To Moscow…Idaho

Anemone flowers at north end of trail.

I took this trip on the third of May (2014).
I went for the express purpose of checking out the Goodwill store and the Palouse Mall.
The day threatened rain and was a little colder than I would have liked, but it didn’t rain much.
I started at the north end of the trail, which is near where I live.

Rabbits living in protected wetlands.

The Pullman-Moscow bike-jogging-walking trail follows the streams that drain the area. The land immediately adjacent to these streams has been designated as protected wetlands. There is a little watershed conservation district here that is quite active – probably due to the biologists at the two universities.

Little steam engine on display downtown Pullman.

An attempt was evidently made to preserve some of Pullman’s historic artifacts from the railroad days. However, this little locomotive and the cars behind it are in disrepair and seem to be used by a real estate company.

With the help of a west wind, I arrive at the outskirts of Moscow about 1-1/2 hours after leaving. This is where several stores and the Mall have been built. It is right next to the Washington-Idaho border.

Goodwill parking lot.

View of the Mall.

The Mall is just east of a big Walmart, which is just east of the older Staples-Goodwill-hotel-restaurant complex. It is a real suburban-style mall with clean, bright indoor-facing stores covered by a roof. In this area, this arrangement makes a lot more sense than the parking-lot-facing “strip” mall that was so popular everywhere in the ’60s.

My vehicle.

I ate lunch at the Qdoba and found the usual assortment of corporate sales outlets at the mall. There is also a Chinese “buffet” restaurant. All-you-can-eat lunch for 8 or 9 dollars. I also shopped at the Big 5 Sporting Goods store which has a “satellite” building at the mall. I needed something to cover my Goodwill purchases in case it rained.

The local model plane flying club also had a neat display set up inside the mall. I didn’t try to take any photos inside, though.

The trail back.

Time to head back to Pullman. The going was a bit rough, as even though the grade is slightly downhill, I had a headwind. I walked the bike much of the way.

Duck in little pond near halfway mark.

Near the halfway mark is a little tunnel under a crossing road. On the east side was a bench that was out of the wind, so I rested there a while. There was a duck in a nearby pond, but it wandered off when I tried to get closer to take more photos.

The Jorstad’s fence.

One of the features of the Chipman (Pullman-Moscow) Trail is the Jorstad’s house. I don’t know anything about the family, but these photos tell you something about them by themselves.

The Jorstad’s

Grand Avenue – Spring overview

I thought it was about time to take a ride down the main street in Pullman, Grand Avenue, and take some photos of what is there.

I actually took photos going down and coming back. But I have put them together into a single sequence.

I live near the north side of town, and this tour starts looking north from the bridge that takes cars over the creek (and railroad tracks) that come down from the north. To the north is the city of Spokane. Closer north is the city of Palouse.

The immediate area around the train tracks is a nature preserve with a walking/running/biking trail going through it. This trail goes downtown and then turns east towards Idaho. It follows a creek upstream all the way into Moscow, Idaho.

Grand Avenue has received a lot of civic attention recently, which has resulted in the running trail and in several mini-parks. The northern-most of these is the “SEL Wayside Garden.” I pass by it every day on my walk to work. Evidently, it was sponsored by SEL, my current employer.

Several entrances into the running trail show up along Grand Avenue. I will skip by the first for now (opposite Larry Street, where I live).

…And the second…

…which is across from the power substation (which has recently been upgraded with SEL protection devices).

Next we get to the first big cross street, which heads up into the north part of the WSU campus. Dominating this corner is Dissmore’s Market and its parking lot.

Just behind Dissmore’s is my favorite thrift store, Palouse Treasures.

And at the corner below the thrift store is another lovely little garden.

The next entrance to the running trail is at the “President’s Grove.”

…This time I will peak in for a closer look…

…To find a nice little rest area with some benches. There is also a little picnic area further up the trail.

The next improvement along Grand Avenue is the “Mayor’s Grove.”

It contains a bench, a plaque, and a lovely horse chestnut tree.

And now we arrive at the point were the train tracks turn east and west, and where the little creek running down from the north meets the bigger creek running downhill from the east.

Scouts’ Park

In this park, you can also see where another creek that runs down from the south comes out from under the sidewalk and joins up with that same creek running west.

Here we are at Main Street, downtown Pullman. The area is planted with lots trees (peppers?) which are just leafing out now and very light yellow-green. The creek running down from the south runs directly under this crosswalk.

Here is where the little creek submerges, a few blocks farther south.

Across from the Old European restaurant is Bill’s Welding, which includes a junk yard with this fence and planting in front of it.

…In back of the fence…

Also from this position can be glimpsed a vacant lot across the street full of blue-purple flowers.

Just a bit further down is a large old house in a very large yard. It is now Kimball’s Mortuary, but I’m sure it has a lot of history behind it.

Next, a more modern building, the Living Faith Fellowship church. Below it are the Post Office, a car dealer and other businesses of less notable architecture. Since I am more attracted to the flora and fauna, let’s next look at a roadside section of the little creek overgrown with willows currently full of “fuzz” from their flowers going to seed, and also filled with wild rose, dogwood, and cattails.

The wild rosebushes are in full flower right now. The cattails are from last summer.

And here we are at Bishop Boulevard, near the southern end of town and the southern end of Grand Avenue. A sign tells us that the Ford dealer up the street has sponsored the plantings in this area.

Some closeups of trees and flowers will appear in a follow-up article…

Pullman is at 2,300 feet

Lewiston Idaho is just 25 miles south of Pullman. SEL has a plant there.

Lewiston is on the Snake River, at about 750 feet elevation.

Pullman is on the hills above the Snake, at about 2,300 feet elevation.

A bunch of folks who work at SEL in Pullman live in Lewiston. One was telling us how last week it was 70 degrees (F) in Lewiston. Now that’s Spring! We haven’t seen those temperatures in Pullman yet.

This time of year, the difference in elevation keeps Pullman about 10 degrees (F) colder than Lewiston.

For example, this week temperatures in Lewiston are expected to climb back up to near 70, lows in the 40s. While here in Pullman, the temperatures are only expected to get up to the low 60s, with lows near freezing. Right now, air temperatures in Pullman are bottoming out down in the 20s at around 5AM every morning (about when I get up to go to work).

A new microscope

Now that I have a bicycle, I am more willing to get out and around town. So middle of last week I headed out to buy some groceries and hunt for cool stuff in the local thrift store (Palouse Treasures).

I found a great used Dell monitor for $20, but I also spied – tucked away on an inconspicuous shelf behind the stereo equipment – a student microscope. I couldn’t carry both home at the same time, so I came back the next day and the microscope was still there. It was in extremely good condition, so I made the lady charge me $49.99 for it instead of the $29.99 they were asking.

I had a little “toy” microscope when I was a kid. It was fun. The book I got told me to put a lettuce leaf in some water and let it sit around for a few days. So I did, then looked at a little drop under the microscope. And there were all kinds of little things swimming around in there! I also got prepared slides with little insects and so forth. Very interesting to look at them magnified.

This scope is a classic American Optical “Spencer” made around 1965 (according to a list of serial number ranges I found on the internet). They don’t make them any more, though other companies make others very similar. It has a 10X eyepiece and 3 objectives – 4X, 10X and 43X – and a built-in light. It’s a big, well-built thing and it works great. How neat to have a microscope again after all these years! Will probably mostly look at electronics stuff with it. And will try to find a camera that can take digital photos through it.

I couldn’t find any of my own drawings of things under a microscope, but here’s something from a biology handout I got for a summer class I took in the 1960s:

Drawings of microscopic pond water creatures.