So I am sat here in Judy & Phil's living room, in front of the fire with the TV on in the background. It feels very much like home (although my lovely Richard is missing!) - good to know that we all have nights like this!!
So, what have I been up to? Well, Sunday night I caught up with the team, and some Rotary members from
Ellensburg at the local wind farm. Obviously this is America, and everything is on a much grander scale than in the UK... they have nearly 140, 80m (
ish) turbines generating electricity for the area. It was lovely to see the team as it had been a whole 24 hours since we had last met - the longest since we arrived in North America! Whilst at the wind farm we were able to see inside a turbine. Surprisingly (or maybe not), the turbines have an elevator installed to get workers to the top... this would never happen in the UK and workers would be expected to climb to the top!
On Monday we had our first day in Yakima. A short stop at the Rosa Dam (where the Spring Salmon are running) was followed by a fantastic trip to the Tree Top apple processing plant where they make apple juice and apple sauce (used for breakfast, on ice cream, as a snack etc.). Unfortunately the machinery made it difficult to hear too much when we were in the plant, but it was fascinating, and reminded me of watching the informative bits of Sesame Street when I was a young lass! We even got to sample the apple juice (something non-alcoholic for once!).
Monday afternoon was spent on vocational visits... I spent some time with Bruce from Yakima City. He took me out to show me some subdivisions and annexations to the city as well as giving me an insight into house prices (much cheaper than at home). Bruce kindly gave me a zoning map, codes and a community plan, which will all be shipped from the post office! I also spent time with Sage and her colleagues at Yakima County - it was fascinating to understand the tensions between the County and the City, and also understand much more about the American planning system. In essence planners here have limited interest in design matters and developers have a huge amount of flexibility in what they design. It feels very developer friendly here, which is a contrast to the UK.
Sarah, Clippie & Doug
The grand finale of Monday was the amazing 'party' that Ken and Sharon hosted for us. Spring Salmon was on the menu (super yum!) with some local Riesling wine. Whilst the team tend to mingle, Doug and I spent most of the evening talking with
Clippie who is from Ohio and 88 years young and visiting with her daughter Jan (who is a hoot!).
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