Friday, August 14, 2009
This day my boys and I took the long route between Bellevue, Washington and Schweitzer Mountain above Sandpoint, Idaho via highway 2. We left the house at 9:00am and arrived at our mountain condo right about 9:30pm. Along the way we stopped at two marvellous sights:
Ohme Gardens in Wenatcheee, WA
http://www.OhmeGardens.com
This is my favorite garden in Washington state. It's a shady, unexpected hill top retreat spread over 10 acres set off in sharp contrast to the barren, dry hills all around it. The Ohme family began the garden in the 1930s, choosing this inconvenient location for its marvellous view of the Columbia River and surrounding hills. It was meant to be the grounds for a house they intended to build - no bank would lend at the time for constructing a house during the Great Depression. In fact, the house was never built, but the garden received devoted care. Native plants were collected from the Cascade Mountains. The transplants were watered by hand in the beginning. Tons of rock were excavated nearby and hauled up the mountain for construction.
The design of the garden is unique - nothing like a Western garden with showy flowers. Ohme has nearly no flowers at all. It reminds one more of a Chinese garden, where man made constructions are as important as the natural beauty. Rocky paths lead all over the garden. Many stone benches were built for the ease of the visitor. The benches present one with either a beautiful vista or a cool, tranquil spot. Several ponds with small waterfalls dot the garden. A lookout post has been built at the highest point. A stone table and a stone fireplace complete the construction project. The plantings are made up of tall fir trees, spongy moss, hostas, ferns, and other native plants - native about 50 miles to the west. Here and there grassy lawns are provided - another place to stretch out and relax.
The Wenatchee area is generally hot in the summer (this day it was only in the mid 70s), but the hill top catches every possible breeze and the wonderful trees provide frequent opportunities to enjoy the shade.
I visited here with our twin boys, age 14, and their little brother age 6. The twins had also been here at age 6 on my own previous - and first - visit; however, they had no memory of it. It was fun to watch the little boy, James, take the lead and clamber the rocks just as the twins, Austin and Konrad, had done 8 years before.
Dry Falls at Sun Lakes State Park just south of Coulee City, WA
http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/?selectedpark=Sun%20Lakes&subject=all
I had heard the term "Dry Falls" many years before, but I had never made it priority to visit something named "dry" in the middle of hot and parched Eastern Washington. On this occasion, it fell along my route, so I decided to check it out.
Well, it turns out to be one of the most amazing sights in the state. You view the place from its western rim. Below you is a rock amphitheater 3 1/2 miles across through 270 degrees surrounded by sheer 400 foot cliffs. This awesome arena and the Grand Coulee (dry river bed) was carved out by the Columbia River, which was forced into this channel by glaciers, and repeated massive floods from the ice age Lake Missoula, which would burst its ice dam at 50-100 year intervals and inundate Eastern Washington. These floods were the largest known on Earth and throughout history with rushing water 400 feet high. Much of the scoured down to the bedrock geology of Eastern Washington is explained by these floods.
We arrived just after 5:00pm when the visitor center was closed. But we were free to wander along the canyon rim and make use of the observation platform. The platform sticks 25 feet out into the canyon, supported by a pillar of rock. The sun had peaked out and brightened up the scene.
http://www.NwVacationSpots.com
