Adventures of an Errant Alaskan [A photo journal] (house, camping)

[Xa'at]

Okay, so this thread isn't about Alaska. But it is about me, and I'm Alaskan, so it's close enough. Besides, it's here by popular demand!
So, for those of you who don't know- I'm down south right now seeing the world and causing all manner of trouble. It's pretty fun. Anyway, I recently spent a week in Washington, and I took tons of pictures. I'm in Idaho right now, which as far as I know is located west of Montana and approximately 150 years in the past, so I have a cruddy at best internet connection. Thus, I have to upload the pictures in small batches. The first set is pictures from my trip across eastern and central washington...
First off... a map of the areas I talk about in this batch:


Columbia Basin/Vantage
The Columbia Basin- which is a region that covers a large portion of central Washington- was originally formed a long time ago when the huge glacial lake that covered Western Montana and Northern Idaho repeatedly drained and refilled, carving deep canyons and strange rock formations into the basalt ground. It is located in the rain shadow of the Cascades, so the climate is exceedingly arid and very little other than sagebrush grows naturally. However, thanks to the Columbia Basin Federal Reclamation Project, which works to make the land arable, it is one of the most agriculturally viable areas in the Northwest. Grant County, which is where these pictures were taken, is the nation’s leading producer of Potatoes, and there is also a flourishing wine industry.


There were a ton of these little lizards skittering around the dry, cracked ground. Surprisingly, they didn’t seem too worried about me, and let me come close enough to get this shot.



Looking North up the Columbia river gorge.





Looking South down the river, the treed area is a small town called Vantage, home of the Gingko Petrified Forest. The bridge is exceedingly difficult to drive at times because of strong winds blowing through the gorge.



I don’t know what this is, but it was the only native flowering plant I could find.



As I said earlier, sagebrush grows in great quantities here, clinging to the dry basalt rock.



Up on a ridge on the East side of the Columbia is the Wild Horses Monument, which is a metal sculpture of… well, wild horses!





East Cascades
In the Eastern foothills of the Cascades, the climate begins to get wetter, and trees can grow. This area is way more inhabited and slightly more tamed!





The winds blowing up out of the Columbia river makes Windmill farms a very productive way of generating power. This picture was taken facing East off a ridge just outside Ellensburg.





Yakima, while geographically hilly, has some great views of the Cascades on sunny days. This particular mountain is Mt. Adams.






White Pass
West of Yakima are White and Chinook passes. Chinook was closed when I drove through, but White Pass is incredibly beautiful, cutting through the jutting basalt cliffs along a multitude of lakes and small rivers.


















Southwest Washington
On the other side of the Cascades, the climate becomes wet and the land green. Last December, this area was hit with a massive storm that caused widespread flooding and a lot of destruction. I passed a ton that had a pole with a marker that showed the peak water depth during the storm: it was about ten feet.



This bridge was not only completely taken out by the floodwaters, it was washed a good hundred feet downstream. Amazingly, the house located on the bank of the river was apparently not badly damaged.



The next installation will be... The "Cranberry Coast"!

[warptman]

Great shots! Now I want to go back and drive around Washington State again.

[Barkingowl]

Great travelogue Xa'at!

[karfar]

Dang girl! You take some good pics. And who knew there were so many cool things to see!

[Redhawk]

Great shots! Sounds like you are having a great time.

[Xa'at]

Thanks for the kind words, guys!
I'm having a great time, but very homesick... Ya'll know me, I get homesick just thinking about travel. I'm so blessed to live in such a beautiful, wonderful place, everywhere I go nothing can compare! It is fun to see different places, though. I might be staying down south () a little longer to accompany my family on a camping trip to either Glacier or Yellowstone nat'l park. I haven't been to either of them in a couple of years, so I think it'd be fun. Lots of awesome pictures to bring home!!

I think I'll be posting the next set of photos tomorrow, so keep your tvs tuned here!

p.s.
Dude, Redhawk, that's a new face (er, name). How long have you lived in JNU? Is it possible I could know you in real life?

[Redhawk]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Thanks for the kind words, guys!
I'm having a great time, but very homesick... Ya'll know me, I get homesick just thinking about travel. I'm so blessed to live in such a beautiful, wonderful place, everywhere I go nothing can compare! It is fun to see different places, though. I might be staying down south () a little longer to accompany my family on a camping trip to either Glacier or Yellowstone nat'l park. I haven't been to either of them in a couple of years, so I think it'd be fun. Lots of awesome pictures to bring home!!

I think I'll be posting the next set of photos tomorrow, so keep your tvs tuned here!

p.s.
Dude, Redhawk, that's a new face (er, name). How long have you lived in JNU? Is it possible I could know you in real life?

Been here in JNU since April, don't think you know me but you may know my wife Dreamweavin

[Manmountain]

http://www.realmofdarkness.net/pranks/mrrogers-cat.htm--- (broken link) It a safe link so click and .....

[HighlandLady]

Xa'at -
Lovely images and I cannot wait for more!! You've been missed, lass, especially since all my things arrived yesterday and now I am in the midst of boxes looking a wee bit overwhelmed

[Bruce 01]

Excellent!