Blogs from Walla Walla, Washington, United States, North America

THE MULLAN ROAD One of the long held American dreams was finding The Northwest Passage. Lewis and Clark went to look for it in 1804 and discovered that no such water route existed. However, a land connection between the head of navigation on the Missouri River and the Columbia River was possible and that would complete the Northwest Passage. That route was surveyed by Isaac Stevens in 1854 as a potential route for a transcontinental railroad. Stevens knew that a wagon road would be needed to build the railroad and put his buddy, Lt John Mullan, in charge of building it. Mullan had just graduated from West Point in 1852. West Point was the top notch engineering college in the whole country back then. The best engineers all came from there. By 1856 Congress had passed ... read more

OOOMPH……THUMP She was only 20 when she died. It was most likely from a tangled child birth. Her husband, John, loved her so dearly. He put up a huge headstone to honor her memory. Fifty years later a man named Frank Finkel died and was buried nearby. Frank had been in the ground for 87 years when the Oliver Family decided to stop by the cemetery in Dayton, WA to pay their respects at his grave. Finkel is now thought to be the only survivor of Custer’s Last Stand. He was serving in C Troop, commanded by Tom Custer. Early in the fight he had raised his rifle to shoot while mounted on his horse when a bullet struck the stock of his rifle. Splinters flew into his face and stunned him. The blood flow made ... read more

We were up early and off from Kimberley for a planned stay at Moscow on Sunday night. As usual, the stay at Chateau Kimberley was wonderful. It is a boutique hotel combined with an art gallery, so there is lots to muse on while there. The real tourist part of the trip started at Sandpoint with our morning coffee stop at Mad Mike’s Coffee House. Thankfully, they had run out of their great cinnamon buns, so we avoided several hundred calories right off the bat. While standing by the car waiting for Les to do her required inspection of Cold Water Creek clothing store, I witnessed a strange conflict between a ‘rules based’ guy in a car and a ‘free based’ guy who was walking. It all came about when the rules-based guy stopped his left ... read more

Our children are ours for just a season. And it is a fleeting one at that. Once upon a little girl time, this writer was a mighty hero who could perform magic for his daughter. Like the time I carried her--my six-year-old princess--in my arms and took her outside to enjoy the shade of the giant evergreens that stood ever vigilant on the north side of our home. The crisp melody of the slow moving creek found an accompanying harmony line from a gallery of sparrows and finches hopping from branch to branch overhead. Nearby, a butterfly tentatively circled a very pregnant plum tree. Those were the good old days, that special time when I could still carry my daughter and bond with her. A small capsule of existence before a little girl morphs into a ... read more

Fort Walla Walla was our next stop after Klickers and was our first place we got lost looking for. I did learn quite a bit about Walla Walla just driving around the town though. I had no idea that they had so many colleges and small universities down there and I think that we managed to find all of them. When we finally found the fort it was rather impressive. It isn't just a museum of the fort, it is a collection of history through hundreds of years from Walla Walla. Both Native American and American Settlers and Soldiers are represented here at the fort. If you are ever in the area I would recommend making time to stop by. This entry is going to be more of a photo blog then anything else as seeing ... read more