Since we have made our way to a new chapter at 12mph.com, it’s time to change the photo in our header to reflect our home base. Here is the photo that we’re now using:
I made this photo at the top of Steptoe Butte on July 1, 2020, which was Steve’s birthday last year. We packed a lunch that included peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drove to the parking lot at the top of the butte. We sat in the truck and soaked up these magnificent views. It was a VERY windy day and chilly for mid-summer. The clouds were brooding as one can see in the photo. The mountains in the distance are the beginning of the Rocky Mountains of Idaho. These are located in the Clearwater National Forest. A popular one for us is Moscow Mountain, which is a 25 minute drive from our home in Pullman.
The Palouse (pronounced Pa-Loos) Hills Region of the Northwest encompasses parts of Southeastern Washington, North Central Idaho, and Northeastern Oregon. Beneath the rolling hills that one sees is basalt rock . The area is known for its agriculture, which includes wheat, barley, chickpeas, and other legumes. The soil is of loess (pronounce lus like the “u” in luck).
In our short experience of just a year of residing here, each season on the Palouse provides a unique patchwork quilt appearance. In spring we have brilliant greens of new crops growing and yellows from blooming rapeseed. By summer, we move into a variety of greens depending on the crop variety and the blonde of winter wheat ready to be harvested. By late summer harvest is in full swing (although this year, the drought and excessive heat brought harvest earlier), so the patchwork has many tans, gold, and browns. Over winter, textures seem to take precedence with stubble and pronounced parallel lines of crop furrows left from harvest providing interest as well as occasional snow blanketing the hills and valleys. Of course, clouds and wildfire smoke can make for a moodier looking landscape.
We have been blessed with living in the Midwest, along the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, and now embracing the Palouse Region of the Inland Northwest.
May you have beauty wherever you live or hang your hat!
“Happily Retired at the Speed of Sanity”
Diane and Steve