While we were in Newport, Washington I took some time to finish the summer quilt for the motorhome that I had started last summer! It is finally completed and ready to use.

back to index

I guess this was the ribbon of highway that Arlo Guthrie sang about.

back to index

The campground we chose in Grand Coulee from the book really didn't have much going for it except it was decorated with these tubs of flowers and we got to meet up with our friends from Canada for a few days.

back to index

It was pretty cool being able to actually stand on the dam. We had to go through a metal detector before getting on the bus which took us there and drove us to the middle. Perhaps they are relaxing the rules a bit.

back to index

Looking at the dam from the top. The dam was built in 1933 as part of the Columbia Basin Project. The dam towers 550 feet above bedrock (as high as the Washington Monument) and is 500 feet thick at its base. Its three most important functions today are irrigation, power production and flood control.

back to index

We were brought into this huge pump house. These are used to pump water up to Banks Lake where it is then used for irrigation. They can also be reversed to generate power.

back to index

Crown Point Vista was built in the 1940's using CCC funds. The large concrete observation structure is actually a huge sun dial. The sun shines through a hole in the roof at the center which lets a beam of light fall on one of the 12 roof support columns which correspond to the twelve hours on the face of a clock. The wind was blowing so hard today, we had to use the support columns to keep us upright!

back to index

The dam as seen from Crown Point Vista.

back to index

Emil Gehrke moved to Grand Coulee in 1958 and began making iron windmills in his basement. He and his wife traveled far and wide to pick up thrown-away materials so he could create windmills, whirligigs and merry-go-rounds. The paddles were made from everything imaginable such as coffee pots, cookie tins, plastic bowls, fan blades and bicycle and machinery parts. Their folk art was all displayed in their yard until after their death when some of it was sold, some given to family and more then 120 pieces were moved to the Garden of the Wind for us to enjoy.

back to index

Lasers, intense beams of light, are projected on the surface of the dam each night telling the story of the dam, the region and people it changed forever.

back to index

Leaving Grand Coulee we traveled on Highway 155 which wound it's way through an area where two millions years ago glaciers covered the area. Millions of years before that, volcanic eruptions began to occur and layers of lava flowed over the basin forming the Columbia Plateau.

back to index

Beautiful Banks Lake is a 31-mile long reservoir which was filled by the Bureau of Reclamation in the 1950's to provide irrigation water to the Columbia Basin.

back to index

As we went around Banks Lake the road seemed to get narrower with more curves...

back to index

...and then it would again open up and give us another view of this beautiful lake.

back to index

Our route over the Cascade Mountains on Route 20 took us over Stevens Pass with an elevation of 4061 feet. There is still quite a bit of snow here which makes for beautiful vistas of this beautiful ski area.

back to index

It was beautiful seeing all the waterfalls cascading down the side of the mountain.

back to index

We spent a few days in a great campsite along the Skykomish River.

back to index

A wonderful sunset over the Skykomish River.

back to index