...In 24 hours...

I have no idea what this was caused from, but it was in the sky and I found it really interesting.

It is absolutely amazing at what you can see, do and accomplish in just a 24 hour time period.

 We left Lyman, Washington and in five hours time we were in Ritzville, Washington. (south-east part of the state)  Ritzville is this quaint little town on highway 90 not too far from Spokane.  Going over we took Snoqualime Pass.  The mountains were just phenomenal. So phenomenal, that I took only 125 pictures as we drove by 70 mph. Ya. I call that  "window photography"  It's a blast. You never know what you are going to get in the picture. Hah. You are probably wondering what the whole purpose of this whole trip was? ~Hiking~ We headed south of Washtucna to a trail-head. The hike was from Lyons Ferry over to Palous Falls. Two words. Painful & incredible. That pretty much sums up the hike.  However, I will fill you in a little bit about the details. It was rated as a 10. 1 being easy, 10 being extremely challenging. I felt like a mountain goat parts of the hike. Portions were STRAIGHT uphill over rocky ground that never seemed to end and many NARROW animal trails on the edge of cliffs dropping down hundreds of feet into the Snake and Palous River. At some parts I felt like a beaver or something. We bush-whacked our way through this overgrown, dried up pond. Other times, I felt like I was an eagle looking down from the sky at this magnificent river and canyons and hills and deserts. It reminded me of the Grand Canyon at one point.  I even saw cougar tracks in one of the canyons. Along the whole hike I heard and saw Meadowlarks. They have such a beautiful call: http://youtu.be/3o0FC7aqg94  I also saw/heard several canyon wrens, bald eagles, rough-legged hawks, red-tailed hawks, marmots, voles, grouse, wild turkeys, butterfly's and at the end, a huge flock of american goldfinches greeted me. 

I named this hike, "photographer's paradise." I could keep typing all day about all the great things, but I have typed quite enough, I think. 

Now. My Favorite Part. Picture Time.

(By the way, I only took 328 photos)

 Going over the pass.

:)

 Windmill Time (In Ellensburg) - all along the sides of the road....in the rolling hills as far as the eye can see - are windmills. It's pretty interesting, really.  You don't even realize how BIG they are! 

                                                     Now, approaching the town....

This is my favorite

The Hike....

The Beauty of our Earth Never Ceases to Amaze Me!

 Sorry that post was so long, It was just a wonderful 24 hours!