OlympiaFJ60

Since we have started going to Yakima a few times a month for my wifes work, we have decided Chinook Pass is our favorite route. The road is slower but shorter than either Hwy 12 or Interstate 90. The actually are all about 3.5 hours from our house to Yakima. SR 410 is very scenic and we encounter much less traffic (generally).

From the DOT Flickr page (more…)

Our son was at his grandparents today. My wife and I drove over to Yakima last night, she had to work and interview a prospective employee for the store here. Usually my son and I head for the hills or go to the parks and Museums around here when my wife has to work. He doesn’t like having to “just drive around”. Since he wasn’t with us this time I decided I would drive Hwy 24 from Yakima to the Columbia River, then up to Hwy 26 at Vantage and it made me thing about adding a Blue Highways segment to by blog. I think that would be a good excuse to go camping and take some nice scenic drives this summer.

So I guess this is the first installment of Blue Highways. I refer to Blue Highways as the secondary highways on the road map, or the State Routes and US Routes, as they are usually blue compared to the red of the Freeways and Interstates.

So back to it. I drove Washington State Route 24 from Yakima to the Columbia River, then up to Hwy 26 at Vantage. It passes through the rolling hills and farm land of East Yakima County to the Hanford Reach National Monument/Saddle Mountain Wildlife Refuge and the USDOE Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Here it junctions with SR 241 to Sunnyside to the south.

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