This is a 3-day trip to the southeast corner of Washington with my friend Dave. We’re here to visit state parks, see birds, and visit places from Dave’s youth. Being retired, we can travel in the middle of the week, missing the traffic and crowds. The first day was a great start.
After sailing over Snoqualmie Pass from Issaquah, we took a right after Vantage, heading southeast on highway 26. Right away, it was easy country driving on a straight, 2-lane road through beautiful green fields and orchards, and hills with wildflowers blooming. I think we got lucky that it’s been a cool and wet spring, keeping the landscape verdant longer than usual. It was a wonderfully sunny day with little traffic on the road, making for easy driving.
Our first stop was Potholes State Park, where we found an empty picnic area under trees and near a flicker nest in the rotted post of a picnic shelter. After making lunch from the various snacks we brought along, we walked down to the lake where there was a boat launch, a few fishermen out in small boats, and more birds to enjoy.
We made our way back to highway 26 and continued on through the tiny town of Washtucna and to Palouse Falls State Park. The park was two miles off the highway over a washboard gravel road, but Dave did a great job of finding the smooth parts of the road. Palouse Falls is a small park, but it wasn’t crowded and the falls were beautiful.
On to the third state park of the day, Lyon’s Ferry, just a few miles down the road. This was the site of a ferry across the Palouse River a long time ago, but today was another lovely, quiet, green park on the river with a swimming area.
By this time, it was around 3:30 pm and was maybe 75 degrees. Very pleasant. We started the last driving leg of the day, down a long slope into Clarkston.
Dave had spent a lot of time as a kid in and around Clarkston, where his grandparents lived. After reaching town and stopping for gas, we drove into the residential part of town and he found his grandparents’ former house. We then drove around town, looking for somewhere to spend the night, and finally drove into downtown Lewiston. There, on a hill above town , we chose a Quality Inn next to a Chinese restaurant. After unloading the car, we walked next door to the restaurant and enjoyed a good and very filling dinner.
Lori's Travels 