These photos were taken this evening at the Palouse.

Well, it’s certainly hotter here than when we left Forks! The day started at about 64ºF and ended at 84ºF, so quite warm with lovely blue skies.

The Palouse

The Palouse

The Palouse

The Palouse

The Palouse

The Palouse

Us at the Palouse Falls

The Palouse Falls

I think it’s fair to say that we have probably driven all over the Palouse today. Unless you are here to see it in person it’s difficult to describe. It is a patchwork quilt of rolling hills known as the ‘Palouse Scenic Byway’ that goes on for hundreds of miles of undulating hills, rich farmlands and rural communities. The rolling sculpted landscape changes with the seasons from vivid greens, vibrant yellows and amber harvest hues to silvery snow-dusted hills. Speckled among the hills are majestic buttes with spectacular panoramic vistas.

Well, we are now officially on our way home. We’ve left the west coast of the USA and are now heading back towards the east coast and home.

‘I would miss Forks, I’d miss the clouds, I would miss all the new friends I’d found in Forks, but we have to go on the road, so I’m gonna spend the rest of the time with my husband and this will be a good thing ………… I think!’

(For the Twilight fans reading this they will know that I’ve changed the words slightly but for those who are not Twilight fans, some similar words are spoken at the beginning of the film, Twilight, when Bella is leaving her home in Phoenix and I thought they were appropriate for us leaving Forks).

Susan and Bill (owners of The Cullen House)

We said goodbye to Susan and Bill, owners of The Miller Tree Inn B&B (aka The Cullen House) with the promise that we shall return. Bill was kind enough to tell me at breakfast this morning (sorry, but I’m going to blow my own trumpet here!) that he considers me to be in his Top 10 of Twilight fans because of my knowledge and interaction with his other Twilight guests. (Sadly, the photos we took of Susan and Bill were chewed up and spat out by our camera, so I have to thank megaroma/Flickr for this photo of them).

So, it turns out to be a myth that it rains in Forks all the time. We were there for five days and we never saw a drop, apart from when we arrived and the sun was shining, most of the time it was ‘under a near constant cover of clouds ……’ (Twilight again!)

Shawna and the puppy

Brian

Enough said! (Saw this on the way to the ferry)

Puget Sound from the Kingston side

Our ferry – the ‘Walla Walla’

Arriving at Edmonds

The Palouse

The Palouse

Here also are a couple of photos of Brian and his sister Shawna (son and daughter of our friends Mel and AJ, who live in Forks). Shawna wanted to keep that puppy, who can blame her, he’s so cute.

It was another long driving day that to our surprise, also included a car ferry trip!! When we  set out with our trusty GPS, we call her ‘punch it Margaret’ (Dot will understand why!), we had no idea that she was taking us towards the Kingston to Edmonds Ferry that crosses the Puget Sound. We could have taken a road route to get us to where we needed to be but as we are on holiday, thought it would be a little adventure.  The fact that it added an hour to our trip is neither here nor there. What was amazing was that ‘Margaret’ could tell how far we were travelling even though we were stationary on the ferry! I was a little worried before we boarded because I’m not the best sea-farer but it was okay and my plastic bag was not needed!

Our ferry was called the ‘Walla Walla’ and I’m sure it was a coincident that we ended up on the ‘Walla Walla Highway’ to bring us to our next destination, Colfax. We are here to visit the Palouse area of Washington State, an area of rolling farmland hills with one major butte called Steptoe Butte.

Here are a couple of photos of the Palouse ……………. more in our next post.