Luckily, I had the trusty Catalyst. She hasn't been driven in a while, so I asked her really nicely to take me to a faraway place. And so began my journey.
After work I pulled out onto I-5 Northbound with the one goal: Go somewhere and forget about work. Get away as much as possible before I lost daylight. I didn't touch my phone, I didn't look for directions, I just followed my intuition northward.
Quickly I departed Clark County into Cowlitz County. The border is not that far from Vancouver. But I did not care. I sped past Woodland and Kalama, enjoying a glimpse of sun through the low lying rain clouds.
Quickly I came into Longview/Kelso area. Then the rain began. The roads are horribly drained here, so my car was slipping and sliding over the standing water on the freeway, ready to begin fishtailing like it was in the worst of blizzards in Ohio. It was then that I made my mission. I would continue as long as I could see the sun, and find it on the other side of the dreary weather. So I pushed through the rain outside of Longview/Kelso, and kept driving.
Now, I have driven up to Olympia before, but only once, so farther than Longview/Kelso was still relatively new to me. There is still a good half a county north of the two cities so I finally glimpsed a couple of the towns which I so often refer to, but have not visited. But I wasn't here to see; I was here to escape. Farther north I drove.
Because I did not want to stay on the freeway the entire time, I deviated to the East via US Route 12. By now I had left Cowlitz County for territory unknown. Lewis County. I did not know any city names here except for Chehalis/Centralia, so every twist to the east was new for me.
The geography of this area is completely new for me. I have very little concept of the microscale of the terrain, only the large features, such as the Cascades, the Willamette Valley, and that other part of Washington north of the Willamette Valley before you hit Puget Sound. Its not the Columbia River, and it is not the Puget Sound... and it is bound by the Cascades to the east, and non existent mountains to the west. The plain was pleasant.
I entered a valley where the Cowlitz River flowed through from the Cascades. And then, all at once, I dived into those Evergreen covered hills. Down, down, down, I went into the sharp and tight valley. And then out to a wider valley, surrounded by the Cascades themselves. What a beautiful sight. I could just imagine seeing Mt. Rainier, a mere 40 miles away, looming in the distance, hiding behind the omnipresent clouds lingering from the winter.
It was then that I needed gas, and I pulled over, filled up, got some snacks, and continued. I had half an hour before the light faded away, and I was going to keep searching and finding those spots of sun. It was then that I consulted my map, and found Mossyrock, a small town about 15 minutes to the east. I had enough of the escape by then: I was ready to take pictures.
It was a small town of 700 people, out in the middle of this wide valley. This is the kind of town I hoped to come across in traveling all this way. I drove through the town, saving the sights for when I came back, and I pressed on to Mossyrock Lake.
The drive from there took me to a perfect conclusion for my hour and half adventure from the city:
Behold! A lake beside a lake with an island in the middle! This was obviously the result of a damming of the water and streams, which I found later on. The whole scene, with its blueness, its dark cloudy sunset gave me an appreciation for the rain which haunts this place during the winter.
Driving back, I took some pictures of a smaller lake created by a smaller dam, along with some car shots of the rain.
Finally, I pulled back into the town of Mossyrock, and snapped some photos of old buildings and the town itself again.
I began my journey back, out of the town, and to the highway to conclude my search for the sun. The way back was calm and rainy, and I found myself scrolling through radio stations bouncing to the music as I entered the city lights of Vancouver.
Looks like its chilly there!
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