WALLA WALLA — Thursday, Oct. 6 — From breakfast the day before in Asotin, I was only about 60 miles away as the turkey vulture flies. But from the breakfast conversations, that was Mars and this was Pluto.

I was enjoying a pleasant mug of coffee on a warm Thursday morning under the sidewalk awning at Merchant Ltd., a venerable Walla Walla purveyor of caffeine, pastries and deli foods. I looked out on what Sunset magazine a few years ago labeled the Best Main Street in America.

My guidebook said Merchant's is a popular hangout for students from Whitman College, which is just down the street. And that's where these two must have dropped in from.

I wasn't really trying to eavesdrop. In my defense, the young couple at the table next to mine DID raise their voices. I even heard what I'm pretty sure was a mild table pounding.

They were passionately discussing the definition of freedom.

And I'm not talking about "Freedom Isn't Free" and the kind of stuff you see on bumper stickers. This was pure Philosophy 202, or maybe even 303, and there was an earnestness that I can't remember encountering since, well, college:

Him: "Your impulses aren't derivative of any higher order of (something something)."

Her: "And you can't actually act on those impulses and be free."

Him: "It's a rejection of Aristotle in a sort of proto-utilitarian calculation" (or something like that).

Her: "You are SO right" (hanging on his every word).

Him: "You know how (somebody somebody) says 'you ARE the state'? In that really beautiful Hobbesian way?"

And here's where there was a tinkling of silverware that I'm pretty sure was caused by a fist hitting the table.

Her (gripped by the drama of the moment): "I have to read this characterization of Aristotle!"

Him (perhaps grasping her hand in a tragic way): "It'll make you sad!"

And so on.

Anyway, it struck me as quite a bit different from my breakfast with friendly folks in down-home Asotin. Why so different — not only the breakfast table talk, but the bustling Main Street crowded with tony boutiques, wine-tasting rooms, fancy restaurants, a Macy's? Asotin — like many small Eastern Washington towns — had a couple fraternal halls and several empty storefronts.

What Wx2 has that Asotin doesn't: three colleges, including highly respected Whitman, and a big job base at the state penitentiary, meaning more money in the community. (The 2000 census showed Walla Walla County with a median income about $2,400 a year higher than in Asotin County, and almost three times as many people.)

Of course, if the young couple had asked me, I'd have told them freedom's just, you know, another word for, um, nothing left to lose.

I've heard that somewhere.

Mysterious road name of the day

Humorist Road, near Wallula

Tragedy and circumstance at Whitman Mission

It was sunny and 64 degrees as I headed the Car of Discovery westward. I stopped for a look around Whitman Mission National Historic Site, an important station on the Oregon Trail and site of the killings of missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and others in their compound.

It's believed that the local Cayuse tribe killed the Whitmans in part because of mounting tensions over the number of settlers moving into their territory. On top of that, after Marcus Whitman had given medicine to tribal members who'd caught measles from new settlers, half the tribe died and he was accused of poisoning them to make way for the settlers.

The murders had long-range repercussions for the Cayuse. Not only did U.S. soldiers move in to the area, but ultimately the threat spurred Congress to establish the Oregon Territory, the first U.S. expansion into the West.

A quote on the wall at the entrance to the mission museum caught my eye:

"Cultures are not 'superior' or 'inferior.' They are for better or worse adapted to a particular set of circumstances." — Thomas Sowell, from "Ethnic America: A History," 1981

Sometimes circumstances create tragedy, as overtook the Whitmans.

Wind in them thar hills

As I drove west on Highway 12 between Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities, the ridgeline ahead appeared bristling with giant toothpicks. Soon, it became clear they were towering wind turbines, scores of them.

And finally I realized that's what I'd been seeing transported on the highway the past couple days, on a fleet of giant trucks with "oversize load" signs: wind turbine blades and other parts, going east for a new installation.

One turbine blade filled an entire giant flatbed trailer. I bit my lip as one overloaded truck threaded its way through downtown Waitsburg, zigzagging around one corner and then another.

The town almost got smaller. The lumbering truck missed the corner of one brick building by, oh, inches.

Peppery Pasco

Walla Walla has its taco carts, but the moment I rolled into downtown Pasco, the Latin influence hit me like the savory smell of sizzling fajitas.

Parts of Pasco, home of the annual Fiery Food Festival, have more signs in Spanish than in English. Taquerias, panaderias, a big supermarket called Fiesta Foods. I pulled into a tiny drive-in and picked up some of the tastiest one-buck tacos I've eaten this side of Baja, with a fruity mandarina soda in a bottle labeled "Made in Mexico."

Reader tips

Hope you make it to the Tri-Cities? It has more broadband coverage and diversity than the "wetside". And the beer at Atomic Brewery in Richland is without peer. Try the Plutonium Porter or Half-Life Hefe.
— Beck, Kennewick, Wash.

Great blog! Wish I was with you. I grew up in Yakima and recommend driving by K's Coin Laundry on North Fruitvale Blvd. My dad owned and built this business and they still have the cool neon sign of an old washer woman that still works. Also, when in E-burg, MUST have a Great Western burger at Rossow's U-Tote-Em: a made-to-order burger with a fried egg! The BEST!
— Brian B., Auburn, Wash.

Palouse is derived from the French word pelouse meaning lawn. Having visited the Palouse, you can imagine how the rolling hills might have looked to a French trapper in the spring with green praire grass and wild flowers.
— Patrick, Seattle

I'm enjoying your visit to the East Side, where I lived most of my life. Just wondering about the onion rings...could it be that you won't find anything but the standard frozen onion rings in those drive-in restaurants? I was disappointed that Walla Walla (of all places!) could not offer big juicy slices of French fried onion rings. If you are going through Ellensburg, you might drop by The Spot, a funky art display across from the police station. No onion rings, just amusement.
— Becky Sewell, Ferndale, Wash.

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