I know I’m posting a bunch of photos of the wildflowers, but gosh, they’re so pretty! Nolemana and I get our second vaccines this Saturday, April 3rd, and after two weeks, I’d love for us to be able to take an overnight road trip. We can get someone to feed the kitties, and it’d be wonderful to see the wildflowers in person, maybe a bit further away this time. We’ll see.

Here’s a video that shows how beautiful it was. And windy, too.

What a view!

It’s definitely a primitive road, though easily passable if you drive slow. But who’d want to hurry, anyway, and rush through all this beauty?

I finally got a photo of a Western Kingbird!! I won’t show you the major blurry ones…these guys don’t hold still for very long!

Oh my gosh! Two of them!!

I think this is the clearest photo that I was able to get.

We came again to the old barn we’d seen before on other trips, and it was still standing!

I must admit that I feel like that roof sometimes, especially during this past year.

Poor old thing. At one time it must have been wonderful to see, providing shelter for cattle. But the winds, rain, snow, and age have really done a number on it.

We rounded another curve, and once again saw a view of the Columbia RIver.

I couldn’t help but think how different the river would have looked before all the dams were put into place. Sometimes there are whitecaps on the river, but it still doesn’t look anything like it did centuries ago.

Here’s a video I took from up there. Ho da wind!

Pīpī!!!!! It always makes me so happy to get photos of them for AFK.

The beautiful wildflowers were everywhere. Seeing them as I post makes me even more determined to get out and see them again this year.

Do you see what I see?

Yeah, it’s an old farmhouse back in there. I wished that it could tell the stories of the people who lived in it, like I do with all the old houses we come across. Today I’m greeted only with silence.

We came to Dalles Mountain Ranch and other silent stories.

This old wagon sits at the corner of the property.

Zooming in so that you can read the side of it. I find it fascinating that the ranch actually had an address, which confirms that there were other homesteads here. If you want to read more about the ranch, try go here. And here. There are lots of hikes around the ranch, which I didn’t know about then.

There was lots of Arrowhead Balsamroot up here, too. Seeing the sunshiny colors made me so happy!

I love purple and gold together; it probably has to do with the fact that they’re complementary colors at opposite sides of the color wheel. I love spinning yarns with those colors, too.

I’ve always loved this old gate, too. There’s quite a contrast between it and the power lines, yeah?

K’den, pau for now. Next time we’ll be down on Washington State Highway 14 and on our way home.