Flying into the area from Denver, I was surprised to see how much of the land is farmed (and it all just looks like big beige rectangles from the air, almost desert-like) and how few trees (relatively speaking) there are surrounding the town. The airport is on the western outskirts of town along I-90. Spokane itself is quite large, geographically, as it seems to have mostly built up along I-90.

The airport runways are quite a distance from the one terminal. Construction was going on, appearing to be adding more tarmac areas for planes. I did like that the car rental was in the one terminal building (albeit quite a long walk from the terminal plane gates). Few airports have that anymore, thus, requiring the travelers to be bussed to another location to get a rental car.

North east of the town is Mount Spokane. It is a state park with the usual winding curvy roads that snake their way along the sides of the mountains. Mount Kit Carson, almost as tall as Mount Spokane, is adjacent. I originally intended to visit this on my way back to Spokane, at the end of the trip. But by that time I had seen enough mountains for a while.

I did drive around west Spokane a bit. I went down High Street. The well-kept 30 - 50 year old homes with their cared-for lawns overlooked a huge valley that had mountains beyond it. In other words, a great view. Several other neighborhoods in the same west area all were nice.