Beginning in Washington's largest city (Seattle) on Interstate 90 you travel across Lake Washington past more surrounding cityscapes, then on to heavily brushed forests and mountains, farmlands, desert, the mighty Columbia River, the Scablands, Sprague Lake, pine forests and Washington's second largest city (Spokane) - all tantalize your senses along the Interstate 90 route.
What I especially enjoy is the change in the weather and the scenery as you cross the Cascade Mountains. Usually it is cloudy and raining here a lot in the spring. Once you get across the mountains you are greeted by sunshine.
The trip home was different as it rained in eastern Washington after a few days there. Around Ellensburg the clouds were billowing and the sun sprinkled huge rays over the southern part of the city. It was a beautiful sight.
I made a big mistake this trip; I forgot my digital camera. The photos of the sunrays escaped me. I remember this happened another time, so maybe I'll be lucky to catch this again. The bugs were so thick on the windshield it probably wouldn't have been a great photo anyway (I was on the wrong side to roll down the window).
Any of the areas mentioned deserve some time here, but I want to concentrate on some areas I haven't covered before: a couple of the lakes in northeast Washington that are off the beaten path. Since we have nearly 8,000 lakes in Washington (not to mention over 40,000 miles of rivers and streams) I could write a book about them, but for now I'll concentrate on a few within driving distance of Spokane.
Loon Lake, http://www.ohwy.com/wa/l/loonlake.htm> , northeast of Spokane, is one. We found a typical tiny lake town with not much there. The community is not quite what we pictured, but the lake is beautiful. We were there earlier in the month and there was still ice on the lake. Since we live on the west side of Washington where lakes rarely ice up, this was something new for us. Now the ice is gone.
The drive north of Spokane on Highway 395 to Loon Lake is beautiful: rolling farmlands with mountains on each side. But look for signs for the turnoff. You can see Mt. Spokane, a ski area, in the distance to the east. Then you get in some forested lands (mostly pine) as you near the lake. Definitely worth a drive. But don't expect a resort town. Houses are packed in like cordwood and the town appears to lack a lot of amenities. The above link does have some rental information.
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