It’s been a busy week out here on the road in Central and Southern Washington. I’ve traveled down some beautiful roads this week, many following winding streams and rivers, and stopped in some really cool little towns. I’ve been listening to a great radio station out here playing real oldies – like oldies that were oldies when I was a kid. I haven’t heard a lot of those songs in decades and my toes have been tapping as I cruise down the road. This is apple country and it’s cool to pass through the apple orchards and see many with fruit still on the trees, while the leaves have turned bright orange with the season. Empty apple crates dot the landscape from earlier picking. There are plenty of grapes out here too as this is Washington’s wine country. The weather hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been terrible and there have been some wild clouds in the sky overhead much of the week. The days are short, but I’ve been trying to make the most of the daylight I have as I wind up my time in Washington State.
Cincinnati has done a great job of commissioning murals around the city to adorn blank walls and help fill wide open spaces. These murals have changing the whole aesthetic of the city. During my stay I ran across dozens of beautiful murals. These are some of my favorites.
Inspired by murals he had seen across the state in Steubenville, Dr. Louis Chaboudy hoped to create something similar in his hometown of Portsmouth. In 1992, he commissioned Robert Dafford to begin work on a project which would last 10 years. Over that time period, Dafford painted over 50 murals which stretch 2200 feet along the Ohio River. These murals tell the history of Sciotto County and of the people who have lived there. It is a wonderful project which I really enjoyed visiting. The local Visitor's Center provides brochures and even a cell phone tour for your visit. Unfortunately I was shooting into the sun while I was there, and all of the murals are different sizes making it difficult to crop them and still have a nice layout for this post, but I still thought that they were wonderful and wanted to share them with you today. Enjoy!
