Last week, my husband and I were all packed up and driving on our way to do a tour of Washington wine and farmland country when our check engine light turned on and the car started smoking. I jumped out so fast that I spilled my coffee. At that moment, our Walla Walla trip was over before it even began.
However,
Ellensburg proved to be a welcoming college town with a number of well preserved historic buildings, and our 30 hour visit proved memorable, although not at all what we'd planned.
We had been preparing to stay one night out on a family member's farm in the Palouse, yet it turns out that the closest I got to a wheat field was while I was standing there on the side of that highway in 93 degree heat. I did see a lot of hay go by on large semi trucks though. Over 90% of the Timothy Hay grown in Ellensburg gets sent to Japan. It's like fine French wine, Cuban cigars, or any other commodity that has a strong lineage directly linked to it's landscape. Just as our server at Brix Elevage Wine Bar was telling us about his friend who reps this hay, in he walked with two Japanese customers who were in town for that sole purpose. We were introduced, and later we went over to talk with them since one of our daughters is in Japan right now.
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| Detail of a John Ford Clymer Painting at the Clymer Museum |
We spent time on Thursday and Friday at Ellensburg WineWorks and if you are ever here, be sure to do one of their tastings and buy some wine. It's important to note that you can get a glass of great wine for under $7 in this town! Plus, if sun is what you are looking for, the weather on Friday was 97 degrees (30 degrees higher than Seattle).
Sometimes it turns out that being stuck isn't entirely bad...
