Later this month, it'll be 11 years since I've moved to Seattle. For 10 of those years, I pretty much ignored anything that was East of the Cascades. For me, Washington state was framed by the Pacific, Canada, the Cascades and Oregon. I was so fascinated by the lushness of Western WA - the ocean, the islands, the mountains - that I couldn't understand why anyone would bother going to the deserts of Eastern WA.
It was only in the past year that I've started to appreciate how amazingly rich Eastern WA is. Over this summer, in particular, I've seized every opportunity to go over the pass and explore new places there. You cross the mountains and everything is different: the climate, the landscape, the people, the vastness... Eastern WA represents all those fantasies of the "West" that we have as kids - endless plains, cattle, cowboys, roughness, gold, unlimited opportunities...On our side of the mountains, we're way too polite, geeky, REI-wearing, chai-drinking, and pale to inspire any fantasies of adventure.
Anyway, one of the big events in the summer East of the mountains is the Ellensburg Rodeo. Ellensburg has 18,000 habitants and 4,000 horses (in the city!) and claims to have one of the top 10 Rodeos in the country. Using photography as an excuse, I took Friday off and drove out to the Rodeo. It was pretty exciting to see real cowboys and cowgirls...and so many of them! Because our weekend hike got cut short, Colin and I stopped again by the Rodeo on the way back to Seattle. A few pictures...
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