As I mentioned before, we had tickets to go see SMU play Washington State University this weekend. We left early Saturday morning to drive to Pullman. Previously, the farthest east we'd been on I-90 was to hike 30 miles or so east of Seattle, so this was the first time we went over Snoqualmie Pass, which is 3,022 feet above sea level, and can become impassible in the winter. When we left Saturday morning it was raining lightly, but the rain got heavier as we got closer to the pass (probably the heaviest rain I've experienced in Washington) and then stopped once we got over the pass.

The landscape east of the pass was a little drier and flatter, and the farther east we went the fewer trees there were. There were rocky hills with brown grass and some bushes. It was a very different landscape than in the Puget Sound area.

The drive to Pullman was about 5 hours, much of which was along a two-lane highway. We stopped for lunch once we got to Pullman and then went to the Washington State campus to park for the game. We walked around the campus and then went to the stadium. We didn't see the SMU Mustang Club tailgate that was supposed to be there so we went inside the stadium and found our seats, which were three rows above the field. The stadium wasn't sold out but it was pretty full. There seemed to be 100 or so SMU supporters in our section. Before the game started, WSU's president came and welcomed us to the game.

I won't give a full game recap, you can get that here. The game started well, though, and SMU was up 17-0 in the first half. Though the median age of our section was around 65, there were a few younger people who led us in some cheers and stuff. It was a lot of fun cheering the Mustangs on as they gained a 24-7 lead in the 3rd quarter. This was the best I'd ever seen SMU play, but unfortunately, like at so many SMU games I've been to, we ended up losing. Still, it was a lot of fun, and it was cool to support the Mustangs in the June Jones era so far from their home.

We drove to Spokane after the game and checked into our hotel near downtown. We had some dinner and drove around a little bit before settling into our room. The next day we had the hotel breakfast and went to a few parks in town. We went to Riverfront park along the Spokane River near downtown. This was a pretty neat park and the waterfalls of the river were pretty cool. After that, we went to a natural area east of town to go for a short walk.

We were going to try a local hamburger place called The Milk Bottle for lunch, but it was closed, so we went to Sonic instead because we haven't been there in a couple years. Then we hit the road and made it back home.

It was a fun weekend. I'm glad we were able to make it over to that side of the state and spend some time in Spokane, the second most populous city in the state. It's very different from the Puget Sound area and reminded me of Texas in a lot of ways. It was a lot of fun and a good way to spend a weekend with my wife.