North Eastern Washington! Wow!!!

Greetings from Colville, Washington, in the heart of the logging country. A huge lumber mill is in town and there is the smell of fresh cut wood all around.

We drove today from Ellensberg WA along Hwy. 90. The town of Ellensberg is quite interesting. The downtown is suffering the pangs of growth on the outskirts of town, but much of the downtown area still has the charm of buildings built in the early 1900's. We slept in a bit and were in no hurry as we checked out of a very comfortable Holiday Inn Express. We drove around town and walked down the main street taking pictures of many interesting buildings. In an antique store we got the scoop on a very odd home we had passed which was highly decorated with reflectors, nails, sculptures,totem poles, metal bottle caps, rusted pieces of flotsam and jetsom, painted outlines of people, old mailboxes, a carved 8 foot #2 pencil, to name a few things. It has been under construction/decoration by Dick and Jane for the last 27 years. Popular thinking on the project is that Dick and Jane were a couple of hippies who settled in Ellensberg and bought a house right across the street from the Police Department. A sort of in your face sort of statement. It is really a traffic stopper.

We headed out of town continuing on Hwy. 90 east to Spokane. We were in a very warm and dry area with mile after mile of wheat! Suddenly we came upon the Columbia River Gorge. Stopped at a rest stop where I talked to my son, Matt, and tormented him by saying we could see the fish jump from our vantage point. That wasn't true but what a beautiful sight. We didn't realize where we were since the metal plaques at the lookout point had been removed by vandals. Later looking at the map we realized where we were.

Had to set the cruise control to keep the car under 90 mph. There was very little traffic and the miles melted away. Stopped in Spokane for a late lunch at a Chiles in a mall! I know, I know, we should be eating only at interesting local places, but it was easy to get off the route, park, and be back on the road with very little effort. We seem to be settling in to a bit of a pattern, for dinner tonight has been some fruit, crackers, cheese and cookies in our room. It's easy on the budget and probably better for us physically. That doesn't mean we will not have our occasional pig-out. No chance of that!

Lee drove from Spokane to Colville. My cold is icky so I slept in the back seat. They woke me a couple of times but I really slept most of the hour and a half. The countryside is beautiful and we remarked how interesting the terrain was when we crossed into Spokane County. We were in the grain growing area and then whamo--there were great stands of trees, particularly pine.

After checking in to a new and comfortable Comfort Inn we took off to explore the town. Lee and Judi's maternal family are from here and we went to the local Historical Society to look around. It was closed but we were greeted by three deer who were taking their liesure in the backyard of a lovely Victorian farmhouse. In addition to the farmhouse there are buildings housing old logging equipment, a recreated blacksmith shop, one room school, trapper's cabin and homesteader's cabin complete with an outhouse out back. Lee and Judi were quite taken with the homesteader's cabin as it was probably in a similar building that their grandmother and grandfather lived as a young people here in Colville. We are going to try to make contact with someone in the Historical Society tomorrow when it opens.

After that we are on our way over the mountains and a scenic route to Sand Point, Idaho and spending the night in Kalispell Montana. We will be there for 2 nights visiting people and hope to get a little laundry done. I'm sorry to have to miss my cousin Ron Welch in Sand Point who will be out of town tomorrow.

Now for the latest techno fiasco. While at the Historical Museum gounds, my camera said the memory was all used up. Ok back to K-Mart! When I went to down load all the pictures from today the memory card was not in the camera! Oooops! I had left it in the laptop. Anyway How do I get those pictures out? I think I have to go to K-Mart and get a cord to hook the camera up to the computer. If anyone knows any other solution I am up for it. I put the card in and hoped that maybe it would transfer to the card automatically. No such luck. And I did so want to share the pictures from today. Oh well, just another glitch in techno-land.

Nose still drippy but Lee and Judi seem fine. It's just a matter of time though! At least they haven't put me out beside the road and driven away. Will check in tomorrow.

Love, Gerry