In Transit: Spokane, Walla Walla, and the wilds

[Note: Got back from Washington on the 15th, just now finishing this. Slack I am.]

What a trip. For a change, I mean this in a good way. I flew from Salt Lake City to Spokane, WA on Tuesday afternoon, where Lindsay met me, having flown up from Boise. I picked up the rental car, and we hit the road for Walla Walla, which is a not-quite-three-hour drive.

The scenery is not exciting on that particular stretch, taking I-90 down to Pasco, then cutting about 50 miles east. Low hills, mainly, and snow-covered, especially near Spokane. Being both farther north, and on the eastern edge of the Pacific time zone, night falls very early.

Arriving in Walla Walla, Lindsay spotted Aloha Sushi, so we pulled in and went in for some dinner. I was very impressed. First off, they use real wasabi, rather than the horseradish-based paste that most of us get; it's a subtle difference, and I'm not really sure I could explain it, but it was a nice touch. I (along with about 90% of the country) had never tried it before, so it was at least something new. The price of the sushi was a little high, but the servings were larger as well; the rolls were longer, and the pieces of fish on the nigiri were thicker. The chef on duty, J.B., did an excellent job of taking care of us.

Walla Walla is a hub for eastern Washington's wine country, where the weather is nearly ideal for cultivating grapes for Merlot and Syrah wines. It has the feel of a city on its way back up; the wine industry is relatively new there, and has been increasing in popularity, which is drawing in a fair amount of outside money (caveat: do I look like an economist? I derive these statements from conversations with locals.). Combined with a local university presence, the small downtown area has a very artsy feel to it; it seemed like there were several wineries per block, along with art stores, delis, and restaurants.

The job on Wednesday went as well as I could have hoped. Everything was in place and worked the first time. The customer was attentive and knowledgeable, and asked all the right questions. When I think about my recent trips, this was a welcome departure. For dinner, we hit Grapefields, a downtown restaurant. If you ever find yourself in Walla Walla (unlikely, I know), go to this place. Just trust me. It's a little pricey, but it was worth it. They've got an excellent local wine selection, and our server was friendly and helpful. The food was amazing.

Thursday we had all to ourselves. The morning was spent walking around downtown; we visited a couple of wineries (Seven Hills and Spring Valley), bought some wine to take home, visited the local comic book shop, had lunch at Luscious by Nature (chili quite good, sandwich adequate), and finally hit the road north to Spokane.

The original plan was to take the more directly northern route, on slower roads, but a more scenic area. On the way, we spotted a sign for Palouse Falls State Park. Unwilling to pass up a waterfall without taking pictures, we took a quick detour which turned into a major diversion.
Thirty to forty minutes of driving led us to a dirt road which itself led to a cliffside overlook opposite the falls.

Words fail, really. It's enormous, as the Palouse River plummets 200 feet into a basalt canyon, flowing from there to join the Snake River about six miles away. I've posted one picture to Flickr so far, but I've taken several panorama shots that give a better idea of the scale of the place; they'll go up soon. The more I use it (not enough, yet) the happier I am with my new camera. There's a lot of potential here just waiting for me to find it. It's the sort of thing that makes me think upgrading was the right decision, despite the cost.

Continuing our detour led us back to I-90, and eventually to Spokane. Before leaving Walla Walla, we'd picked up some bread, salami, and cheese to eat as an ersatz picnic on the drive, so we didn't bother going anywhere else for dinner.

The rental vehicle this time? A Ford Explorer. This is a comfortable vehicle, but otherwise unremarkable. The gas mileage is also not so great.

Sidelong

Sidelong
Originally uploaded by Blackwyr

Here's my first Flickr picture from my new camera. Java is an excellent photographic subject, being both photogenic and lethargic.

George is far more difficult, being very fuzzy, all one color, and terrified of the camera.

In Transit: Salt Lake City

This is my first time in the Salt Lake City airport, and my first time in Utah, for that matter. Based on limited exposure, and benefiting entirely by comparison to Atlanta, this is a very nice airport. It's spacious, easy to get around in, and has huge windows with nice views of the nearby snow-capped mountains.

That said, the flight here was a bit of a grind. I was lucky to get the seat I did, but 3:45 spent in the middle seat is tough. We'll see how the flight is from here to Spokane.

It's been a long year already, travel-wise: Lexington, KY; Secaucus, NJ; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA (those last three all in one trip); Chicago, IL; and now I'm on my way to Walla Walla, Washington, by way of Salt Lake City and Spokane. These have not, for the most part, been "fun" trips (though I did make sure to have dinner at Mandoo a couple of times while in the city). In fact, it's been more like one damn thing after another.

Lexington was boring and difficult. Secaucus was an emergency trip where I got the call Thursday night and flew out Friday morning--no pressure. New York was one of those trips where I was playing production tech and building the equipment on-site. In Philadelphia, I had a rare and unfortunate experience with the difficulties one has when one lets the Magic Smoke out of electronic equipment. Chicago was a simple but difficult two-day slog, in blizzard conditions. Fortunately, I'm awesome, but it doesn't leave much time or energy for things like photography and blogging. This trip is going to be cake, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing a part of the country I've never visited before.

As I mentioned before, I've bought a Pentax K10D digital SLR camera. It's my first SLR-type camera, and I'm still getting used to having far more flexibility than ever before. That, and I have to fight the temptation to buy more lenses without even having taken many pictures with the one I've got. With good luck, the weather will stay nice enough that I can give it a proper workout this week.

Here We Go Again

It's time to get back to regular updates, and I think this is a good place to start: Atlanta.

There's a reason I try to avoid flying into, out of, or through Atlanta, and that's because it's a crowded pit of Hell. I'm flying Alaska Airlines this time out, and good luck finding anything that indicates where you're supposed to check in. Even the shuttle driver didn't know which terminal to stop at (hint: he picked the wrong one). The attendants at the terminals also don't know which one you should check in at.

Check in at Delta. There aren't any signs, and if you ask, they'll tell you the wrong thing, but if you're flying Alaska, check in at Delta. Trust me. I Do Not Lie.

I missed the flight this morning because of the delays, and not being able to check a bag after 45 minutes prior to flight time. With the amount of tools I carry with me, I have to check a bag, so I was out of luck. Fortunately, they were able to scrounge up a seat on a flight not too much later than the first, and I'm typing this in the terminal right now. There's a pretty good crowd at the gate; not surprising, as almost all of the flights to Salt Lake City are full.

Lots of kids on this flight, too, if the population here is any indication. I'll be alright once I salvage a AAA battery from my wireless mouse to power my noise-canceling headphones (thanks, Jim!).

I've purchased a new camera, specifically, the Pentax K10D that I've been looking at for what feels like forever. The latest pictures in my Flickr gallery were taken with it, and I think I'm going to get a lot of good use out of it.

Flight's boarding. We'll discuss this further in Salt Lake City.