After traveling across the US from western North Carolina to northern Ohio to western Washington State during May and June, on July 1 it was time to turn around and head back east a ways to our main summertime destination, Walla Walla, Washington. We had a nice vacation townhouse rented for 2.5 months and couldn't wait to get there and check it out.
But back to our travels. The drive from western to eastern Washington over the Cascade mountain range was absolutely gorgeous. We encountered something new to us while driving through Snoqualmie pass: the "rolling slowdown". Our long line of eastbound traffic had to follow a DOT truck ever so slowly for miles. And miles. They were doing rock blasting on the westbound side of the highway at the east end of the pass, which we assume was the reason for these slowdowns. It was a bit strange because we really couldn't tell that they were doing any work in the eastbound lanes. I found this blog entry online that explains the "rolling slowdown" phenomenon in the pass. And given the date of the post (2011), this has been going on for a long time. The silver lining is that the slowdown gave us plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful scenery and for me to take photos out the car window. A little later in the drive, we stopped at a rest area for lunch near Cle Elum and had the most amazing views of the snow-covered Wenatchee Mountains to the north. As we got closer to Walla Walla, we enjoyed beautiful views of the Walula Gap of the Columbia River in the tri-cities area. Finally, here we are in Walla Walla, and we've had a great time investigating this beautiful area. It's far sunnier and warmer than western Washington, and the road cycling in the valley is incredible. We'll have a variety of posts on this area, so stay tuned!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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