I read a lot about photographing in the Palouse region of Washington State and saw many fantastic photos. We decided to make a trip there and see if I can capture some of the beautiful sceneries myself. Many said that just going there once would not be enough. So we scouted out the place during this first trip, captured some images, and hope to come back again and do better!

Spokane, WA; Tuesday, June 17, 2014

It was a pretty exhausting day of traveling from Boston to Spokane. We left the house around 1pm for the 4:20pm flight to Denver. Then changed flight at Denver which left after 10pm local time and got to Spokane just before mid-night. It was cold and raining in Spokane, in the 50's. Thankfully we packed warmer clothes and had to pull them out after we got our luggage.

The Ramada hotel at the airport was so close we could have literally walked there. We picked up our rental jeep and drove across the street to the hotel. The hotel was supposed to be all non-smoking, but our room reeked of smoke! We had to change to a different room which was better. There was a dog barking in the next room, and a man coughing. Sigh .... But we were tired enough and fell asleep after the shower. Good thing about this hotel was that the water pressure was good and the sink/tub drainage was good. Bed was comfortable and room was adequately clean. For just one night, it was OK.

Pray the day would clear up tomorrow! 

Colfax, WA; Wednesday, June 18, 2014

I got up before 7am local time (after waking up a couple of times), and Bob got up shortly after I did. The rain had stopped and changed to drizzle - hopefully this was the last wet day of this trip, if the weather forecast could be trusted!

After having breakfast in the hotel, we got on the road towards the Palouse region. We took 195 S in the drizzling rain. Made a stop at one of the grocery stores and picked up water, paper towels, etc. The Palouse scenic highway starts from Rosalia. But the scenery started to be nice even before that. Even though the weather was pretty miserable, the beauty of the Palouse region did not fail to impress us. The rolling fields with different shades of green were just so gorgeous! It took us more than 6 hours to get to our hotel which was only about 60 miles from Spokane. We took our time and wanted to explore as much as we could. Here's what we did:

Took 195 to Rosalia then turned onto 271towards Tekoa. Then took Lone Pine Rd which later joined 27 to Oakesdale. Then took another road (which we thought was Oakesdale Rd but turned out not to be) back to 195 S. A mile or so down, took Cashup Flat Rd which has some really nice sceneries including a beautiful yellow canola field. From Cashup Flat Rd, we took a road called Tiegs Rd which would lead us back to 195. But the gravel road stopped and we saw a sign saying the road is closed November thru March (winter). We thought this was June so it's probably OK. WRONG! Less than a mile down, our car was stuck in MUD! Thanks GOD for Bob's driving skill - he was able to get the car out of the mud and back out of that road!! Lesson learned! Our hotel owner later told us to never got on those roads after rain. Some cars get stuck there for days because nobody could tow them out and they had to wait for the farmers to use their tractors to pull the car out. OMG!!

After getting out of that Tiegs road, we took Cashup Flat road to another gravel road which joined Rt 23 which then joined 195 S. We then went straight to the hotel in Colfax and got there a little before 2pm. 

Siesta motel is one of two hotels/motels in Colfax. If it were not for the recommendation from a photographer which I found online, we probably would not have picked it. Looking from outside, we were quite apprehensive. The motel was booked solid when I called. The only room available was the apartment which costs $150/day plus tax (compared to $65 - $95 for the other rooms). I had no other choice so took it. After we got into the room (#25), we were quite pleased. It has a sitting room and a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom. It was clean and quite pleasant. The extra space made the place more comfortable. Now I am sitting at the kitchen counter and working on my laptop. Not bad at all. The owner (Sandy?) was very pleasant.

As far as we could see, Colfax is pretty much a one street town. But it has all the basic things one would need. We had Chinese food at the restaurant called "Eddie's" across the street. The food was edible. 

