In the Canyon

Yesterday we went to see a rowing regatta.  Washington State University was hosting the University of Washington for the Apple Cup of crew.  WSU's boathouse is on the Snake River near Wawawai.  It was an absolutely beautiful morning, and ten degrees warmer in the Canyon than up on the Palouse.  

I am not originally from the Northwest; I grew up in Virginia.  Even after living here for over a decade, I still feel like an expatriate when I descend into the river canyons.  The scale of the landscape, and at times, the barrenness, still takes my breath away.  I also love the mystery--what seems like a forbidding landscape is at times, achingly beautiful and covered with wildflowers.  The rivers have mostly been tamed, but something of the shadow of earlier epochs remains.  Women digging camas root.  Hunters on the wintering grounds.  Floods and fires. 

I spent some time during the regatta trying to figure out my camera.  It has more bells and whistles than my last camera, and I still haven't learned what some of them do.  

A couple shots of the rowing teams as they went past the point.

 Looking up at the top of the canyon.

One of the fancy image setting on my computer.

I like the sky in this picture.  Unfortunately, the Coug moms in the foreground ruin it a bit.