Washington Desert: Spring Hiking in The Desert

Last weekend was Easter, which means a double long weekend (four days). With all the snow and mountains around us we couldn’t help it – we desired the desert. I guess Beer Sheva did something to us. So we took our red car on its first road trip – down to the USA! But it turned out that if you are going to nasty America it means you have to be punished with two hours waiting at the border. I guess it was only because of the long weekend. On the way to the border we started to feel funny. What is that weird feeling? and then we realized – We were hot! it made us happy!

Washington State – the “Evergreen State” as their license plate claims. Well, it turns out the the evergreen state has some desert hiding around. Our first stop after the border was the “Tulip Festival”. A lot of colorful  flowers were blooming and we walked around them. Then we drove for a few hours and at around midnight we found a side road and went to sleep. We slept in the car each night, it was very comfortable and we slept very well. We woke up in the morning and discovered that we are indeed in a desert area.

That day we hiked near the huge Columbia river. When we drove to our next destination we stopped in some small town to get some gas and fruit. It this town there were no big chains – no Safeway Supermarket, or McDonald’s, Subway or Starbucks. Then we noticed that all the signs were in Spanish and that all the people look Mexican. With the desert view around us it was like we were in Taxes or New Mexico or Mexico. It was like day dreaming. But it was Washington state, five hours away from home,  and a small Mexican town. We stepped into a Tortilla factory and the owners gave us fresh hot tortillas from the oven. We had dinner from a truck that sells Tacos, Burritos and other stuff and ate with the local gang.

Over the next two days we also hiked in some desert areas and we were hot and we could wear shorts and it was wonderful! On the way back home we had to cross the Cascades which are big mountains in the area. We were in our car just coming back from our desert trip and outside there was a storm and hail mixed with rain that became snow and you couldn’t see anything because it was all white outside. But after we crossed the pass it became clearer and we crossed the border with almost no waiting and got back home.

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