We had a sunny start to the day in Lewiston this morning. After I enjoyed the free breakfast at the Quality Inn, we drove to the Vineyard Cemetery in Clarkston so Dave could visit the grave of his grandparents. A cemetery employee had left a map to their plot taped to the office door because Dave had called ahead to coordinate a visit. The cemetery was on a hillside overlooking the Clearwater River and was very well-kept and pretty. We easily found the gravesite, which had been marked with a small flag and fresh flowers by the employee. We spent some time there, enjoying the quiet, the view, and the birds. Then we left to head south to Field’s Spring State Park.
Highway 129 ran alongside the Snake River for a ways and we stopped in a Corps of Engineers’ park on the river because we saw a large flock of American White Pelicans sitting on a sandbar in a protected, shallow part of the river. After watching them for a while, some took off and soared in circles away from us. There were other birds in the river there too, including a Snowy Egret, which isn’t usually seen in Washington. Evidently it had strayed during migration. There was an older gentleman in the park that was very excited to see this rare bird and was calling his birding friends to tell them about it.
We continued the drive along the river and shortly past Asotin the road began a climb up from the Snake valley to the high plateau and on toward the Blue Mountains. Huge fields of green dry land wheat farms and pasture range spread out on all sides, with puffy clouds in the distance. It was another beautiful drive through the Palouse. It took a little more than 30 minutes to reach Field’s Spring State Park, in the forested Blue Mountains. It was a quiet green forest with an adjacent private farm that some lovely pastureland. We enjoyed walking and driving through the park and then chose a vacant campsite with a teepee and picnic table as a lunch spot.
The temperature was pleasant and the park was relatively empty. We enjoyed some birdsong and the otherwise quiet of the forest while eating our lunch.
Returning the Lewiston, we stopped at a Dairy Queen for some ice cream indulgence. My Girl Scout thin mint Blizzard was delicious. 🙂 We were well fortified to begin the drive to Pullman.
Pullman was only about 15 miles away, through more green, rolling hills. When we arrived, we parked at WSU, where Dave went to school, and he showed me around campus. No classes were in session and the campus was very empty and quiet. We stopped at the student union building so Dave could buy a WSU shirt. (Don’t worry Dad, I didn’t spend any money there, not wanting to favor the UW rival!)
After a driving tour of the town and seeing Dave’s childhood home in town, we found a nearby hotel, a Marriott Courtyard. It was a step up in quality for about the same price as we had paid in Lewiston. With no school in session, hotel demand was lower here, so prices were lower too. For dinner, we drove a couple of miles to a brew pub, where I had some tasty street tacos.
Lori's Travels 