Saturday, August 21, 2010

Gallivanting on the Palouse

(photoquarry.net)
A week ago, we took a short road trip to the Washington Palouse. The Palouse is the area of Washington and Idaho characterized by rolling hills of golden wheat.
The Palouse extends from the Moscow, Idaho area to around Walla Walla, Washington. The word Palouse originated from the the Palus tribe. French Canadian fur traders changed the name to "pelouse" meaning "lawn." Later the name changed to Palouse.
It is gorgeous! The most beautiful rolling hills I have ever seen! Every few miles you'll see a small farm tucked inside a valley or a farmer harvesting the wheat on his combine. It is picturesque!

 I left from Spokane and headed down Highway 27 straight to Oakesdale.


This about the extent of the town of Oakesdale:


One thing that makes Oakesdale one of my favorite little towns of the Palouse is The Old Mill. It is owned by MaryJane Butters.

You can read more about this historic flour mill here.




Beautiful Sites on the Way to Tekoa



We peeked in this deserted old house.



And then we found this gigantic angry bull staring at us from his flimsy little corral!

So we got the heck out of this place and on the road to Tekoa to find lunch.





After lunch, we were moving on to Latah.

Not much to see in Latah...

So we moved on to Fairfield.


Not much to see in Fairfield, either...so we moved on to Rockford! (I knew there would be good stuff here!)


We LOVED the Hurd Mercantile! Some fabulous finds!


After Rockford we took Valley Chapel Rd. Where does this go, you ask? To Valley Chapel, of course!
Another one of my all-time favorite places of the Palouse!

I LOVE this place! It is surrounded by wheat fields as far as you can see. Perfect place for a country wedding!
We took some great pics here, too!



We had a splendid time exploring the Palouse. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend a road trip through the Palouse. There are many, many more sites to see!





3 comments:

  1. This trip was mega-fun. And I was craving that seriously good caramel today...next time I'm buying a bag!

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  2. Don't you just love the HURD! It's one of my favorites!

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  3. That looked fun! I love small town tours!!! And I love that store in Rockford=)!!
    Hollie

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