Central Washington University dominates the town's identity, its students nearly doubling Ellensburg's population during the academic year. The campus spreads north of downtown, Barge Hall's red brick tower marking its center. The university brings the infrastructure of a larger place - restaurants, bookstores, the cultural programming that livens up long winters.

But CWU coexists with a different Ellensburg, one rooted in ranching and agriculture. The valley produces hay and cattle, and the rodeo celebrates these traditions with events that have run since 1923. Labor Day weekend transforms the town, the rodeo grounds filling with competitors and the streets with Western wear. It's a reminder that the college town sits in cowboy country, both worlds overlapping in a place small enough to hold them both.

Ellensburg sits at a junction - Interstate 90 from Seattle to Spokane, Interstate 82 from here to Yakima and beyond, US-97 climbing north over Blewett Pass to Wenatchee and the Okanogan country. The town has been a crossroads since before the highways, when the railroad stopped here and cattle drives brought animals to market.

The position makes Ellensburg a natural stopping point for travelers crossing the state. Seattle is an hour and forty minutes west; Spokane nearly three hours east. Yakima lies an hour south, the orchards and vineyards of the Yakima Valley beginning as the road descends. The drive in any direction offers changing landscapes - the irrigated green of the valley, the dry sagebrush hills, the forested passes that separate climate zones.

Thirty miles east on I-90, Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park preserves one of the most diverse fossil forests in the world. Over 200 species of trees have been identified in the basalt, frozen in stone when lava flows covered the forests millions of years ago. The interpretive center explains the geology; trails lead to exposed logs that reveal the texture of trees turned to rock.

Closer to town, the Columbia River carved coulees through the basalt, creating rock climbing destinations that draw climbers from across the region. Frenchman Coulee offers routes on columnar basalt, the vertical joints creating natural holds. The area around Vantage provides water access, the Wanapum Recreation Area offering picnic areas and boat launches along the Columbia.

Ellensburg sits on the Mountains to Sound Greenway, the corridor that connects Puget Sound to the Cascades crest and beyond. The greenway isn't a single trail but a concept - a protected route across the mountains that links urban Seattle to the wilderness of the crest to the dry lands of the eastern foothills.

From Ellensburg, Snoqualmie Pass offers skiing in winter and hiking in summer, an hour west on I-90. Leavenworth, the Bavarian-themed village, lies an hour north over Blewett Pass. Wenatchee, the self-proclaimed Apple Capital of the World, is just beyond. The town's position as crossroads extends to recreation - multiple mountain destinations within reach, the dry climate providing sunny alternatives when Seattle drowns in rain.