Sojourn to Spokane

SEPTEMBER, 2024: On a road trip to Spokane since Tuesday. Arrived here this afternoon to view my grandparents gravesite: Benjamin Young Gregory and his wife, Serena. Their combined site is at the Fairmont Memorial cemetery, a rather impressive place. The grounds are huge but since my grandparents were buried in 1961 and 1965 respectively, they were quite close to the front of the property so their resting place was easily found. Mother was born late in their life, sometime in their forties, I guess.

Pappy and Grandmother were quite old when we were little girls but my time with them still glitters in my heart. I have fond memories of their home where we often stayed between Dad’s jobs as an engineer, that is until we moved permanently to Alaska where I spent my second grade through high school. Once in Alaska there were infrequent trips to Spokane so my memory of them fades after first grade.

I’m not sure why I was so compelled to drive all the way to Spokane from Orcas Island (6+ hours) to visit their resting place but I have wanted to do the trip for several years. Parts of it were grueling with long stretches of endless highway.

I took highway 2 around Everett. Quite a nice drive though small communities, winding roads with heavily forested terrain and rugged mountain ranges. After Stevens pass, which was gorgeous and reminded me of Northern CA, the land smoothed and grew warmer, hot even. We lost the forests; in came huge chunks of ancient basalt ridges that jetted up out of nowhere. The countryside palette changed dramatically into dry, wheat colored hills which continued into the Wenatchee valley.

We edged along the massive Columbia River this morning, then down into field after field of apple trees which turned into flat, agriculture land of I don’t know what. As we drove closer to Spokane the air cooled and a rainstorm pelted us. Soon after we cruised into miles and miles of a dust storm that reminded me of the old Dust Bowl days. A tumble weed brushed passed the car. I wondered if I was on the right planet there was so much diversity…

Still I’m here and then I turn around and head back tomorrow afternoon. For some reason all of this driving is freeing my mind of the drivel that bombards me these days…