Central Washington

 

I have always been drawn to old barns. Over the years I have photographed many of them, and not many are left. Of those in my collection, many have since yielded to deterioration and gravity. What I found in Central Washington state was a treasure trove of barns and abandoned old buildings.

 

We drove many side roads and secondary highways, and being past tourist season, the traffic was light in most places and I could stop beside the road or in some driveway and photograph to my heart's content.

 

Unfortunately, there were "NO TRESPASSING" signs on these old buildings and I could not enter them or explore around them.

 

We took a little side trip from Naches up to the Chinook Pass. We left the desert and entered high country very quickly. Soon, there was nothing but trees and fog. At the very summit, the clouds and mists parted just long enough for quick photo of the alpine meadows. By now we were cold and yearning for the heat and dryness of the desert once again.

 

Ellensburg and east.

 

And north to Ephrata.

 

Soap Lake

 

Near Vantage Wa.

 

Bug's eye view of the newly painted lines on Highway 97

 

You can see this location on the big bridge photo above.

 

A country church (Lutheran) in the midst of a farming area ripe with Scandinavian names.

 

This is farming country and reminded me of some of the rolling farmland in the parts of Saskatchewan that are not a flat table top.

 

The Yakima River in .... are you ready for it..... the Yakima Canyon.

The Best Sunset Ever!

 

As an amateur photographer, whose love of his hobby increases as the years go by, I have always had a dream of hitting the perfect spot at the perfect time. I was giddy with delight as we drove up this old country road south and east of Goldendale Wa. hoping for the light to get better and better.

 

A few of the following photos have been manipulated in Lightroom and some of them needed no enhancing other than what is required for a RAW file to be converted to a JPEG and downloaded to Blogger.

 

I feel that we really hit the jackpot on this little side trip and I am proud of the photos I took, but more than that, I was continually impressed with God's handiwork. Just view in LARGE and enjoy.

 

The woman whose Father-in-law had owned this truck, came out to talk to us, and would have charged us some big bucks if she had known I was taking such incredible photos of the family transportation of yesteryear.

 

 

My collection  of old barn photos had just improved dramatically!

Destination: Goldendale Washington

 

Blogger! Grrr. It is not letting me place the photos in order so bare with me, please.

We crossed over to the south side of the Columbia Gorge and immediately noticed a change in climate and terrain. Warmer and dryer are the key words.

 

I love this yellow sage brush and you will see that I try to incorporate it into many of my photos when I can.

 

I love these windmills and have always regretted that there is no place to pull over and photograph them in the Coachella Valley in southern California. Here in southern Washington state there is no shortage of photo opportunities. Just take a side road and you can pretty much drive right up to them. We drove in their shadow many times.

 

When you are close to them, you can hear the thrumming whine of the turbine and blades as they gracefully cut through the air.

 

This is a fairly new power project and the roads winding in and out of the windmills are newly paved and look inviting.

 

Nice combination of High-Tec power production, traditional farming, and the ancient moon.

 

Love those shiny new white windmills against that clean, crisp, blue sky.

 

We drove through the sleepy little farming community of Goldendale and decided right then and there to stay the night. It reminded me of growing up in Saskatchewan. There are a few heritage houses that reveal the age of the town.

 

These next two shots are out of the hotel room window facing west. The window was dirty but the access to the rear of the hotel was nasty and swampy so I took my chances. Not bad considering the dirty window.

 

We saw that a very nice sunset was coming so we jumped in the truck and headed to higher ground to wait for the light to get even better, and it did not disappoint. But that is in tomorrow's post. Some of the best old barn shots I have ever taken.

 

Thank you Blogger for putting this photo from late afternoon into the evening time slot. Anyway, this is the museum in Goldendale. Rather photogenic, I would say.

 

And back to the Gorge earlier that day, looking east, on the north side of the Gorge. Note the train tunnel lower left.

 

Just as we were heading out to higher ground for some sunset shots. This was looking to the northeast. We were hoping we would not be driving into that the next day. It was gone by morning. Whew!