Palouse #1

Set off this morning in a cozy van with 5 of my book group : destination, Dusty, WA in the Palouse country of SW washington for 3 days. The Palouse is a 4000 square mile region of rolling, asymmetrical hills composed of loess, windblown silt blown in from someplace else. (like wind dunes...) One theory is that dust from prehistoric dried up lakes from the SW were blown here and trapped by the wetter grasslands of the Palouse. Settlers descended in the 1860's and 1870s and grew wheat - it's still the world's leader in the production of soft winter wheat - more about that later.

It was such a treat to be have the warm (well, HOT, for us) sun all day and this beautiful landscape which is so different from our western side of the mountains. We crossed Snoqualmie Pass with snow on the ground and blue skies and it was the beginning of 3 wonderful relaxing days. I had to blip a field of rapeseed (canola oil) even tho it was taken from the car window because I love this outrageous color so much. It's an alternative crop to the wheat which replenishes the soil. We are headed to Dusty WA and a farmhouse B and B. On the way we had a stop at Palouse Falls to marvel at this part of the landscape that was carved from huge ancient (15,000 years ago) floods from glaciers breaking in the north and rolling thru the basalt rock here....

Will also post a few pix (60) on Flickr as there were just too many to get the flavor of this counryside.