Entries about spokane

Three very generous gifts from Daniel's Aunt Barb: jam (hot pepper, sour cherry, and huckleberry), some books, and a beautiful handmade quilt! We were given our pick of a number of quilts, and chose this star patterned one.

We then went to Manito Park and toured the beautiful rose garden. It was interesting to hear about all the different types of roses, especially the "old roses" that are more open and more fragrant than more familiar roses.

A beautiful blue-green tree in Manito Park.

The Japanese Garden at Manito Park is also beautiful and very serene.

Us in the Japanese Garden.

The sunken Duncan Garden, which is more formal and is very warm, due to the shelter from the wind.

The perennial garden has some amazingly strange flowers and plants, all of which are very intriguing and seem like they would be interesting to plant.

Flowering onion in the perennial garden. It was incredibly weird looking but also very pretty and interesting.

The clock tower in Riverfront Park, which inspired the clock tower in the game Myst, which was one of Daniel's favorite computer games and which was made in Mead, just north of Spokane.

Correction: this is the county courthouse. The clock tower is also beautiful, but we didn't get any good pictures of it.

Some views of the falls on the Spokane River. The restaurant where we ate lunch overlooked the river.

Margaritas at Clinkerdagger Restaurant. We split one margarita, but they gave us two glasses. We had never really had margaritas before, and they were enjoyable.

Oil, oil, oil...vinegar, vinegar, vinegar.

The beautiful Davenport Hotel, which is really an incredible thing to see. It is amazing how similar it looks to the photographs of its early days, but it has certainly been restored and renovated over the years, keeping the original beauty.

Inside the church at Gonzaga University. Gonzaga has a beautiful campus, and the church is incredibly beautiful. We both felt like the interiors of the buildings were very similar to those of Santa Clara, though of course the exteriors were all grey and gothic as opposed to beige and Mission-style. Daniel was wearing his Santa Clara shirt today, but no one at Gonzaga said anything about it.

Another building at Gonzaga.

After touring Gonzaga, we finished our tour of Spokane and went back to the house. We had a nice dinner and conversation. Tomorrow we make for Hood River for Catherine's cousin Elise's wedding on Saturday!

Our suite in Keremeos. It was a very comfortable place to stay, and it provided a nice spot for us to stop on the way between Vancouver and Spokane.

The frame shop where our hosts have their framing business.

Our delicious breakfast. The ingredients were already prepared, and all we had to do was take them out, toast the bread, and eat.

The view from outside the room. The mountains are very beautiful.

When we first checked in, our host said "let me show you the room" and walked into this woodshed. In fact, he was only grabbing the key, but it looked like that was going to be the room at first.

The actual entrance to the room. Much nicer.

About to leave. Today we begin driving in the opposite direction, getting ever closer to home.

The bridge in Keremeos. The suite was called the "over the bridge" suite.

Apparently, someone in Keremeos lives in a van down by the river.

The crops and scenery of the Okanagan Valley. We were reminded of the San Joaquin valley by the stonefruit and grapes that are grown here. The mountains are a lot closer together though.

Forbidden Fruit winery, a winery specializing in non-grape wines. We tried a few of their cherry, apricot, peach, and pear wines. The tasting room was very pleasant, and we had a nice conversation with the employee at the counter. We ended up buying a bottle of peach wine called "Speachless."

Beautiful Lake Osoyoos. Also, the last picture we took in Canada before crossing the border at Osoyoos.

On our way to Spokane, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Omak, Washington. This was our first Mexican food since leaving on this trip. It was wonderful.

The Grand Coulee Dam. We had wanted to see it, but we weren't sure if it would be along our route. It is impressively large, and the little town nearby seems very well cared for. We wondered what the people who live there do for a living, figuring that they can't all work on the dam.

Finally we arrived at Daniel's great aunt Barb and great uncle Merle's house in Spokane. The terraced garden and the house are very pleasant. We had a nice dinner with Barb, her son Tim, Tim's wife Abby and their kids. It was a nice visit, and we are looking forward to touring Spokane tomorrow.