The Gorge Amphitheater and other Eastern Washington Adventures

The weather was glorious in Idaho until this morning, when it began to rain while our brother-in-law was treating us to a ride in his classic 1949 beautifully refurbished mahogany Chris Craft mahogany boat. It really began to pour after that and continued pouring most of the way through Idaho and into Washington as I drove home -- with poor Tom unable to take the wheel, which drove him -- pun intended -- nuts! At some points, it was a positively treacherous drive, and I'm just happy to be home.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Washington State, you should know that unlike Western Washington, which is green and lush, Eastern Washington is a desert. It's very dry and, except for Spokane and maybe the Tri-Cities (maybe), very desolate. When we lived in the Tri-Cities, Tom called it "the armpit of Washington," insisting that "the best view of Eastern Washington (especially the Tri-cities) is out the rear-view mirror."

But I really think that Eastern Washington has it's own beauty. Dry, yes. And desolate too. But there's something about its vastness and its majesty that's beauty of a different sort than lush Western Washington and the Puget Sound. There's beauty in these scenes, yes?

We've lived in Washington for 14 years now (12 in Seattle and two in the Tri-cities) and I have yet to see a concert at the Gorge Amphitheater, so when we drove by it today, Kat and I decided that we just had to finally see it. When there's a concert at the Gorge, the vast desert becomes flooded with people and music, but today there was obviously no concert, as it was completely empty and stunningly quiet. (And graced with row after row of wine grapes growing right there, where the crowds gather!) We arrived just as the sun was setting, so you can imagine that it was absolutely incredible!

That's the empty stage down there. Just imagine your favorite musicians playing there... Now I'm determined to finally see a concert there!

It's after midnight and at 9:00 tomorrow morning I need to be at the offices of the company with whom I'm both applying for a job and working as a contractor on a project. I've decided to stop hyper-analyzing the whole thing, though, and just do my best work and take things as they come. I have a few irons in the fire now, all of them interesting, so I've decided to just let things unfold as they may. I'm trying to learn to listen to those things instead of constantly trying to make things happen.