YET MORE WASHINGTON...

Before I continue with the pictures below I wanted

to explain the silliness in my header picture.

We took out the Christmas stuff last night and we

filled up the empty containers with what we like

to call "The Scuzzy Cuzzies" A pig pile of

cousins that can make a plaything out of

just about anything. I love it :-)

So after arriving at our cabin we went out to look for

some deer. This area has record numbers of deer--they

are everywhere. Driving along the roads there are

herds of them sleeping, roaming in pastures and

jumping the few fences farmers put up to keep

their livestock in.

This is the neighbor's property behind ours.

We found a small herd and when they saw us the does

all took off with the young ones, but Mr. Buck stayed

behind to check us out. See him under the tree? He

stayed so stock still that he looked like a statue. My

husband was walking slowly towards him and he

never moved a hair. If he was hunting for real he

would have been an easy target.

The gorgeous view from the front porch of our cabin:

We had a small rain squall move through quickly and

left this beauty behind:

We decided to go and visit and friend that lives a

few miles away. This is a really pretty place along

the way to her house:

Our friend's cabin on 60 acres:

The entire field in front of her cabin is filled with purple

Iris's in the spring and she showed many pictures of

the wildlife crossing it; elk, bobcats, deer, cranes, etc.

She is getting elderly and has talked about splitting

the property up and selling off 5 acre pieces.

Wouldn't that be a small piece of paradise?

I love vintage houses and especially the gingerbread

look of the Victorian type architecture. There are

several in this small town and I love it that people

have made the effort to restore some of them:

If you look closely you will see that this one has a

mural painted on it:

Back on the road to the west side of the state. We go

through some very dry, barren land again:

One of the towns you go through is filled with murals:

Back through more food growing country. Amazing,

isn't it, what the addition of water will do? Just

look at the contrast between the untouched terrain

and the irrigated terrain!

Sssshhhhhhh....a secret military facility. Look at all the

satellite dishes...

Lots of warning signs here along the highway to

STAY OUT and NO TRESPASSING.

There isn't even a shrub for miles around this place.

A rabbit couldn't sneak in here without being seen.

Beautiful Ellensburg. This is a college town and they

grow lots of food here too. Plus they have a ton

of windmills cranking out the electricity because

it is always windy here:

Time for a pit stop at one of my favorite antique stores.

There are 2 levels of antiques for sale and the bottom

floor is filled with fruits, vegetables, candy, gifts and

all sorts of really neat stuff you won't find anywhere

else. Plus Applets and Cotlets made right here! Yes!

So my husband and I are wandering through the

many booths of antiques and I see a lady that

looks like she is dragging around a black

footstool.

????

My husband wanders over to see what the heck

she's doing that for.

Oh my word--it's her DOG.

See the little pink tongue?

She is a Puli and they are bred to be sheepherders. The

predators can't hurt them because the dreadlocks are

so thick they can't get to their body to bite them.

She claimed this dog could run really fast and when

I asked how could she even see, the lady explained

that when running the dreadlocks fly away from

their eyes. I guess when sitting she doesn't need

to see?

I don't know, she seemed like a happy dog and

was very friendly to me when I petted her.

Now I know what it would be like to touch the

hair of a person with dreadlocks...

STILL IN WASHINGTON...

Before I continue on with the trip photos I want to

answer a question that was asked by Kathy. She

wanted to know what the picture was all about

in my header photo.

That is a grizzly paw. This month a 15 year old boy was

out deer hunting and came across a huge bear dragging

whale meat from a dead whale across the beach into the

forest. The picture shows how big the paw is compared

to the kid's hands.

It is my understanding that we have some of the largest

grizzlies in the world right here on Baranof Island because

of the great amount and quality of food that they have

available to them.

By the looks of that paw I would say yes, there are

some very large bears here.

Back to the WA trip...

Food, food and more food! These storage warehouses

line the roads for miles and miles.

These wild horses fool everybody! This is a closeup, but

in reality they are way up along a ridge and when you are

driving in the car it looks like real wild horses running free.

They are made of metal and in the beginning there were

just a few, but now there is a whole line of them and they

have letters on them.

Coming into Vantage with a nice view of the Gorge.

There is a beautiful outdoor ampitheater here that

they call the Gorge at George (George, Washington)

They have a lot of very famous performers that

come here to play to sold out audiences.

More green stuff being grown..

