I didn't take many pictures in or around Moscow, because I know I'll be back there a lot and I figure I might as well spread it out. Moscow is across the Idaho-Washington border from Pullman, and the general region in which they sit is called the Palouse — it's often called the most fertile farmland in the entire country. When we headed out for Seattle, Emily and I drove through a bunch of small towns around there.
My great-great-grandpa homesteaded near the actual town of Palouse, just across the Washington border, in the early 1870s. Their homestead is not far from Emily's parents' farm — something neither of us realized for quite awhile after we met.
National Geographic did a story on the Palouse in the early '80s. This is an aerial photo of Frieze church and cemetery, where some of my relatives are. It's way out on a dirt road. I always forget how to find it.
My grandpa's mom died when he was 8, and his dad died four years later. He and his brother John ended up raising themselves, living in a little cabin down the road from the church. It's still there — it's the little building you see on the right in the photo above.
The whole region is really cool — there's a big mix of old and new.
One of the major reasons I'm excited to be back in the Northwest is to be closer to my family and history, and I'm excited to go back to the Palouse and explore. I was glad to get that little review/preview before heading West into the sunset on the last day of our trip.