Seeking a Different Sky

Sometimes the fall sky gets so heavy in Seattle. It drops low, a big gray blanket that covers everything and drags your spirits down. We had four days of miserable weather, cold and wet and dismal. Every afternoon last week I’d wander into the kitchen around four muttering. “What the hell? Why is it so damn dark already?!” We had a break on Thursday when we wandered around the neighborhood greeting people who were just as relieved as we were to see the sun. It wasn’t going to last so there was only one option: It was time to get the hell out of town.

It’s a tough call in Seattle when you’re seeking sun. There are those who plunk down the credit card and book tickets to Vegas, others who shell out a little more and head for Mexico or Hawaii. We had only the weekend and I wanted my transit time to be part of the adventure. I’d narrowed it down to two destinations: Eastern Washington or the coast. Our last weekend away was to the coast so we picked Eastern Washington. Plus, it’s supposed to be sunny there.

Sunny it was, thank god, but wow, was it cold! This morning we awoke to frost covered sidewalks and a below freezing bite to the air. We didn’t care. The sun was out and it was another beautiful morning. And though my belly is full of diner style road food, I feel lighter from seeing different colors over the last few days.

Eastern Washington is golden brown at this time of year, the sage is a scrubby dry gray, the birch trees are white with sparkling leaves that look like real gold leaf. The espaliered fruit trees still hold a few pomegranate red apples even if the fruit stands are shut tight. We had a sound track of county music and Mexican radio, a cheap hotel across the parking lot from the gun show, and empty four lane roads lined with decaying neon. The sky was high and blue and gas was cheap enough to make taking a short road trip seem less like a decadent shopping spree and more like feeding a sun-starved soul.

Washington State is a wonderland and if the Yakima sidewalks rolled up a little too early and the Chamber of Commerce propaganda was out of date, it doesn’t mean we didn’t find one of the oldest and most popular diners in town stuffed to bursting with the girls volleyball team, their grandparents, and a waitress with hair and makeup that said “I am getting out of this town some day, I don’t care if I have to go on Project Runway to do it.”

I scored two vintage Hawaiian shirts at the second hand store, J, got a nice new wool hat, and wow, that was the best damn coffee mocha milkshake I’ve had since summer. Whew, it was good to get out of town.

Pictures are here.