The Grand Coulee Dam

Our drive from Spokane to Coulee City was filled with sights of wheat fields and more wheat fields.  The wide expanse of greens mixed with the brown tones of harvested wheat was unusual and fascinating to us.

Coulee City Community RV Campground met our needs.  We had full hook ups, a view of Banks Lake and super nice camp hosts.  They brought us fresh-frozen walleye fish they had caught in Banks Lake and told us about the sights to see in the area. (Thanks Alice&Jerry, the walleye fillets were delicious!)

Banks Lake Reservoir

Banks Lake is a crucial part of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project.  More than a half million acres of land are irrigated from this lake with over 3000 miles of irrigation canals.

Our first California Quail.  We have enjoyed watching a covey of them here in the RV park.

Driving north along Banks Lake, toward the Grand Coulee Dam, are some of the most amazing lake views you will ever see.  We spotted deer, many different varieties of birds including ospreys and hawks.  The surrounding basalt cliffs are more than 800 to 900 feet tall. This geological area is called  the Grand Coulee.

There are so many facts that can be written about the colossal engineering feat of the Grand Coulee Dam.  To learn more about one of the largest concrete structures on earth and how it was built, click on the link here.

Info and Facts About The Grand Coulee Dam

There are several viewing platforms to try to comprehend the enormous size of this concrete structure.
 It is impressive!

Panoramic View

After our stop at the Visitor Center we took the free dam tour provided by the Bureau of Reclamation.

You are screened through security and then a metal detector before being allowed to participate, then we boarded vans that drove us through the community of Coulee Dam.  There, we saw where many of the workers and engineers lived while the dam was being constructed.

Next, we were taken to one of the three power generating buildings where

we saw these turbines that also help pump water up into the 12 giant large pipes that fill Banks Lake. 

Then, the tour van drives you to the top of the dam for a different perspective.

The view from the top of the dam, looking down on the spillway.  Ron took this photo, not me.

The dam tour is free and certainly provides a deeper appreciation for the feat accomplished by this dam's construction.

Traveling south, on Highway 2 from Coulee City, you come upon another amazing geological landscape.  This area is also part of the Grand Coulee,  a land form thought to have been created by Ice Age floods more than 13,000 years ago. Driving up you are greeted with an impressive view of 

Dry Falls.

It's 3.5 miles wide and 400 feet high.

It is stated that when the water rushed over these cliffs it created a waterfall greater than Niagara Falls. It is estimated that Dry Falls is at least five times the width of Niagara Falls.

Panoramic View of Dry Falls

Traveling further southward on Highway 2, you come upon a string of clear lakes surrounded by more basalt cliffs.  This area is also part of the grand coulee, created by that glacial ice dam bursting with the massive amounts of rushing water carving and swirling away at the land. Over time the water stripped away the soil and it created this deep canyon, also known as a coulee.

This was a very interesting area to explore.  We learned a lot about the geology of the land, found some unbelievable views, met some nice folks and found this place to be a memorable stop in our journey across the northwest.

We've now moved on to Leavenworth to see what's there.

More Later.

Spearfish, SD and The Beartooth Scenic Byway

 Well, I think I should rename this blog from "Ease-On Down the Road" to "Move On Down The Road" because we are now located in Coulee City, Washington.  Below is another brief update of our visit to Spearfish, SD and our drive on the Beartooth Highway in Montana/Wyoming.

We made a visit to one of our favorite places,  Deadwood.

On this day, the town was quiet with just a few tourists.  We walked into some of our favorite places, noticing fewer gaming machines and more tee shirt shops.  We enjoyed the afternoon and had a nice prime rib meal at the Silverado Franklin.

Our next day trip was to Custer State Park, located about 30 miles south of Deadwood.

Mostly know for it's bison heard, we saw several buffalo.

This particular one was laying beside the road. As we slowly drove along, the noise of our Jeep agitated it and it stood up rather quickly.  We moved along too.

The Needles Scenic Highway

was a pleasant drive filled with tunnels and unusual rock formations.

The road gets its name from this particular needle like rock.

As we traveled along the Needles Highway, we came up upon Sylvan Lake. 
Georgous!

We did make a drive through the scenic Spearfish Canyon.
We spotted signs directing us up Forest Service Road 222 to see where some of the scenes from the movie, "Dances With Wolves" were filmed.  The area obviously had grown up in trees but we could still tell where some of the most famous scenes from the movie's ending were made.  It was cloudy this day, therefore I didn't take many photos but just enjoyed the drive.