After the late lunch (we finished around 3pm), Bob took a short nap. Then we drove out to explore the Steptoe Butte State Park which is one of the must-do scenery spots. The rain and drizzle had stopped by then and the sun started to peek out from time to time. Boy it really made a big difference when the sun was out! Both in warmth and in the light it gave to the scenery! We really enjoyed driving and seeing the country here! It was just so peaceful and calming. Can't describe it! I just WISH I took better photos!!! I really struggled with the exposure ....Quite embarrassed. Sigh ....

After Steptoe Butte, we decided to drive to the Kamiak Butte state park which was between Palouse and Pullman. We drove past Colfax where Bob stopped at a car wash to wash off the mud on the car (oh boy, you should see the mud on the car! :-)). We got to Kamiak Butte around 6pm. It turned out this butte was quite different from Steptoe. We would have to hike up the trail to the top which we did not do today. We then drove to Pullman and back to Colfax. The weather turned much better towards the evening. As the sun went down, it shed golden light on everything! Just gorgeous! We definitely will need to pick a spot tomorrow late afternoon to catch the right light!

We got back to Colfax a few minutes before 9. Our motel owner told us that almost everything closes around 9 here. She was right. We wanted to try the Mexican restaurant but it was closed. Guess what, we had Chinese food again, in the 2nd Chinese restaurant in town. Again, it was edible.

Back to the hotel around 10pm. Tomorrow we will get up at 3:50am to go to the Steptoe Butte to catch the sunrise. Hope I can do better!

Colfax Day 2; Thursday, June 19, 2014

We got up at 3:50am and left the hotel at 4:15 heading to the Steptoe Butte. The day was already bright enough even though it was half an hour away from sunrise. We got to the top of the butte before sunrise. There were already a couple of people there and a group of people arrived shortly after we did. I think that group was with Jack Graham. It was very windy up there, and quite cold. We had all our layers but next time I will be sure to wear a hat and possibly gloves.

The morning light around sunrise was truly magical! Jack was talking out aloud to his group members so I was able to get a few hints on when the light was the best and where to aim etc. I was hoping to take some sharp lines of the rolling fields, but somehow did not get that. But I did get a few shots which I liked, even though far from what I hoped I could do. Will go again either tomorrow or the morning after.

After Steptoe Butte, we traced back Hume Road, got on 195 N to look for the canola fields which we saw yesterday and saw again this morning from the top of the butte. Took a few more shots there and then drove on Cashup Flats road again. Stopped here and there and took more shots. The sun was out, but there were some clouds. The sun made all the different colors pop out. 

Bob and I did not get much sleep last night, so we came back to the hotel around 8am and took a nap. Bob took a longer nap and I took a short one - I wanted to download my pictures and see the results. They were a little better than yesterday's. I then had a call with my friend photographer Mike who taught me how to do live view to better control the exposure which I had a lot of trouble with. And he explained a few other things to me which was very helpful!

We left the hotel shortly after noon and had lunch at the Mexican restaurant in town which turned out to be quite OK, especially the chips and salsa. I stuffed myself and did not feel hungry rest of the day. 

Met a guy who was in Jack Graham's workshop. He told us they went to a place outside of Palouse called Chestnut hill for the sunrise shoot. Then they went to a canola field. He told Bob where the places were. So after lunch we first set out to find the canola field. And we found it! It was somewhere on Rt 26 not far from Dusty. Got a few shots - could not find the right position to take the shots so none came out too impressive. After that, we decided to go north to see the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge which was not that far from Spokane and way to the west of Palouse. It took us more than an hour to get there. The west part of the region is very different from what we had seen so far - it was much dryer and the colors of the field were quite different. I was very tired so I did not bother to take any photos, and took a few naps in the car.

We drove through the Turnbull NWR - did not have the energy to walk the trails. It's the middle of the day and we did not see any wildlife. Probably everyone was sleeping. We then drove east on Cheney Plaza road which joins Rt 195 S. Our goal was to find the Chestnut hill outside of Palouse then head to the top of Steptoe Butte for sunset. We were not able to find Chestnut hill, but along the way out of Palouse, there were some very beautiful rolling fields. Hard to stop and find the position to take photos though :-(

We got to Steptoe Butte around 8. There were a few photography groups staged out at different spots waiting for sunset. We went to the top, then came down to the tier below. Took some shots, waited for the sunset. And left after the sun completely disappeared. I was not too pleased with what I got. Tried to practice what Mike taught me, but it was too glaring to look at the LCD for live view, so I went back to my compensation metering and trial & error.

