State Highways Best For Seeing The Country
The best way to see America on a road trip is to forget freeways and route yourself to state highways designated by red lines on Washington and Idaho’s official state highway maps. (Montana prefers magenta, a close relative of red.)
For the most part, my family and I stayed off those interstate speedways the thicker green or brown lines when we drove to the Midwest and beyond this spring.
Two exceptions were at the beginning and end of our trip. We sped to Minnesota, where we began our genealogy vacation with the aim to visit the “old homesteads” where our ancestors once lived and are now buried.
On the last day of driving home, I was like a parched horse who gets a whiff of water: Nothing could slow me down. Ahead were children and grandchildren to be hugged. That’s one powerful carrot.
State highways allowed us to travel at a more sane, sightseeing speed of 55 mph, slowing to 30 or so as we drove through small towns. Talk about Americana. While in the Virginias, our two-lane road wound itself through the unbelievably lush Appalachian mountains. In Kentucky, we leisurely passed verdant pastures where sleek, expensive-looking steeds munched “blue” grass. The road - actually a country lane often with no shoulders - was lined with low stone fences built by the earliest Europeans to settle there. Elsewhere were short white (sometimes black) wood fences that say “Kentucky” by their very presence.
We would have made far better time on the freeway, but time wasn’t the object. We wanted to see what our ancestors saw; walk or drive our van where they walked or drove their wagons.
Still, I know we didn’t literally follow our grandparents’ paths. The 20 miles we’d drive in mere minutes would have taken them two days to cover.
Walla Walla: Land of many waters
At last, a definition of the town 159 miles south of Spokane in the heart of the undulating Palouse Hills.
Historians say Walla Walla was coined by the Native Americans to describe the valley with its “small rapid streams” or “many waters,” according to “Destination Walla Walla,” the 1999 Visitors Guide.
The 64-page magazine tells readers the attractions about the Walla Walla Valley under the headings of:
History: The Whitman Mission National Historic Site;
Arts & Entertainment: Walla Walla has enough appeal for inclusion in John Vilanni’s “100 Best Small Art Towns in America”;
Recreation: The Blue Mountains, hiking trails where Lewis and Clark trekked; golfing, bicycling;
Day trips: Palouse Falls and the Marmes Archaeological Site, historic town of Dayton;
Events & Lodging: A listing of things to do and places to stay this summer.
The above descriptions are only a smattering of the many listed in the free publication printed by the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. For a copy, call the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce at (509) 525-0850.
Sleepless in Seattle
The Mayflower Park Hotel, Seattle’s only member of the Historic Hotels of America, is offering the package “History Never Sleeps.”
The Mayflower, built in 1927, has been meticulously restored by owners Birney and Marie Dempcy, and is one of the few independently owned and operated hotels in Seattle.
The package includes a guestroom or suite, continental breakfast, two tickets to a Broadway show in the restored Fifth Avenue Theater built in 1926; tickets to the city’s Historic Underground Tour, and to the Seattle Art Museum and Asian Art Museum, Seattle’s oldest and newest art museums. All that and a copy of the “National Trust Guide to Seattle.”
Package prices range from $350 to $450. Call (800) 426-5100 for reservations.
How-to cowboy
The Running Y Ranch Resort near Klamath Falls, Ore., will teach wannabe cowboys (and cowgirls) the skills and traditions of the West’s most enduring icon: the cowboy. The school will teach the essential skills of roping, cutting and horsemanship.
Three-day camps are scheduled for June 25-27, Oct. 8-10 and Oct. 20-22. More sessions may be added.
For more information, call Amy Cavallaro at the Running Y Ranch Resort, (541) 850-5572.