Washington East vs West

This past weekend we had the honor of photographing Carrie & Seth’s wedding in Spokane, WA – stay tuned their preview will be coming soon.  On our way home from Spokane we decided to take the road less traveled and it certainly was!  Many times Sonny & I commented on feeling very isolated in the midst of the wheat fields.

 

We’re not sure how apples got top billing for being what Washington is known for.  Are you sure we’re not in Kansas anymore?

Palouse Falls State Park was our destination.  Boy did they not disappoint.  At 180 feet high, it’s hard for us to imagine a kayaker, Tyler Bradt in his words “going for a little boat ride” over this monster.  Be sure to check out the link to the video, you’ll be amazed.

This was taken from the state park view point.  Many people hike the ridge around to the backside of the falls and they can also hike down to the basin of the falls.  In this photo (above) note the rock formation on the left side of the falls.  I liked to refer to them as "the medieval castle ruins”.

My husband Sonny, being more adventurous took off for a hike around the rim of the canyon to the edge of the falls.  Not trusting the traction he didn’t look over the edge of the falls like we saw a (very) few others doing.  He did get far enough out to get a close up view of my castle ruins.

By continuing along the trail that runs along the canyon wall (with sheer drop off I might add) Sonny was able to get a photograph of the falls from the side.

After we left the falls we saw a plume in the sky which had us puzzled, fire or dust, which one was it?  After turning a ridge we soon realized it’s fire as you can see.  The people in the town by the tree line were hosing down the roofs and hoping the fire crews could keep it under control.  Due to the fire, the road was closed and we had to find an alternate route.

Washington is the land of contrast, we started our day in 90 degree heat traversing endless fields of wheat, hops, and corn to the icy flanks of Mt Rainier as seen at dusk from Tipsoo Lake on Chinook Pass.

You can see more photos from our trip on our Facebook page over the next few days.