Lonelilly

Highway 20 is Washington’s northernmost route across the North Cascades. It hugs mountainsides, winds along rivers, climbs to staggering summits, and meanders through fir, hemlock, and pine forests with alpine meadows not too far above. Finally, it follows foothills tapering into the rolling grasslands of the east and begins to dip into wine country. Unfortunately, we had just the afternoon and didn’t make it that far. But I ate up the small bit that I saw of eastern Washington, and I want to go back for seconds.

Honestly, I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest for 2 1/2 years now, and not once have I been across the mountains. (We live in a bit of a bubble over here.) So it was high time that we take a trip–and we need another one. I had jury duty the next day, so we could only go over for the afternoon.

Land is cheap out there, skies are big, and vistas are huge. It’s a place that lends itself to exploring. And it feels like the old West–cowboys on hillsides would not be out of place. Roaming cattle, log cabins, ranches… someday I will run a working farm out there, fingers crossed.

This is the view on the drive through the mountains: