April 25 — O-Mo-Spo

April 25, 2022

We spent most of today driving from Olympia to Spokane. It is a 5-hour drive, but it seemed longer. Most of it is frightfully boring, and the rest is just plain frightening. 

We started out by driving toward Seattle on I-5. Seattle, of course, has some of the worst traffic in the US. In addition to all the usual traffic, there are logging trucks loaded with giant trees everywhere. Both sides of the highway seemed to be lined with RV lots and huge enigmatic warehouses. Fortunately, we got to turn off I-5 before we reached the worst of the Seattle congestion. 

Between I-5 and I-90 we passed small farms, lots of horses, and a few cows. Also, a surprising number of Indian casinos. Who goes to them?

We entered the foothills of the Cascades and the scenery changed dramatically. We found ourselves driving through dense inaccessible evergreen forest.

As we gained altitude, the weather began to deteriorate.  We were headed for Snoqualmie Pass (elevation 2,726 ft), where we would cross over the Cascades to “the other side.”

At the top of the pass there was snow on the slopes, but fortunately, it was only raining. Driving along at 70 mph next to big semis was terrifying, especially when the spray from the wet road got really bad. Up, up, up we climbed. The trees thinned out.

A big lake, then down, down, down. I hope all of these semis have good brakes. Suddenly, we are in the middle of a flat, arid expanse. It’s mostly empty. The logging trucks have given way to trucks loaded with bales of hay — an important crop in this area. And so begins the boring part.

I picked Moses Lake for our walk today because it seemed like a good place to stop and break up our trip. It did break up our trip.

It’s not that Moses Lake was bad. It wasn’t. But it wasn’t especially good (though I may have missed the good parts during my brief visit). It was just sorely lacking in charm and character. I tried to find some interesting history or facts about Moses Lake, but the internet did not oblige.

We started our walk on a nice enough lakeside path. Well, it would have been nice if the sprinkler system hadn’t been blasting the path. It was impossible to walk there without getting soaked. We got wet during the first five seconds we tried to walk there. We improvised a detour and came back at the end of the walk to take a picture.

From the lakeside path we passed through “downtown.” There were a surprising number of Mexican restaurants and bars here. Maybe not surprising, given the prominent role of agriculture here. Then we passed a middle school and a large sports field. 

At McCosh Park we saw tennis courts, a picnic shelter and public restrooms (closed). We continued to the Peace Memorial. This could just as easily have been called a War Memorial or a Veterans’ Memorial. But it was a nice idea.

There was a very nice-looking public pool (closed for the season). Public restrooms (closed). Playground (empty, but presumably open). Then a Japanese Peace Garden and public restrooms (both closed for the season).

There was a locked gate, but the camera allowed us to see what lay inside the Japanese Peace Garden

Police station (open). Civic Center Park. Library (open). 9/11 Memorial. A Drought Tolerant Garden. Public restrooms (closed). Civic Center, City Hall, Museum and Art Center (nice building).

Municipal Court. Veterans’ Memorial. Community gardens.

Public sculptures and Town Clock. 

And back to the car. 

We saw very few people, walking or driving. It seemed so empty. The town wasn’t run down. Much of it looked rather new. And rather dull.  There were some nice pieces of public art, though.

My favorite thing in Moses Lake

Are those bullrushes growing by the shore?

And there you have it. Olympia to Moses Lake to Spokane.