Central WA Road Trip
Jun. 21st, 2009 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annundrielYesterday a friend of mine from college, Rachel, drove over from Auburn and we spent the day doing the central/eastern Washington tourist-thing. By which I mean we drove around a lot and looked at basalt and saw the Sun Lakes, Dry Falls, Banks Lake (and Steamboat Rock), Grand Coulee Dam, and Summer Falls. It was tons of fun. Fantastic company, absolutely perfect day, beautiful countryside.
These are at Dry Falls, cliffs that once had 300 feet of water rushing over them. They're over 3.5 miles wide and 400 feet tall. They were once the largest falls in the world.
Eastern Washington was shaped by the Missoula Floods, which occurred in the ice age. The Grand Coulee area is one of the places where you can see that most clearly.
Steamboat Rock, which is situated within Banks Lake. Named for the shape.
Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River was originally built for irrigation purposes, to bring water to the Columbia Basin. If it were not for the dam, my family and our farm would not be here. This dam is totally why I was fairly unimpressed with the size of Hoover Dam. Grand Coulee is taller than the Great Pyramids and is one of the largest concrete structures in the world. According to the booklet we picked up, the dam is 550 ft. above bedrock and 500 ft. wide at the base. "There is enough concrete in the dam to build two standard six-foot wide sidewalks around the world at the equator." In other words, it's HUGE. Very impressive.
They also used to teach us "Roll On Columbia" in school. It's a big deal.
Summer Falls. Pretty and, seriously, in the middle of nowhere. It's kind of an oasis, tucked away.
We also had lunch at a bar in Electric City where we had really yummy bacon cheeseburgers and got a free gin and tonic. Which Rachel and I both decided might not be something we'd order for ourselves.
Meanwhile, I have Dean/Castiel fic to post this afternoon/evening once I read it all the way through one more time.
These are at Dry Falls, cliffs that once had 300 feet of water rushing over them. They're over 3.5 miles wide and 400 feet tall. They were once the largest falls in the world.
Eastern Washington was shaped by the Missoula Floods, which occurred in the ice age. The Grand Coulee area is one of the places where you can see that most clearly.
Steamboat Rock, which is situated within Banks Lake. Named for the shape.
Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River was originally built for irrigation purposes, to bring water to the Columbia Basin. If it were not for the dam, my family and our farm would not be here. This dam is totally why I was fairly unimpressed with the size of Hoover Dam. Grand Coulee is taller than the Great Pyramids and is one of the largest concrete structures in the world. According to the booklet we picked up, the dam is 550 ft. above bedrock and 500 ft. wide at the base. "There is enough concrete in the dam to build two standard six-foot wide sidewalks around the world at the equator." In other words, it's HUGE. Very impressive.
They also used to teach us "Roll On Columbia" in school. It's a big deal.
Summer Falls. Pretty and, seriously, in the middle of nowhere. It's kind of an oasis, tucked away.
We also had lunch at a bar in Electric City where we had really yummy bacon cheeseburgers and got a free gin and tonic. Which Rachel and I both decided might not be something we'd order for ourselves.
Meanwhile, I have Dean/Castiel fic to post this afternoon/evening once I read it all the way through one more time.
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Date: 2009-06-22 05:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-23 12:01 am (UTC)Our gin and tonic tasted kinda soapy. I personally couldn't taste the alcohol at all, so I think it was heavy on the tonic. I'd be up for trying a really well-made one. But yeah, gin's not really my go-to drink.
All I can think is "alcoholic Christmas in a cup"!