Barn Quilts

Here's another Ellensburg post. You know you're in the country when one of the local stores displays socks and wheelbarrows together. Ellensburg is located near the center of the State of Washington and is home of Central Washington University. It's been over 30 years since we spent a year here at the University and the town has done significant polishing in the intervening years.

One of the things they've done is to create a Barn Quilt Trail, building unique 8 x 8 foot (or 4 x 4 occasionally) wooden quilts mounted on picturesque barns around the valley such as this one at the local nursery.

Many of the barns and some of the families have been around for over 100 years.

This one sat back quite a ways from the road in the Manastash area.

Not all of the barns were old,

but this one in the Teanaway area was my favorite since the barn had clearly survived many years of weather.

Maps were organized by clusters. We visited four of the five clusters on a 60 mile route through ranches and farms, essentially ignoring Ellensburg proper because of time.

It's not just barn quilts to be seen. There are lots of beautiful homes both old and new, rolling fields, rivers and streams, and occasional rust begging for a picture.

The town of E'burg itself has lots of late 1890 / early 1900's brick buildings with a strong downtown vibrance. It's worth a visit all its own.