Post Falls, ID - 14 September

Nope, never did get a picture of picturesque Ellensburg. Never found the right street or whatever. Downtown was quaint in the old town sense, but between not finding a place to park and running a little late, we pressed on.

Instead, today’s photo is of Wild Horse Monument on the banks of the Columbia River gorge in central Washington. The following is an entry from a Google search regarding these statues:
"Okay, you do have to look at them from the right angle to enjoy the artist's remarkable talent. These beautiful and surprisingly lifelike sculptures -- sixteen horses in all -- stand on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River near the town of Vantage in central Washington. If you aren't expecting them, their silhouettes will have you believing you're looking at a real herd thundering up the ridgeline.
The wild horses, which are made of welded steel plates, are the work of Spokane artist David Govedare.

For more information and other photos, check out - http://www.roadtripamerica.com/whatsit/78b.htm.

Other events of the day included wondering if we were going to make it through snow! The gentleman at the campground last night said folks were having trouble going north from Ellensburg because of the forecast for 1 inch of snow! Guess we’d better get a hustle on and get out of the north country ASAP. We don’t have chains. We did drive through several light showers, but no snow (yet).

Central Washington is unlike western Washington state. It is basically a desert, although with irrigation, many crops can and are grown including potatoes, peppermint, corn, and the usual feed crops for cattle. When the light is right (as it was today), driving through you can imagine you’re in Kansas or Iowa with the golden brown fields of wheat. As you near Spokane however, you’re greeted with lava fields.

Tomorrow we’ll head through the panhandle of Idaho and enter the wide, wide state of Montana. Idaho, on I-90, is less than 74 miles across, while Montana (on I-90) is over 740 miles! Texas (via I-10) is just under 900 miles across which probably makes Montana the second largest state in width (measured by interstate routing). We will probably spend several nights in Montana!

Today is my birthday (thanks). We are going to celebrate tonight with a bottle of Moet d’Chandon champagne that I have been carting around since our Anniversary (late July – Margaret was in D.C. then), her illness in early August, and other big events that didn’t get celebrated properly.

By the way, in case I didn’t mention, one of the by-products of Margaret’s medication was the loss of taste and smell. So she has been off wine for over 5 weeks. (More for me?) But I’m sure she’ll have a small taste of champagne tonight.