Picked up some frozen dinners at the grocery store and ate them at the motel room. I would be quite depressed if I live in this town day in and day out ....

We don't plan to do sunrise shooting tomorrow. I need some sleep - got a total of no more than 8 hours for the last 2 days. Don't want to get sick.

Colfax Day 3; Friday, June 20, 2014

We did not do sunrise today and made up a little sleep. I got up around 7 and Bob got up shortly after. We left the motel room around 8:30. The first place I wanted to go was the canola fields on Rt 26 about 15 miles west of Colfax. We went there yesterday but I did not get any good shots and I wanted to try again.

After that, we decided to explore the southwest part. We took Rt 26 to Rt 127 all the way down to the Snake river. Then we took the Penawawa road along the river for a short distance. The Penawawa road took us through the Penawawa canyon. It was slow drive because it was a winding road on gravels. The scenery and landscape were quite different from the signature rolling hills of the Palouse country, not as much green, more brown and silver gray. After the canyon, the road looped back and joined Rt 26 which took us back into Colfax. That was almost 1pm.

We had lunch at Eddie's Chinese American restaurant across the street from the motel - it was the better of the 2 Chinese restaurants in town, according to our opinion. Today the owner Eddie was there. We chatted a bit. His parents were originally from GuangDong and he has settled down in Colfax for more than 20 years. He lives in town but also owns a ranch outside where he raises Alpacas and horses. Very interesting! He told us that we should drive towards Colton and Uniontown. There were a lot of old barns along the road. So that made up our afternoon itinerary.

After lunch, Bob took a nap and I had a call with Mike and got more photography instructions! Then we set out on Rt 195 S towards Uniontown. This was part of the Palouse Scenic Highway and it sure lived up to its name! Just beautiful! Bob had to stop at quite a few places for me to take some photos - it was pretty scary to take photos at the edge of the highway. When the fast cars and big trucks went by, the ground under me shook. At one point, there was a tractor driving by. The driver was a teenager and I don't think he's older than 18. I had nowhere to go because the edge of the highway dropped off quite drastically. He was kind enough to stop and wait for other fast vehicles to go by before he drove around me. Phew!

We stopped at the renowned artisans barn near Uniontown and saw the famous fence built with old wheels. There was a canola field right by the barn. Unfortunately there were no good angles for photos.

On the drive back, we wanted to find a spot with elevation so I could get shots of the rolling hills. Found another butte on the map called the Bald Head Butte. We took the side roads which the map showed would take us near that butte. We ended up driving into a dead end road which led us to someone's private yard. But the owner was very nice. He told us the Bald Head Butte was actually private property and will require the owner's permission to get in/up. There was a hill near his yard which belonged to his neighbor. He said we could go ask for permission to drive up. Unfortunately the neighbor did not seem to be home. We drove up his long driveway, only 2 old and excited dogs welcomed us. Nobody answered our "hello"s, so we left.

We took the side roads and explored more of the area and saw more beautiful rolling hills! We decided to go back to Steptoe Butte for the sunset again so I could practice what Mike taught me and get better composition. But by the time we got to the top of the butte, it was past 8pm. When the sun was too low, the light did not seem to have the kind of effect I was looking for on the rolling hills. I did not get the shots I wanted. Will have to try again tomorrow.

Back to the motel after another visit to the grocery store for frozen dinners. By the time we ate, it was 10pm. Now I am debating if we should go for the sunrise tomorrow .... If we do, it'll be the Steptoe Butte again.

