Driving through Dry Falls State Park , wa

 cruising down a lumpy road, dog not pleased.
it was like being on another planet rocks just thrown everywhere rock field style, these are big bastards though.
giant monoliths at the base of the dry falls. we checked it from the bottom and then from the top but did not walk that expanse, purely motivated by car on our last official stop - need to make it for half nine and the laser light show you know!

wind farm , ellensburg, wa

 taking a pee break. Across the road is the Wild Horse wind and Solar Facility
have not visited this facility yet but they do offer tours and i will take one at some point.more windmills to come.

Soap Lake, Wa

Soap Lake- excellent minerals!
lots of people covered in the sand/mud of it's banks.
the banks a bit of a smell on entering the water, which goes away upon getting further out. I waded , Talula crawled, and dipped and dived, under the waters. I was happy just getting my legs wet, imagine the minerals being tapped up like when feeding a plant with a big of cloth dipped in the water pulling the water into the soil.
the water was yes, soapy feeling.
it was such a hot day and this was our first map located stop.
what a relief-
the landscape had become foreign at this point. a lady heard me call Talula's name , she turend around and said "I have a Talula too!"
her Talula (or Tallulah as the case may be) was 15 years old.
My talula loved soap lake - it was her top destination on the whole trip!they are meant to be putting a giant lava lamp into soap lake.
I would  totally live here for a bit- great scenery , peaceful although re development studies for this area are occurring so get in there before the condos and townhomes occur!
more information at http://www.soaplakecity.org/
From Soap Lake our journey next took us to Lake Lenore then Dry Falls, steam boat rock (which was at that pt more of a drive by) and finally landing for the night at the grand coulee damn.
I am sure we will be back soap lake- i would love to stay next to you and wallow in your smelly sand/mud.

Vaux's Swift at Northern State Hospital

Vaux's Swift at the stack of Northern State's now non functioning power plant.
apparently they have been stopping here for years. we saw these around half twelve in the afternoon and even without the full force of the thousands some flock it was beautiful to watch them dip and dive into the stack and others to come zipping out. The swifts are heading south for the winter and if we weren't having such lovely weather
i would go with them- beginning to notice the skies going darker earlier, the blackberries dwindling thou i did get a pint today without much effort.



Thousands of birds stop in Northern State smokestack on migration | Local News | The Seattle Times

Golden Eagle in Dusty, Wa

watched this fella for quite a while - he was on the opposite side of the road to us in the cemetery. he was catching or trying to catch something in the field and then just chilling on the wires. see more images of the town called Dusty at This Life in Ruins.

Dry Falls, Wa

dirty windscreen

 amazed to find this scenery in Washington state.

umatilla rock

Steam boat rock

Beautiful Sunflowers at Palouse Falls

 flowers on the edge blooming their little hearts out, bless.

Palouse Falls State Park , Wa

 A must see when touring the Scablands!
quite a few people about but able to have space when exploring not busy when we visited on this beautiful hot day.
truly someplace i have not seen the likes of aside from movies.  we explored individually the path that went over to the falls - tim getting closer to any edges then i but worth the change in perspective from the usual visitors trail.
the dog and kid were happy to cool off in shade of car whilst we each had our own look see.