Judith and Lenora's Fabulous Day Trip!

For photos: http://web.mac.com/goodlenora/iWeb/Site/Last%20Roll.html

or tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/m4hueb

My gal pal Judith and I went for a day trip yesterday, up into the Palouse region of SE Washington State. Her family owns a wheat ranch near Tekoa (pronounced: Tee koh), which is north of Farmington, and not too far from Idaho, if any of you want to check out the map-and you should!

Our first stop was the little town of Farmington, where her great grandfather was one of the early settlers. We visited the library where the Mayor has an office, and Judith and Mayor Laura had quite a discussion about the local history (Judith is looking into her ‘roots’) and then we headed up to the cemetery, where she found the head stones of some of her pioneer family, and I wandered around taking photographs. Lena was a very popular name in the Farmington area, just in case you’re interested. For photos of the cemetery, go to the Photo site, above.

From there we drove up to Tekoa, where Judith had heard from a friend about a new restaurant, the Cafe Artisan. We had NO idea where this place was, but Tekoa is a small town, so we weren’t too worried. We found it on our first pass-through.

We weren’t sure what we expected, but we certainly didn’t expect what we found! We arrived after the lunch crowd had come and gone, and were the only customers, so had our choice of tables. We took one nearest the window so we could people watch. The waitress brought us our menu, and the first shock was the selection. There were three items from which to choose – a minestrone soup, a chicken caprese sandwich, or a seared shrimp and scallop salad. That was it. Nothing more.

Now, some folks might find such a short menu a bit off-putting, but we thought it marvelous! Even more so when we found out the menu changes weekly (see their web site (below) for weekly menus and the now and then cafe closures). Judith ordered the salad, and I ordered the sandwich, which came with a side salad.

Judith’s salad was huge, covered in large shrimp and scallops, and she said it was delicious. My sandwich came on fresh homemade bread (came out of the oven at 10.30 that morning). The bread was long and skinny, and I just knew (knew, I tell you) it would be hard and dry. I didn’t know at the time it was fresh out of the oven. It was soft and chewy and just absolutely perfect! We each ate half our lunch, and took the rest home for dinner last night. Oh, the salad came, pre-dressed (I forgot to order my dressing on the side) and the dressing was light, and delightful. And my coffee was wonderful! They keep it hot in a vacuum pot so it doesn’t get bitter. The coffee was a dark Sumatra, and it, alone, worth the drive!

About the time we finished, the owner and chef, Amber, came out to visit with us. That’s when we learned the menu changes weekly – as everything she serves is made from scratch, it must depend on what she buys as to what she makes. Lunches are served Tuesday through Saturday and dinners Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The dinner menu is also limited, but also changes weekly.

Cafe Artisan’s website is: http://www.cafeartisan.com/ Check it out for the current menu, hours, directions, and much better photos of it than what I took!

Those of you who are still reading this, and live in Washington, NE Oregon, or someplace in Idaho, check this restaurant out. Those of you who think you might like to live in Small Town, America, check out Tekoa. It’s a delightful small town, full of old homes and community spirit.

After lunch, we drove to Judith’s family’s wheat ranch, where they grow wheat and, this year, lentils. From there we headed home, with a side trip up Steptoe Butte. Steptoe Butte is a quartzite hill that sticks up about 1000 feet from the surrounding country. There is a road all the way to the top, from which the view is spectacular. On the way down, a young buck, with two straight horns about six inches (guessing only, he wouldn’t let me get close enough to measure) walked down the road in front of us, he also refused to turn around and pose for a portrait.

This was a marvelous day trip – made the more so because Judith drove the whole time, all I had to do was sit back and watch the country and enjoy her company.

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson