英语播客 A Cup of English 49 Photos of Washington State, 1.

The photo for today's podcast, comes from a calendar of Washington State that I bought yesterday. The photographer is Rick Schafer, well known and loved for his landscape photography of the Pacific Northwest. Though he lives in Oregon, much of his work is about Washington State. And he has his photos in well-known magazines, such as: Conde Nast Golf, Alaska Airlines, and National Park publications. One of my listeners had asked me a long time ago to show scenes of Washington State, as this is where I live. However, my photos are scattered throughout the house, and limited. So, when I found this calendar, I immediately knew that I needed to borrow these beautiful scenes (and of course, I give Rick Schafer all the credit). This is the first of 12 scenes in the calendar, and it's actually taken from the month of July. The photo is of the Columbia River Gorge, which is close to where I live. The two flowers you can see are typically found in these dry, semi-desert areas in spring and summer. They are wild, purple lupines, and small, yellow sunflowers. They contrast perfectly with each other, and make a real show on the hills. The gorge area stretches over 290,000 acres, from southern Washington to northern Oregon. It's quite unique, and has its own Native American history, including tribes such as the Nez Perce which you may have heard about. There are 218 miles of trails that you can walk on to explore the area, 800 kinds of flowers, many different animals, and even 1000 historic buildings and archaelogical sites. I live in this area, and I haven't even seen a tiny percentage of all that is here.