Along Highway 26 between Colfax and Washtucna there is a barn I have often admired and today I pulled over and snapped the photo. Since I know nothing else about the barn, I’m including a photo from the other side of the mountains in North Bend and another random highway scene with a tree.
Each time I drive dear daughter to college I drive by the Dusty Country Store and wonder what it is like inside. I don’t think I had ever been in a Quonset Hut before and that alone was reason to stop. I purchased a nice cold bottle of water at a reasonable price and was on my way.
Dusty is a community in unincorporated Whitman County and Wikipedia tells me that it has a population of 11 or 12 and is the home of Wylie Gustafson, leader of the musical group Wylie & The Wild West.
I’m also including two other photos. The first is from a nearby rest stop where a man on a motorcycle was pulling a homemade dog RV. The dog seemed happy. And the second photo is of a barn that I’ve often admired, but never stopped to capture.
While visiting dear daughter over Spring Break, I had a rare day to myself and decided to go find the historic Leonard barn. So I stopped at the WSU visitor center and they told me where it is (they were so nice). I drove a long ways on a kind of paved road and missed it, but ended up in Moscow, ID. While there I asked their visitor center where it was. They were really nice too. After spending some quality time in Moscow, I went back on the long, kind of paved road and this time I actually found the barn! I would have guess that it was in Pullman or unincorporated Whitman County, but documentation shows it in Colfax.
The Leonard Barn, is located on Old Moscow Road. It was built in 1917 and restored in 2001. Originally built to house cows, horses, hay and grain, and the owner was a farmer/educator. The restoration included replacing the cupola that was blown off during a windstorm. The barn isn’t actually round, but instead it is a twelve sided polygon. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 and the nomination form is here.
So dear daughter and I are lost in the Olympia area when we go past this gem. We both say at about the same time “that’s today’s new place”. Apparently My Morbid Mind at 4548 Marvin Road SE, Lacey functions as a seasonal haunted house. Really, looking at their website it looks like a scream! I’d love to go back next Halloween.
