From Tacoma we drove east to Vantage, WA. The landscape changed dramatically once we got east of the Cascades. The sky opened up, flattened out, and became much dry.
We spent the night at a state park on the Columbia River. (Yes, the same river we crossed going from OR into WA near the coast. It runs north to south in this part of WA. Vantage is right near the famous music venue, The Gorge Amphitheatre. We didn’t see a show, but we see why it has appeal.) The campground was beautiful and had a nice swim area (we waded and skipped rocks in it) and other open grassy areas. We even saw another bee swarm!
The next morning we got up and headed to Frenchmen Coulee to climb at an area called The Feathers. The ‘feathers’ are basalt columns that stick up out of the ground, like feathers. We got several climbs in before the wind kicked up and we called it a day.
Then we drove down to the boat ramp to check out the area before heading over to the Gingko Petrified Forest State Park Visitor Center. The area is covered in multiple lava flows with one layer among those being many petrified logs. Then we hiked the interpretive trail to see more examples of petrified wood in the places the pieces were found. It was a windy, but fun hike.
When we returned to the camper, the wind was still going strong. There were definitely some strong gusts that shook the camper, but we were ok!
By the next morning the wind had died down and it was beautiful and sunny. We packed up, but before heading out we walked down to the river/reservoir to dip our toes, skip rocks, and toss a frisbee. As we headed east, we got a good view of the wild horses monument up on the hill.
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