Palouse Falls, scablands, and Ellensburg

Another full travel day. This time on state route 26 heading west through the scablands in the central part of the state. It's straight through with a couple of planned stops. In Colifax we hit a thrift store and take a look at the codger pole. The pole commemorates a football game played between rivals. It was first played in 1938 and then the same crew played a rematch exactly 50 years later. Each player has their face chiseled into the codger pole.

Another site is the fence made from wheels and gears. At the center is a large barn where artists come together and do their things. With snow on the ground and the farm buildings in the background, I found this place picturesque.

Palouse Falls drops 198 feet into a deep circular chasm. It's one of the most extraordinary sights in the Northwest in my opinion. You know something is extraordinary when you can't take your eyes off it or stop taking pictures of it. Equally awesome are the gorges and valleys in which the Palouse River flows into after the falls. This is the heart of the chiseled scablands region of central Washington.

Near the falls is a bridge with train tracks far underneath. Oh, to have a train go by when Marc and I were checking it out.

At the end of this day's journey is a city called Ellensburg. Never heard ot it? Neither had I until planning the trip. It's a medium size city on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains. Other cities of similar size like Wenatchee and Yakima are famous, but not Ellensburg. It had to be a special place and it is. I've never seen a town try so hard to ring in the Christmas spirit. The temperature the next morning was 9 degrees.

In fact, much of this little vacation had low temperatures well below freezing. It was the aftermath of the earlier snow storm. But 9 degrees?