My life has been influenced and shaped by the two valleys where I have lived, much like how the rivers carved the valleys that share their names. I spent my early years in Yakima Valley, located in central Washington State. The Valley extends generally from the Cascade Mountains and Mount Adams on the west to Sunnyside, Grandview, and Mabton on the east. The city and county of Yakima are named after the Yakima tribe of Native Americans. The Yakima River bisects the County as it rises in the Cascade Range and empties into the Columbia River at Richland, Washington.
When I was about 5 years old, my family moved from Pullman, Washington, to the City of Yakima, on South 10th Avenue. You can read more about that here. We later moved to an unincorporated area south of Union Gap and north of Parker, along Thorp Road within a half-mile of the Yakima River. Our house was across Thorp Road from the Rattlesnake Hills.
The Skagit Valley, located on the west (wet) side of the Cascades, became home in 1976. The Valley and County, named after the Skagit tribe of Native Americans, is bound by the Puget Sound on the west and the Cascades on the east. For more about our journey in Skagit County, click here.