ALONG INTERSTATE 90
I’ve driven across the Cascades more times than I can count, as my wife’s family lives in both Moses Lake and Ephrata. The waterfall featured below is a famous landmark, Snoqualmie Falls, located 45 minutes outside of Seattle off of Interstate 90. As you drive further east, I-90 snakes through the mountains (Snoqualmie Pass), occasionally opening into snow-laden vistas; it then descends into desert territory, where it dips to its lowest point at the majestic Columbia River Gorge. From Wikipedia:
Snoqualmie Pass is a census-designated place in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 201 at the 2000 census. It is also the name of a mountain pass (maximum elevation 3022 ft./921 m.) through the Cascade Range. Both the CDP and the pass are named after the Snoqualmie people of the valley to the west. Interstate 90 across the pass is the largest of the three east-west mountain routes across Washington state which are kept open year-round.
Snoqualmie Falls is a 268 foot waterfall on the Snoqualmie River between Snoqualmie and Fall City. It is one of Washington’s most popular scenic attractions, but is perhaps best known internationally for its appearance in the cult television series “Twin Peaks”. For the Snoqualmie People, who have lived for centuries in the Snoqualmie Valley in western Washington, Snoqualmie Falls is central to their culture, beliefs, and spirituality. A traditional burial site, to the Snoqualmie, the falls are “the place where First Woman and First Man were created by Moon the Transformer” and “where prayers were carried up to the Creator by great mists that rise from the powerful flow.” The mists rising from the base of the waterfall serve to connect Heaven and Earth.The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to 4,000 feet deep, the canyon stretches for over 80 miles as the river winds from westward through the Cascade Range forming the boundary between the State of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south. The Columbia Gorge American Viticultural Area is located in both states.
