A walk up Asotin Creek

We hadn’t expected a beautiful, clear sunny day, but there it was, and we decided on a walk along Asotin Creek, a nearby and fairly frequent destination.

         The trail was slick with melting snow, but we sustained no casualties.
The green disc is more likely an artifact than Neptune wandering from its orbit.

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Southeastern Washington hotter than Tripoli!

Tripoli, Libya (as versus Tripoli, Lebanon, or Tripoli, Iowa) was 93° F at 3:00 PM local Tripoli time. Effieland, our cat Effie’s garden domain, was 98° F at 3:00 PM our local time.

In all fairness, we are 1,300 ft above sea level. Tripoli is 266 ft above sea level, bounding the Mediterranean Sea.

The climate where we live is designated “cold semi-arid steppe (grassland).” Libya is designated “hot semi-arid,” though Tripoli has a more temperate, Mediterranean climate.

We have more cold days and colder days than Libya has–but also a few hotter ones, too.

Tripoli, Libya – Mediterranean Beach Scene, Summer, Corinthia Hotel, Dhat al-Imad Office Buildings

My beautiful bit of prairie

Back to Boggan’s

My husband and I decided to take our anniversary road trip this year in two consecutive Saturday installments. Today, we enjoyed the scenery along the Grande Ronde River, stopped briefly at Boggan’s Oasis, and ate our packed lunch next to the footbridge at Troy, Oregon.

The only exotic wildlife we saw were some wild turkeys, and I was not camera ready for their sprint across the highway. Next Saturday, weather and other variables permitting, we aspire to take in some hiking at Lyon’s Ferry.

Asotin, from the road to Anatone and on to the Oregon border

Basalt outcroppings and meadows profuse with blooming balsam are everywhere.

One of the many streams in the Grande Ronde River’s brood

A favorite stop in southeastern  Washington,  just before the Oregon border

The old foot bridge at Troy, Oregon. The dark trees on the hill are casualties of last summer’s forest fires.

Road Trip in the Blue Mountains

Vic and I decided to see the Blue Mountains in Autumn today, and it was a perfect day to see them, as hunting season hasn’t yet opened. I photographed a few samples of the fall scenery from Lickfork Road to Elk Point. Gazeteer jocks will see that our route forms a triangle between Asotin, Washington; Pomeroy, Washington; and the Oregon border.

Every good road trip begins with a good car.

Headgate Park

Closer-up of Headgate falls

Vic prepares to photograph the falls.

Asotin Creek

Reed Canary Grass

Red Sumac

Larch, or Tamarack, are evergreens that turn yellow in autumn.

Joseph Creek

Confluence, Joseph Creek and Grande Ronde River

Joseph Creek enters the Grande Ronde

Grande Ronde Canyon homestead

Prairie clover

Maybe this was a one-room school?

No matter how agreeable our home and its environs are, I am certain that road trips will always be necessary for our sustenance. The countryside within about three-quarters of an hour’s drive has different history, different plants, a different river, and different nutrients that feed our souls, that all are excellent and even necessary in moderation. Of course we can’t take a road trip every day, but my husband’s and my road-trip clocks are pretty well synchronized.

Today’s local outback venture was the area where Joseph Creek flows into the Grande Ronde River, a tributary of the Snake River. Lots of purposeful fishermen were out, presumably aspiring to hook bass; during other seasons, sturgeon, salmon, and steelhead lure anglers, solo and with tours. Vic and I scanned the high canyon for Bighorn sheep, but didn’t see any. We did discover Prairie clover, with its fetching purple blossoms. We’ll return at summer’s end and gather some seeds to plant among our sanfoin.

Hot footage

109° in the shade -- I took this picture (from the air-conditioned side of the window) of the thermometer, lying in the shade on our deck, on the north side of our house, at 3:20 p.m.