These wind blocking trees are everywhere! They protect

crops from wind damage, which is a very real consideration.

There always seems to be a wind blowing across these

valleys.

We stopped at a rest stop and this pulled in next to us.

I just liked the logo!

It was getting dark by the time we entered the little

town where our cabin is, so no good pictures. I took

this as we were going down the last road. It is dusk

with the last bit of sun on the windmills that line

the hills everywhere in this part of the state.

Early the next morning...

Our cabin!

MORE WASHINGTON...

So we are continuing on our trip into the small

town of Winthrop. We saw some neat places along

the way:

This was the bakery in Winthrop. This town has an old

time western theme to it and all of the buildings and

businesses have storefronts that are in keeping with

the feel of an old western town. It is really neat, even

the modern offices have the western storefronts,

complete with wooden boardwalks:

We didn't spend a lot of time here because we

were on our way down towards the bottom of

the state and ran out of time.

On a sour note we left Winthrop in a bad mood.

When we got back to our vehicle someone had

decided they didn't like our bumper sticker

against Obama and left us a very nasty note

that had been scribbled on a torn off piece of

grocery sack. They called us names like despicable

and accused us of being racist because we

don't agree with his policies and really

don't like him at all as a president.

Funny, seeing how it's our truck and we were

parked on a public road in a free country, I

know it is our God given right to express

ourselves in the manner we choose.

Oh well, I hope the person that wrote it felt

better after they expressed themselves, but

just for the record, hiding from us and placing

the note anonymously without any sort of

name or signature really doesn't give you

any credibility or respect in my book.

Oh, and if by some slim chance this was

you and you were watching us read the

note from inside the store, shame on you

for being such a coward. You really

should have your mouth washed out

with some nasty lye soap.

And keep your ___ hands off my truck.

Ahem.

Sorry.

Continuing on our way we started getting into

some serious food country. Apples, apples and

more apples. Plus grapes! Wow Washington

has really turned in a wine country with miles

and miles of beautiful vineyards to see:

These are stacks of apple crates lined along the roads.

They are everywhere! We literally drove for a full hour

along just one stretch of road and there was not a break

in the orchards. Cherries, pears, apples--LOTS of food

over in this part of the state.

We were very hungry for apples after driving through all

of this beautiful food, so we stopped at a home with some

apples for sale out front from their trees.

I love it--the honor system still works out here.

You would think with the economy being so

bad and people out of work that the money

jar would disappear, but it was there with

money in it and nobody around.

Fresh, organic, crispy, juicy, delicious.

My mouth is watering just thinking about

how good those apples were!

WA TRIP CONTINUED...

Sorry for the delay in posting about our trip!

Sometimes things just get away from me and

I need to take a breather.

So, continuing on over the mountains towards

Winthrop and the lodge we were going to

stay at that night.

The water is gorgeous along the mountain roads. I

think I read somewhere that it is so green because of

all the minerals from the snow melt.

Here we are at Sun Mountain Lodge. What a beautiful

place! It sits at the very top of a mountain and the views

are spectacular. The grounds are beautifully maintained

year-round because they have activities for every

season.

There are benches all over the grounds to sit and

take in the beautiful views. As I was sitting here

it was so quiet all I could hear was the wind

blowing slowly over the tall grasses. The air is

very clean up here at the top of the mountain.

For the more adventurous guests there is tennis

and horseback riding in addition to miles of

walking trails and cross country skiing.

The rooms are very plush, with very expensive linens and

things like white fluffy bathrobes and a nice stereo

system in the room with classical music playing

when you arrive.

Everything is handmade and custom; each

room has a beautiful light outside of the door

for when you return to your room:

And since it is a lodge it has more than it's share

of dead critters on display. For those of you that

know what Boone and Crockett is, there are signs

everywhere showing how many of these animals

are trophies listed with Boone and Crockett.

I didn't get pictures, but the next morning we ate in the

restaurant with a breathtaking view of the valley while

we ate. It was very crowded, so I am assuming the

locals drive up the mountain to eat there on the

weekends.

Going down the mountain after breakfast. The road

winds down and around to the lake...

...past more cabins on the lake that are part of the lodge.

Just gorgeous! And if you can click the picture and

make it bigger you will see some very large log

houses scattered on the mountain:

This cute place is for sale at the bottom of the mountain.

It has an old orchard with it and if you look closely

you will see what comes with the orchard...