Spokane to Yakima - August 12

We took our time this morning getting up and out.  Fatigue is beginning to set in for this driver.  We headed west on highway 2 out of Spokane and soon were in the wheat fields again.  Goodness but we produce a lot of wheat in the USA!  

At the small town of Wilbur we headed northwest on highway 174.  Last week a story on the Internet caught my eye because it involved Wilbur and I knew that we would be driving through the village.  Apparently crop circles were found in the wheat fields here and the usual explanation involves space aliens.  I would like to think that the Wilbur high school math teacher inspired his students to practice some applied geometry.  In the field, so to speak.

Our next stop was the Grand Coulee Dam which was started in 1933.  This dam was built over the Columbia River during Franklin Roosevelt’s tenure to create electricity and to create jobs during the Great Depression.  It isn’t a particularly impressive dam (at least to me) and unless you are a dam lover or a civil engineer (one and the same?) it could be skipped in my opinion.  

The drive southwest on highway 155 is very scenic, however, and it skirts the Banks Lake and Steamboat Rock State Park.  In Coulee City we connected back onto highway 2 west across more wheat fields.  At the pretty little town of Waterville the highway descends about 2000 feet to the Columbia River at the town of Orondo.  Then all along the river to Wenatchee, there is a green valley full of apple, pear, peach, nectarine and apricot orchards as well as cherries and several other fruits.  We stopped at one of the many fruit stands and bought some fresh peaches for tomorrow’s breakfast supplement.  

We drove into the downtown area of Wenatchee, a much larger town than we expected and one that bills itself as the Apple Capital of the World.  I don’t know – maybe.  We had lunch at the Owl Soda Fountain which opened up in 1927.  The menu and music reflect the 1950s but it is still a neat stop.  The lunch wasn’t much to speak of but dessert, a warm brownie with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce and lots of whipped cream, was decadent and good.

We continued on west and then south on highway 97 to Ellensburg and then the short distance to Yakima where we had reservations and checked into our hotel.