Moving on, we drove to Billings, Montana.  Our goal was to experience the Beartooth Scenic Highway.  Our drive begins in Red Lodge, Mt.

We had a delicious breakfast at the Red Lodge Cafe before we began our trek up the Scenic Beartooth Road.

The Beartooth Scenic Byway is 68 miles long and was completed in 1937.  The road travels over the Beartooth Mountains and explores several different ecosystems.  The spectacular scenery seems to change every few miles.  This was our first time on the highway and it reminded us of the road up Pikes Peak..except this highway is longer with more switchbacks and this highway has guard rails!

The higher the road travels, the greater the landscape change. You begin the drive in a lush forest and then you're found to be in an alpine tundra field of wild flowers surrounded with patches of snow.

Highest point on the road is Beartooth Summit Pass at 10,947 feet.

The Beartooth Scenic Road is named for Beartooth Peak, a granite spire seen on the western side of the summit.

We were shocked at the amount of snow we saw, yet a person at the campground told Ron that they thought the amount of snow was the least they had seen in several years

It was warm this day and snow melt was obvious from the rushing waterfalls and ditches filled with water.  This has to be one of our most favorite mountain drives.

We are now in Coulee City, Washington.  We plan to see the Grand Coulee Dam that's just up the road from where we are now.

More Later.

Blog Update: Iowa and South Dakota

Here is another very brief update of our travels since we have left North Carolina.

 Our drive through the West Virginia mountains was gorgeous this day. I cannot imagine how colorful and beautiful this area would be during the autumn season.

Our trip to Davenport, Iowa was smooth and uneventful.  While visiting our friends, Sue&John and Donna&Dave, we stayed at the West Lake Park in Scott County, just west of Davenport. 
Campsites were clean and their prices were very reasonable.  

We enjoyed lots of good and special times!  We met Sue&John and Donna&Dave during our 2016 winter travels in Florida.  Our timing was great because Sue&John's RVing friends from Georgia, Charlene and Tracy landed at West Lake the same time we did.  We shared many, many stories!  We really enjoyed getting to know them too and their 2 poodles (Marley and Dixon) and their Chinese Crested, Stu.

Here we are celebrating Sue &John's anniversary at a wonderful restaurant on the banks of the Mississippi River. That's Sue, John, Tracy, Charlene, Ronnie and myself.

We all enjoyed Memorial Day at Sue&John's home.  They live right across the street from West Lake County Park's Campground.

We had a fun day watching all the car races and playing cornhole.

I borrowed Tracy's picture from his Facebook page.  We were having so much fun, I forgot to take pictures!

We also wanted to take a drive to Otumwa to visit our friends Donna&Dave.  We also met them during our 2016 winter Florida travels.

Corn, corn everywhere in Iowa!

Donna and Dave have a beautiful home and we sure enjoyed our visit with them as well.  We hope to see them next winter in Florida too.

Dave took Ronnie for a drive in his 2016 Corvette Z06.  Wow..now that is one amazingly fast car.  I got to ride in it too!

Our appointment at HWH in Moscow, Iowa was scheduled for the first of June.  After our week of socializing, we drove on to Moscow and spent the night.  HWH offers electric hookups for those with early morning appointments.  Our experience with them was very good.  They were able to locate several air leaks and fix all but two of them.  We drove to Truck County in Cedar Rapids, where they replaced those last two protection valves that were leaking air.

We were pretty tired after leaving Cedar Rapids..and wouldn't you know, there's a casino right down the road with camping.  Meskwaki Casino, Hotel and Campground in Tama, Iowa was exactly what we needed.  Although the campground only offers electric hookups, they do have a fast fresh water intake and a dump station.  The lunch and breakfast buffets were good and Ronnie did win a little bit of cash too.  That's always a winner!

Our drive across the state of South Dakota was beautiful.  I never tire of the rolling plains and how the landscape seems to stretch out forever.

We're now located in Spearfish, South Dakota for a few days of rest and to see the sights of the Black Hills.  We've been here a few times before with our last visit in 2004.  One of the first things we noticed was how this area has really grown and developed.  Of course, Deadwood is on our list of places to revisit!

More Later..