Colfax Day 4; Saturday, June 21, 2014

We decided last night that we would do sunrise today and set the alarm at 3:30am, and that's when we got up. Made it to the top of Steptoe Butte a few minutes past 4 and we were the first car there. We had to turn the car's high beam on to climb up the narrow winding road up to the top. Saw a fawn who ran away when she/he saw the car. The birds seemed to be all awake and making their morning noises even though it was still dark and the crescent moon was high up in the sky still.

It was windy and cold there. I was bundled in layers but my hands felt frozen. Another photographer came shortly after us. He was wearing shorts and short sleeves, and he said he was not cold. Gee!! .... Today I paid more attention to composition as Mike taught me, and I had put on the 1.4 extender so it would be easier to only include the target I wanted far away. I took as many shots as I could, still struggled with the right exposure - did not use live view because it was too hard to look at the LCD. 

After the sun came up and I got enough of what I wanted, we started driving down the butte, stopping at a couple of places to take more shots. At one point, there was a photography group. I liked the spot so I joined them. I made a blunder of not putting the camera well on the tripod. When I moved it, the camera fell to the ground with the lens! Thankfully nothing broke! The lens hood got some scratch but that's OK. Phew!! Almost gave me the excuse to get a new 70-200mm lens :-)

Coming out of the butte, we decided to explore more towards Palouse to take advantage of the morning light. We took Hume road to 195 S and then took Dry Creek Road to Rt 27S, through Garfield to Palouse. Then we got on Rt 272 for a very short distance, and turned left onto Frazen road which is a gravel road. Frazen road turned into Ickes road then James road which was a dirt road. Thankfully the weather has been dry so aside from dust, we had nothing to worry about. We really enjoyed these smaller roads! There were quite a few opportunities for photos. The light was good, but there were no shadows which could have made the rolling fields even better on the photos. At one point, I stood on the car seat and out of the sunroof to capture the scenes I wanted .That was fun.

Back to the motel before 9 and went to the diner called "Top Notch Cafe" for breakfast before coming back to the motel to take a nap. I downloaded the photos from this morning, checked emails. Again the photos were not that good. Sigh ....

We slept for one or two hours and left for our afternoon exploration around 12:30. Our exploration itinerary this afternoon went like this: took Rt 26 W to Dusty, then Rt 127 S, then Little Alkali Rd East all the way to Penawawa road. After a short distance on Penawawa road, we took Wilcox Road to Upper Union Flat Road, then to Hamilton Hill Road, then to Bar Road, then back to 195 N back to Colfax. It was a very good drive and we saw the rolling fields, old barns, cows and horses, plus a few deer. Very enjoyable! We got back to Colfax around 5 and had an early dinner at Eddie's. We then headed to Steptoe Butte (again!) around 6:30. The sun today was behind some thin clouds most of the time, so we were not sure how good the sunset would be. I mainly wanted to catch the light around 7:30 - 8:00. I got some pictures, better than yesterday but still not that ideal. We did not wait for the sunset and left the butte shortly after 8. But it turned out the sunset was very good. The light before the sunset was really strong and beautiful. We probably should have stayed on the butte till sunset and capture the glow. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

No sunrise shoot tomorrow!

Colfax, Day 5; Sunday, June 22, 2014

Got up around 7:30 and left the motel around 8:30. Our plan today was to drive towards east, explore the local roads, and capture the scenes as much as we could.

We took Rt 27 towards Palouse and turned left onto Lange Rd towards Garfield. Rt 27 is a beautiful road. There are rolling fields of many different colors on both sides, but it was difficult to pull to the side to take photos. Lange Rd is a gravel road and took us through a canyon which was in the middle of the rolling fields. Beautiful rolling fields abound along this winding road. From Garfield we got on Rt 27 N for a short distance then onto Farmington Rd to Farmington, then on Tekoa Framington Rd to Tekoa. Bob remembered that there were a couple of eating places in Tekoa and we found a cafe to have our breakfast/brunch. It was past 11am already when we got there. It was interesting to be in this small town Cafe where everyone seemed to know everyone else (except us of course). The chef lady and the waitress lady were chatting with each other and with the customers. The kids of the chef came in to ask mom about things. The waitress sent the boy out to get more hamburger buns from the store ..... Very interesting. I got my bowl of oatmeal and some crispy bacons which were very good! Bob had his eggs and french toast. All was good, better than the stuff we got from the Top Notch Cafe here in Colfax actually.

