I have been a bit of a road warrior and have been out in the field this week. Some nice ventures but I'll stick with something short and simple for now.
I had my first ride on the Kennewick, the new ferry that is now running between Keystone on Whidbey Island and Port Townsend on the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula. As with all the boats in the Washington State Ferry fleet there are pictures associated with the name of the boat scattered about on the walls of the ship.
I went to 8th through 12th grade in Kennewick. Lisa is also from Kennewick and a couple of pictures were therefore close to home so to speak.
I did not know that the Old Bridge as we called it was originally called the Yellowstone Trail Bridge. It was named for a trail between Spokane and Walla Walla. A couple of cool things about the bridge. It was built without tax dollars in 1921-1922 and was the first link across the Columbia in Washington State alone. Tolls collected paid off the bridge by 1931. This bridge was a right-of-passage for young drivers: it was very narrow and you had better be good at maintaining a straight drive line when crossing. The bridge was replaced in 1978 by a much wider span. For a about ten years the old bridge remained as there was an effort by a few folks to save it for historic reasons, but those efforts failed and the steel was removed.
I had my first ride on the Kennewick, the new ferry that is now running between Keystone on Whidbey Island and Port Townsend on the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula. As with all the boats in the Washington State Ferry fleet there are pictures associated with the name of the boat scattered about on the walls of the ship.
I went to 8th through 12th grade in Kennewick. Lisa is also from Kennewick and a couple of pictures were therefore close to home so to speak.
Asparagus field at Vancouver and 19th, Kennewick
Asparagus field, Vancouver and 19th, Kennewick
The above is personally fun as it is essentially across the street from Lisa's old home. The pictures sure make asparagus harvest look like fun. But as can be seen it involves lots of bending over. I am not sure it is done by kids as much as it once was. Some of my school mates harvested aspargus in the early morning before school. Asparagus fields were formerly located near where I use to live and Barbara Fouts taught me where asparagus grew wild in the canyon behind our home. That was the limit of my asparagus work.
Pasco-Kennewick Bridge
I did not know that the Old Bridge as we called it was originally called the Yellowstone Trail Bridge. It was named for a trail between Spokane and Walla Walla. A couple of cool things about the bridge. It was built without tax dollars in 1921-1922 and was the first link across the Columbia in Washington State alone. Tolls collected paid off the bridge by 1931. This bridge was a right-of-passage for young drivers: it was very narrow and you had better be good at maintaining a straight drive line when crossing. The bridge was replaced in 1978 by a much wider span. For a about ten years the old bridge remained as there was an effort by a few folks to save it for historic reasons, but those efforts failed and the steel was removed.
2 comments:
If you want to look into the Yellowstone Trail a bit more, it is a fascinating piece of transportation history and gave the name to the bridge:
http://www.yellowstonetrail.org/
http://www.craigmagnuson.com/yellowstone.htm
Thanks for posting the familiar pics. Picking any kind of fruit was the early summer ritual. Great photo of the old bridge, and it was indeed a rite of passage to make the crossing from Kennewick to Pasco...no pictures of Jump Off Joe Butte?
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