Day 15: Central Washington to Seattle

Today, I covered stuff from Yakima to Issaquah -- two great Native American names. The terrain was once again pretty rugged until we got to the Wenatchee mountains. Then there were forests of pine trees - finally! We're approaching the 9,000 mile mark and not even halfway through this trip. My credit card bill is going to be scary. Gas has been $3.99 - $4.09 per gallon lately.

I forgot to include this photo from yesterday. I don't know how old this KFC building is but I haven't seen one like it in ages. It's probably the same vintage (1970s?) as all those mansard roofed McDonald's that are still everywhere. This is from Richland, WA:



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Another rarity -- a still operating Color Tile store in Yakima:



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This building in Yakima intrigued me. I don't know what it was originally used for but there were also a couple similarly designed smaller buildings in back that make me think this was a restaurant and motel complex at one time. Although I suppose it could have just been a shopping village. Regardless, very pretty roofs and details:





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Here's a unique and densely decorated house in Ellensburg known as Dick and Jane's Spot. 10,000 bottle caps and reflectors went into it and there are pieces from 40 different artists:
http://www.reflectorart.com/spot/index.html





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I hope they never repaint this old building:



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This marquee sign stood in the middle of nowhere in Quincy. It probably advertised for a drive-in or a movie theatre or possibly even a shopping center. All that's there now behind it is pavement, trucks and scruffy vegetation.





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In the late afternoon, we went to a legitimate and wonderful dog park in Redmond. The dogs had a blast. Though Nik is limping a bit now on his front right leg from wiping out a few times while running on soft dirt yesterday. Marymoor Park has 35 acres of off-leash trails through meadows and lots of river access. It claims to be the largest dog park in the state. I found out afterwards that it has free wi-fi, too. Here's a map that gives you a sense of the park's size and organization:
http://www.soda.org/map.html

I'm probably going to continue posting to this blog in the morning rather than when I'm fried at night. My memory might be a bit more blurred but my sentence structure should be better.