By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The picture you see attached to this blog post is of a field of grain near Walla Walla.

I snapped it while my wife and I waited for a flagger to signal us forward through highway construction. We waited a good while.

The picture really does little justice to what we saw as we traveled through the region in the southeastern corner of Washington. I want to share with you here, though, an observation we both made almost at the same time.

It is that I never thought cultivated farmland could be so damn gorgeous. We were amazed at the harmony among the plots of land. They were owned by various families. But so help me I was struck by how well-manicured all the farmland appeared to be.

What’s more, it was as if all the landowners got together and decided how their land would look to ensure that it didn’t conflict with the tract of terra firma next door.

The grow a lot of wheat in this part of the nation. They also grow plenty of grapes for the nearly 100 wineries that have sprung up in the Palouse region. A friend we visited in the area calls it the “Napa Valley of the North.” It is transforming the region in front of everyone’s eyes.

Did I ever think a patch of cultivated farmland would be worth sharing on this social media platform?

No. Not ever. Not until we saw it up close.