Greener grass does not mean better pastures.

I was thinking earlier today about stupid old sayings. "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" went through my head, followed immediately by, "The grass is always greener here because this is where all the damn rain is."

It is the second half of April. That means it is cold and raining and windy most of the time. That isn't really any different than it has been for the last 6 months, but after 6 months it wears me out. I'm dying to get out of Western Washington. This happens to me every year. I had a trip to Texas for work one year. Another year I bailed out to Death Valley for a weekend just to get away from the moss and the ferns and the damp and the grey. I drove to Smith Rock State Park in Oregon one day in May a few years ago, which I hope to do again soon. I can't really afford to do any serious travel, so I have to keep it local.

Luckily, Western Washington has this interesting thing called Eastern Washington next to it. Let's compare and contrast, shall we?
Western Washington: usually cold and wet. Ferns, moss, evergreen trees. Slugs. Hilly. Metropolitan.
Eastern Washington: hot in summer, almost always dry. Sagebrush, tumbleweeds, prickly pears. Rattlesnakes. Flat. Agricultural.

On Friday, I'm packing up the mutt and we're heading out to a place called Frenchman Coulee. It's a very popular rock climbing area near the Columbia River. I'm not a rock climber, but the rocks are really pretty, so I'm going to wander and take pictures for a while. It will be a nice break from the greener side of the mountains. I'll pass from rain on this side to snow at the passes and down to high desert when I get off the eastern slope. That progression will be enough to make me feel better. The weather will be great, but more to the point, it will be better than over here.

And it is a great way to spend a day that everyone else will be in the office.