Today’s mystery is another location, most appropriate for these hot summer days………… what beach is this, specifically? Bet many of you have been there!

Congrats and Strawberry Shortcake to Curtis Hoffman for being the first to identify last week’s mystery photo as Steptoe Butte in Whitman County, south of Spokane. He remembers his family driving up there in the 1960s.

Anne Grimm and Sonji Ruttan also gave correct answers. Good for youse guys!

Today’s mystery is a photo-mystery. What is this (obviously a hill!) and where is it and why is it important to Washington history?

With last week’s mystery, I was musing about how a little wooden image of an ancient Hindu elephant god came to be floating along the western-end-edge of Long Lake where I found it among the driftwood. Two possible solutions were offered….love ’em!

Sonji Ruttan:  A group of Hindus were holding a seance on a luxury houseboat on Long Lake and offered this to the river god.

 Bettye Hull: There was a very old Hindu man traveling by wagon train in the 1880s through these parts. The wagon train was raided by Indians and many things were stolen. Obviously, this fell out of the bag of “loot”, or was discarded by the Indians because they had no idea what it represented.

Shucks. Nobody won a WSGS cupcake from answering last week’s mystery question. Nobody knew where the “Scrappy Sasquatch” was located. WELL! It’s in Elbe (near Mount Rainier, west side) and is in a personal roadside sculpture park on State Route 706 on your way to Paradise Lodge and the park. Google “En Nihilo Spirits of Iron Sculpture Park” to see all of Daniel Klennert’s creations.

Today I have a mystery for you of a totally different ilk. I found this wooden carved “thing” floating in Long Lake. This is the Spokane River where a lake has been formed (Long Lake) behind a dam (before continuing on its way into the Columbia River).

The blue glass is there for size comparison. Doing a bit of research, this is the ancient Hindu elephant god Ganesha, “one of the best known objects of devotion in the Hindu religion.” Notice especially the legs and feet positions. It’s carved from some very dark wood and must not have been in the water too long for it was not weathered or rotten a bit.

The mystery is how on earth did THAT get to be floating in Long Lake????? Especially in the lower end stretch, way past the houses and nearer to the dam, floating at lake’s edge amidst the weeds, plastic and driftwood. If you care to make up a story solving this mystery, I’d love to hear from you with said story!

Today’s mystery question:  Where can you see a metal sculpture “garden” complete with a larger-that-life Scrappy Sasquatch, made from driftwood and metal? (Can you tell I’m on a sasquatch kick?)

And a chocolaty WSGS cupcake to Lori Bell who sent this answer to my question “How many Native American tribes are registered in Washngton?” Here’s her answer:

“There are 29 Federally recognized tribes in WA. I teach my 4th graders about WA state, including Native Americans. Shocking to compare maps of tribal regions before and after 1855 treaties.”

Thanks to faithful responders Patty Olsen, Anne Grimm, Sonji Ruttan and Phyllis Griffith, for mostly-correct answers.

Today’s mystery question is this: How many Native American tribes are there in Washington State? Probably more than you’d think.

A special Fourth of July cake is awarded to Patty Olsen who was the first to post that the Vantage Bridge connects Kittitas and Grant counties. Karen Hand was two minutes later! Opal Mhyres, Sonji Rutan and Phyllis Griffith also gave correct answers.

Here’s a travel-question-mystery for you today:  The Vantage Bridge over the Columbia River connects which two counties?? Gonna see who knows their Washington geography!

A great big gooey WSGS cupcake to Arlene Rowden for knowing that Dixie, Washington, was a bitty burg between Waitsburg and Walla Walla. And extra cherries to Patty Olsen, Anne Grimm, Sonji Rutan and Roger Newman who also knew (and even had been there!) about Dixie.

Gosh, no cupcakes awarded this week………. seems that nobody knew that that old time contraption I offered last week was a 1922-ish state-of-the-art Easy brand washing machine.  Just imagine how excited the lady of the house must have been to trade in her wash board for this machine!

Today’s mystery is geography. Is there a Dixie in Washington and if so, where might it be?  No fair asking Grandma Google!!  (And this sign might or might not be worthwhile.)

Today’s mystery is What Is This? And please don’t just tell me it’s a (      ) but tell me more about it and do you have any memories of such a thing??

This maybe will seem to you like a weird mystery but thinking about the answer will most certainly tug your heart.  This is a view of the new Veterans’ Cemetery south of Spokane. I took this photo last week.

The shining white tombstones against the green lawn and blue sky….with the American flag in the far distance….. was lovely and quite moving. But what moved me to tears was the thought that all that green lawn will eventually be covered with more and more and more shiny white marker stones. The mystery? How many??? How many more??  Most sobering thought.

And a WSGS cupcake to Pat Manning for correctly identifying the Olympic Peninsula as the subject of last Monday’s myster and that 1954 description. It’s from The Untamed Olympics: The Story of a Peninsula, by Ruby El Hult.  Anne Grimm, Sonji Rutan and Patty Olsen also knew the answer. Good for you all!

What is the place (in Washington, of course) fitting this description:  “Shaped like a flat topped molar, the (     ) plateau formed as an island in the sea. Then slowly rock beds to the south lifted and leveled off, connecting it with the coast range to the south. Now it was peninsular with ocean surging against its western side, a deep water trough ploughing before it to the north, and a long water arm hugging its east side.”

And a wonderful chocolate WSGS cupcake to Patty Olsen for being the first to answer “what are hops and where are they grown?”  She knew that hops are used in beer making and 75% of the hop crop is grown in the Yakima Valley. (There is even a Hop Museum in Toppenish.)

Patty, maybe you’d share your cupcake with Sonji, Gary, Kathleen Phyillis, Anne and Barbara for they all submitted correct answers….but after yours.