After we refueled ourselves, we continued our exploration. We got on Rt 27 towards Latah. From Latah we got on a whole bunch of small local dirt roads towards south: Bourne, Sieveke, Chase, Bancroft, Warner, Auvil, Walter Siding, Sunrise, and finally Lange Rd to 272, back to Colfax. We got back to the motel before 4pm. It was a very pleasant drive, even for Bob who did all the driving. It was such a beautiful farm country which we had never seen before. So peaceful. The scenery was so pleasing to the eyes even though the mid-day light did not lend itself to good photos. I took a bunch any way.

Oh, the dust! Unbelievable amount of dust from driving on the dirt roads. Our car was covered with dust. When we opened the car door, a puff of dust would come out. The back window of the car was entirely covered. I tried to protect my cameras as much as I could.

Bob took a much deserved nap after we came back to the hotel. We then had dinner again at Eddie's across the street, before taking off to try more photos during sunset. I thought about going back to Steptoe Butte again, but also wanted to try explore some other possibilities. So we decided to go back to some of the spots we went through earlier today and to see if the late afternoon and sunset light would make things better. We went back to Rt 272 and to Reuben-Schultz road near Farmington. The result was disappointing. I fumbled around with my cameras and lenses, struggled with the exposure, and the locations, and ended up not getting any picture worthwhile .... The sunset turned out to be quite beautiful. There was even a rainbow before the sunset. Oh well, next time ....

I am thinking that I might take the workshop offered by Jack Graham next time - read a lot of good things about him. His group was just here and he was in the same motel. His workshop ended today. I chatted with one of his attendees who already took 4 of his workshops. He spoke highly of him and said he was an excellent teacher. I need that.

Started packing.

Going Home; Monday, June 23, 2014

We set the alarm for 6am this morning - wanted to go towards Palouse and explore the places we had been to but under early morning light. We left the motel before 7, got on 272 towards Palouse, stopped at various places to take some shots, then took Clear Creek road from Palouse back to Colfax. Had breakfast at Top Notch Cafe around 9, then back to the motel around 10 to finish packing.

While at the Top Notch Cafe, we chatted with the owner/chef. We asked him if he knew about an elevated place outside of Palouse called Chestnut Hill. He did not know. Then he took out his iPad and used Google Earth to look for the place. What a brilliant idea!! How come I never thought about that?!!! Duh!! We found out that if we go around Kamiak Butte towards the other side from the entrance where we went to, there was an open elevated area where we could have taken the sunrise shots!!! Too late for this time :-( Regrets!

Just when we left the hotel, I got a text msg on my phone telling us our UA flight from Spokane was delayed for at least an hour. This meant that our connecting flight at Denver would be at high risk. Bob drove fast on Rt 195 as we wanted to get to the airport sooner to see if there were other options. Really did not want to not go home tonight. We were so preoccupied by this darned flight delay and did not get to enjoy the scenery on 195. How hateful!

It turned out that this flight delay was not a bad thing. United rebooked us on Delta flights which left Spokane around 1:40pm, change flight at Minneapolis and get us to Boston before midnight! These Delta flights turned out to be quite nice (we upgraded to "comfort class" - their equivalent to Unites economy plus). The flights were on time, and were not crowded. We were very pleased!

We landed at Logan a few minutes after 11pm, and got back home around 12:45am. Dogs were ecstatic to see us - JJ climbed up the basement stairs before I opened the mudroom door! We really missed them and were so very happy to see them and hug them! Melissa did a great job taking care of them!!!

Home Sweet Home! We enjoyed a perfect trip, but it's always so good to be home!