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Backyard USA
(Tales From Your Backyard)
On this page, we share the memories and experiences that our readers have had in the USA. If you would like to see YOUR letters showcased here, please contact us and share your stories with the world today.
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Featured letter:
One Day Washington Whirlwind Trip Chronology
By: Erik Schubach
I would like to share with Backyard USA, a one day trip my family took from Spokane in eastern Washington west to Seattle and Puget Sound.
Washington is one of the most diverse states in America. Its geography ranges from lush evergreen forests to desert, and from oceanside and rain-forest to towering mountains.
5:00am - Our trip begins in Nine Mile Falls, Washington, just outside of Spokane (The hub of the Inland Northwest). After fueling our car, we left Spokane and its thickly forested hills on our trek across the state.
6:00am - We arrived in Ritzville in the middle of the state's grain belt for breakfast. An amazing landscape of gently rolling hills and oceans of wheat as far as the eye could see. As the ripples of wind played across its surface you could imagine the inspiration for the line "Amber waves of grain".
7:00am - After leaving the agricultural districts behind us, we passed into the desert and found it hard to imagine that anything could live in such a harsh environment. Then we crested a hill and were treated to an impressive sight, a gorge cut through the landscape by the mighty Columbia river on its inexorable push to the sea. As we crossed the Columbia on a bridge spanning its width we could see the silhouette of wild stallion sculptures on the ridge above. We passed through Vantage, nestled in the gorge on the west bank of the river, which marked the halfway point of our journey.
8:00am - We reached the heavily forested Cascade Mountains and started cutting through the range on Snoqualmie Pass. We were greeted by waterfalls all around us and a herd of elk. The contrast of forested peaks on the left and towering granite cliffs on the right were so imposing they could be the fingers of God himself pointing to the heavens.
9:00am - In our descent from the range, we took a detour into the town of Issaquah and treated ourselves to a walk through Gillman Village, an old-west style boardwalk filled with unique shops from around the world.
10:00am - We crossed Lake Washington on a 1/2 mile floating bridge and entered what seemed like a never-ending tunnel cut through a ridge on the opposite shore. When daylight hit us again, we had arrived at Seattle and Puget Sound. We made our way thru the sprawling city to its core to the Space Needle, the Pacific Science center and the amusement park left over from a World's Fair earlier in the city's history. On a whim, we rode the monorail from the Space Needle to a downtown shopping area and back again. We hit the road again with our stomachs rumbling.
12:00 noon - I cannot think of a better place in Seattle for lunch than the state's oldest open air public market, Pike Place Market. Merchant's and farmers from all around have congregated to sell thier goods since the turn of the last century. Wonderful sights, sounds and smells hit us from all sides. After gorging ourselves on all types of delicacies, we walked the ferry docks to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop and the Seattle Aquarium. Next it was back to to the car and onward to our last stop.
2:00pm - We traveled under a bridge past a sculpture of a troll crushing a Volkswagon Bug and down to the Ballard gaslight district and the ballard locks. We watched a multitude of vessels of all types raised from Puget Sound up to Lake Washington. We walked across the locks when the gates closed and visited the fish ladders on the opposite side. After watching the fish jump up the ladder through the underwater viewing station, we headed back to the car one last time to start our journey home.
I hope you had as much fun reading about our journey as we had experiencing it.
Erik Schubach
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May 12, 2008
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