The Palouse

 Day 1  Started our road trip today and spent time driving through Eastern Washington, an area called the Palouse, named  (in one theory) by French Canadian settlers “grassland country” (La Palouse) for the binch grass that used to cover the region,   The miles and miles of windblown hills (silt dunes blown in from glacial outwash to the west and south) are very fertile and it is now a highly productive agricultural land with mostly wheat and legumes.    Much of the wheat is “soft “wheat and is exported to Asia.  I’ve been here in the spring when it’s all green, so seeing it  in the fall is a different palette of gold and brown,    We drove up Steptoe Butte, a mound of older quarxite and a National Natural landmark, for the extensive view.    The patterns and shapes are wonderful!  You can see mountains in the back (one of the  extras) and also now there are many wind generators dot the landscape. The landscape changes so dramatically in these 10 days--this looks like what we came back to in Oregon on day 10.