The landscape change is phenomenal. At first it was just the colours (by the way the mountains are spectacular with something bright scarlet-leaved, spilling down the mountainsides and surrounding the trees, as though the Cascades are pouring lava down their slopes) which changed from the dark greens of the conifers (with a touch of that scarlet) to a mix of lighter green and gold, to golden brown as far as the eye can see. Old worn hills folded into shapeless forms like a carelessly dropped scarf, no sharp edges, everything smooth and folded and old and gold, and far too much sky.
We made Yakima some 4 hours after we set off, four and a half if you add in the pit stop we made in a Real! Honest-to-goodness! Trucker! Pit stop! Diner! (it boasted a stone fireplace wrought in the shape of a turtle. Wearing a hat. A stone sombrero. I kid you not.) The place was flat, and folded, and old, and gold, and cool - and it promises to turn COLD tomorrow. Maybe I should have brought gloves.
I have a presentation to a conference of school librarians tomorrow, and then a repeat of that early on Saturday morning (8:30? Really? You kidding me? Are people going to be awake enough to actually be able to take anything in? Am *I* going to be awake enough to present a coherent presentation...?) and then a booksigning organized by a local bookstore straight after that, and then, at some time between 11 AM and noon, we're heading back across the pass.
I will sure be glad to see my cedars again. But in the meantime we're ensconced in a Yakima hotel waiting for the conference to hit its stride tomorrow. Will let you know how many make it to Saturday morning. Maybe I should announce a doorprize. To be given to someone who actually manages to ask a coherent question at that time in the morning....
More later. Signing off in Yakima.