Our road trip across Washington was smooth, but not boring. We traveled mostly on I-90, with a few stretches on smaller highways in the south. At one point, we had to stop for some wild turkeys crossing the road. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough with my camera for that.
I loved driving through Snoqualmie Pass, with its craggy rocks and green trees as far as the eye could see. It was sunny before we entered, but as we climbed higher we became surrounded by this thick fog and even a little rain. In August! It was quite a sight. But then the fog dissipated and —boom—we were right outside Seattle. It was like a time warp.
The kids had a lot of fun on the ferry boats. We played many games of Go Fish.
More from Snoqualmie Pass.
It was less cloudy on our way back south.
On our way home, driving through Snoqualmie Pass again, we passed an Army convoy—probably Infantry soldiers heading from Fort Lewis to the training grounds outside of Yakima for an exercise. As we passed countless Army vehicles, I was kicking myself for not having a Sharpie in the car to make a readable “Thank you!” sign for the soldiers. I should really keep a Sharpie in the car for such occasions.
We passed those Yakima training grounds a few hours later, and there were indeed some Army inhabitants:
(All those green and tan dots on the plateau there are Army vehicles.)
This parched landscape reminds me of our Army time in El Paso, Texas. Brown, brown, brown. When it would rain, the hills would turn from brown to sage green, and the locals would comment on how green the “mountains” (which were really hills, like the above photo) looked that day. This Oregon girl would just shake her head and laugh. My mountains are covered with snow and my green lasts the whole year long.
