Run Pt. II

Washington state finally showed up on the horizon, and with it, bright sunny skies with huge white fluff clouds. I hit up a drive-thru in Spokane to keep my wheels rolling, and the next two hours turned into one of those long flat highway drives. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this was surely a pleasant surprise.







I was slowed twice on this section of road for accidents. My only thought was that there were other drivers experiencing the same sleepiness I was feeling as I passed Moses Lake and Potholes State Park. Hopefully everyone was ok, and my spirits were lifted when the upper Columbia River gorge appeared in front of me.



I noticed signs for a turn-off overlook ahead, so I slowed my roll and pulled to the side. What's the first thing I see as I jump out of the car?



As I walked down the brown dirt path to the overlook, this little guy ran out in front of me (probably running from the snakes), so I stole his picture.



I finally reached the end of the path...



Absolutely breathtaking. At least 50 windmills lined the ridge on the other side of gorge, but I think they misplaced them, because the wind was so strong at the overlook that I could barely keep the camera straight.



On my walk back to the Corolla I searched for rattlers for a few minutes, to no avail. I hit the road, and by this time, knew that reaching the coast was a long shot, so I decided to see what was coming up, and possibly grab a room for the night. Yakima was about 45 minutes away. Sounded good to me.

Windmills





Yakima was close, and I needed to see where I was going, so the next rest area was on the immediate agenda. What I was totally unprepared for was the sight coming out of the hills into the valley. Staring me down was Mt. Adams, a massive volcano, and to call me giddy would have been an understatement. Signs for the rest area appeared, and almost directly after was a sign I'd never seen before. "Mt. Adams *with and arrow pointing due south* and Mt. Rainier *with an arrow pointing southwest*." What?! Could I really see two volcanoes at the same time? Why yes I could. I quickly veered into the rest area, and broke out the bigger camera.

Mt. Adams


The sun's brightness certainly made taking quality photos difficult for this amateur photographer.

Mt. Rainier



I stood in awe for a few minutes, then hit up my trusty Incredible for Yakima lodging. Holiday Inn Suites on Main St? Why not.

The girl that checked me in was super nice, and turned out to be the bright spot of Yakima. I found my room and hoped to have a view of one of these famed mountains. No go. I DID have free internet though! I had been unable to connect to Jamie or Josh's network because neither of them knew the password, and needless to say, I had tons of blogging to do. I uploaded some photos and banged out some words (Big Skyrise and Tastes Lake Water), then hit up the lounge for some dinner and beverage(s). I sat alone, and scoffed at the CMAs. What happened to music? Oh yeah, Capitalism. I finished up dinner and my lone Stella Artois (you know it's bad if I'm drinking Stella), and headed up for a good night's rest.

Still not a lot of friendliness going on in Yakima...