Washington’s Palouse region is one of those places that when you see it you just fall in love with the place.  There is a quiet beauty that just gets under your skin and the rolling hills that seem to stretch into infinity are breathtaking.  Each time we find ourselves there is as if we were coming for the first time and we just get giddy with excitement!

This time we were visiting our close friends Chris and Connie in Coeur d’Alene when we all got excited about heading down to the Palouse.  They have become experts on the region so we couldn’t have had better guides for seeing some of the off the beaten path areas.

From a photographic standpoint, I had my DSLR with me but also brought something new.  I had recently gotten into the Fuji X system and had along the Fuji X-E1 with the 18-55mm lens.  Very exciting cam and just a lot of fun to use.  I had no interest to pull out the big rig and chose to just enjoy the smaller system.  Have no regrets about that decision and it was a blast using the Fuji!

We went down many a twisted dirt paths and for the most part had the region to ourselves.  Just the way we like it.  And yeah, the day was stunning.  Very warm, blue skies, scattered puffy clouds, occasional breeze.

I love old trucks…if I had a farm or lots of land I would have to have a whole lineup of them!  Always awesome to find one of these relics out in the field and pause to imagine its history.  We would have loved to jump in and drive off into the fields, with Stan the dog as copilot!

Besides the old trucks and machinery, checking out old abandoned homesteads is just fascinating.  Just makes me wonder what families lived there, who they were, what they farmed, how much they laughed or cried.  The stories they could tell.  Was this their dream home…are any of them still in the region?

Did I already mention how much we love the area?  Simple and quiet beauty that makes my heart rejoice….

The towns in the area are also worth visiting; you just never know what you’ll find but history is around every corner.  We so much enjoy such things and appreciate it more with each passing year.  This stuff is fading away and that is sad.

A big thanks again to our friends Chris and Connie for showing us some real sweet spots…off the map!

* * *

Stan may like the old trucks just fine, but he’s a modern gentleman-of-a-dog and enjoys certain comforts, such as air conditioning…or a wet towel on his head when the AC is off.  If I could only get him to enjoy a cigar now and then!