New ecosystem, different weather, better coffee

This morning we left Drummond, Montana and are staying the night in Cle Elum, Washington, just east of Seattle.  Cle Elem means swift river in a local Indian dialect which references the nearby Columbia River.

Passing through western Montana, the northern tip of Idaho, and much of Washington we saw an incredible range of ecosystems.  Mountain ranges followed by fertile (because they are irrigated) valleys then mountains again.  We saw the first glacier of the trip, snow, and raging rivers swollen with recent rainwater and snowmelt.

Through several states now we have repeatedly seen vast swaths of prairie grasses and wildflowers.  Their contrasting colors give the plains a beautiful variation in color.  Here are three of those plants:

This grass waves beautifully in the wind.
 It's the color of Casssie's hair when she was a baby

Astragalus is a favorite of grazing cattle
and is seen in several color variations

Melilotus is an invasive exotic from Europe
that smells delicious and brightens the prairie

We found this licorice near a wonderful bridge that was built on a pier of natural stone.

Wild licorice.

This yellow flower was a big find for me.  I've seen the plant many many times.  But I only ever see it with giant buds, or giant dandelion-type puffballs like this:

So when I found one in bloom I was pretty excited.  I had no idea the flower was so pretty because, honestly, the plant itself is not.

Tragoponon

We did some collecting by a railroad in Idaho. I made a massed arrangement of wildflowers taken from the terrain you see in the background.  I bet most people never see that there is so much diversity right there behind Cabela's (where Daniel got his wading boots and a titanium cookpot.)  You can see the Lupine and the white mustard.  The container was 25 cents at a shop in South Dakota.  Across the plain states every rundown downtown has a consignment shop (or 2 or 3) where people buy each others junk and clothes.  I left the arrangement, with a note, on a baby changing table at a rest stop in Washington.  Better than leaving a dirty diaper, right?

Preview

In Washington, west of Spokane,  we stopped at this incredible meadow.  The meadow was isolated between the expressway and a county road.  Too small to develop or use for recreation it stays in a natural state waiting to be appreciated by a botanist and his assistant.  The white flowers are Achillea the yellow are Gaillardia and the purple are Lupine.

Geranium

This was a real find! A TBD mallow.

Senecio

Potentilla

Townsendia hookeri a fleabane named
for the famous 19th century Royal Botanical Garden British
botanist who palled around with Darwin and Asa Gray

This little 1" flower stands on a 6" stem
that has the wispiest of leaves and is as slender as a thread. 

We stopped by the Columbia River.  It is a windswept landscape at this point.  In fact, not far from here is a large windmill farm.  This is a type of buckwheat.  

The sign at the edge of the viewpoint gave me pause.  Cassie nearly stepped on a rattlesnake on Father's Day on Mount Beacon in NY.  They are no joke.  I am thinking about getting a snakebite kit.  I often walk on terrain where I can't see the ground.  A bite would be such a bummer.  

We saw another lovely abandoned house.  We've been talking a lot about how beautiful the old abandoned wooden homes are that we see all over the plains and out west.  They are everywhere in various states of ruin.  And they are oddly moving.  This one, like the Wizard of Oz house, also tugged at our hearts.  This is in sharp contrast to the way we feel about the abandoned trailer homes that also dot the landscape.  They are hideous and always will be.  Plastic siding and formaldehyde soaked cabinetry.  Sometimes we see mobile homes next to nice wooden stables.  Isn't it a little sad that the horses live in more beautiful homes than the people do?  More on this later. 

We stopped in Sprague,  a little town in Washington to try to find gas and coffee (they have neither) and saw these amazing trucks.  A yard full of them.

At then end of the day, in Cle Elem, we put on jackets and went to dinner at the Cottage Cafe.  

This morning the air is brilliantly clear, the temperature is cool and the humidity is low.  The mountains in the distance sparkle.  As we head off to Seattle we look forward to better and better coffee, amazing food (you notice we haven't been reporting on the food--there is a reason) and lush gardens to admire.