Day 1️⃣
Vancouver → Leavenworth → Pullman
Put the longest and most tiring drive on the first day, partly because we had more energy and partly because we were interested in the scenery along the way haha
Leavenworth is a German-style town, great for photos, with various bars 🍺 and shops along the street. We randomly picked a Mongolian BBQ place. The taste was okay, but the outdoor second-floor seating was very nice and photogenic
Stayed at 🏨 Hotel McCoy Pullman at night, quite clean
Day 2️⃣
Drove west along the wheat fields and scenic spots, stayed near Ellensburg at night, only 2 hours from Seattle
🚗 30 minutes from Pullman → Steptoe Butte State Park, 30 minutes drive. You can drive painlessly up the mountain. The route is full of beautiful wheat fields. At the foot of the mountain, we even took a photo of the Windows XP desktop. The top is a large viewing platform overlooking the wheat fields below. Using a telephoto lens, I saw on Xiaohongshu that in June it’s mostly green, but when I went in July, yellow was more dominant than green.
🚗 Over 1 hour drive to an old school bus graffiti spot on the way to Palouse Falls, a classic American road trip photo spot
🚗 Palouse Falls shares the same daily pass as Steptoe, but we missed it due to a wildfire closure
🚗 Over 1 hour drive to Wild Horse Monument, a group of wild horse statues
🚗 Another 10 minutes to the scenic overlook of the Columbia River, with a grand canyon vibe, very spectacular
🚗 About 20 minutes to Wild Horse Wind & Solar Facility, a wind power station
🚗 29 minutes drive to the second night’s accommodation Holiday Inn Express, located in Ellensburg downtown, just a few minutes away
Day 3️⃣
Took a walk around Ellensburg downtown then departed, skipping Seattle downtown (too much traffic), went straight to Lynnwood to charge and grab a Shake Shack, then back to Vancouver!
About 1,600 km in total, we charged 7 times on the way! You can imagine the distance. It was tiring but the scenery was definitely worth it!