Palouse Falls, Lumberjacks, and Other Fun Stuff

I have been traveling. I had planned a trip to take my mother up to Alaska to see where the kids are living. Alaska Airlines just started a nonstop flight from Cleveland to Seattle. The plan was for me to drive to Seattle and meet her there. We would fly up to Ketchikan, spend a few days, then fly back to Seattle and spend a few days.

My college roommate messaged me a few months ago and said that she and her husband were coming to Spokane and would drive over to Kalispell for a visit. Marcia’s brother lives in Moscow, ID. The dates happened to coincide nicely with the trip to Alaska, but rather than have them come here, I just tacked on a couple of extra days and met them in Spokane before heading to Seattle.

The three of us had a great time together. I suggested we drive out to Palouse Falls. I had seen pictures of the falls but never visited. They were up for an adventure, so last Friday morning, we headed west from Spokane on I-90 to Ritzville, took a hard left, and drove south for about 30 miles. There is a waterfall out in the middle of acres and acres of scrub and farmland, on the Snake River. It is quite a sight:

The falls were designated a State Park Heritage Site in 2013 thanks to the efforts of the elementary students in nearby Washtucna, WA.

As you can imagine, the falls are also a magnet for people who don’t have the sense God gave a chicken. Four people have died here and the area is peppered with warning signs. Despite that, we saw several groups of people hiking into the unauthorized area in an attempt to get to the bottom. We wisely stayed in the safe zone. This is Marcia’s husband leaning on one of the “People Have Died Here!” signs:

Marcia and I only manage to see each other once every couple of years, but we pick up where we left off every time. We capped off our visit with dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Spokane—Luna—where all three of us had an amazing dinner of sea bass cooked to perfection.

I left Spokane bright and early Saturday morning and headed to Seattle. My mother’s flight didn’t arrive until later in the evening, but I had a few errands to run. The first stop was the sewing machine store in Issaquah that I visited in April. The saleswoman and I got to chatting and I mentioned that I live in Kalispell and teach serger classes here. “Oh, could you come and teach for us?” she asked. “We need a serger teacher!” She and I exchanged contact information and I promised to e-mail her when I got home.

I did some other shopping, checked into the hotel, then picked my mother up when her plane got in. On Sunday morning, we went back to the airport for our flight to Ketchikan.

Ketchikan is a vastly different place than it was when I visited in May 2021. The cruise ships are coming back to visit:

There were at least two ships in port every single day we were there. It does make for a very crowded downtown, but the kids don’t have to drive through there to get to work, which is good.

I’ll save the rest of the pictures and travelogue for tomorrow’s post. Today is a catch-up day. The garden looks good but needs some attention. Our garden tour is three short weeks away.