Grand Coulee

Thousands of years ago an immense blanket of glacial ice covered much of the northern hemisphere.  Behind and beneath these sheets of ice were raging rivers pressing to flow.  When the ice dams broke, the rivers raced over what is now the American Northwest.  Along the course, the waters littered the land with building-size boulders.  This action was repeated over and over creating the high desert landscape of eastern Washington and other states.

In the early 1900s two men had an idea to control this landscape by building the biggest concrete structure in North America.  This structure, begun in 1933 and known as the Grand Coulee Dam, became our last destination on this trip.

 Our guide through the pump generating plant gave us a lot of “dam” good information (her jokes were endless).  First intended as a source of water to reclaim the rich soil, the dam was instead needed as a source of electricity for the weapons industry of Washington State during WWII.

Today it provides water for thousands of acres of farms and lakes and rivers for all types of water recreation in addition to generating electricity.   All this was interesting, but we were captured by the beauty of the area.

We were also interested in the quirkiness represented by the Gerhke Windmills.

The native tribes viewed the dam as an end to the salmon fishing that was a major part of their lives.  Their story is told at the small but excellent Colville Tribal Museum.  After our too brief time in the museum, we drove onto the reservation to the burial site of Chief Joseph whose homeland in Oregon we had previously visited.

On the recommendation of our “dam” docent, we dined at La Presa, an excellent Mexican restaurant.  Then we returned to the dam for the nightly laser show.  Unfortunately, it was a rather cheesy history of the land and the dam; perhaps because it is thirty years old.  Next year they will have a new one.  Maybe they will change the musical finale from  Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America” to the Woody Guthrie “Oh, Columbia” that is on display in the dam museum.

Our campground was located on Sun River/Dry Falls, an area once with falls far greater than Niagara and now walled with basalt etched by the repeated action of those ancient waves. 
 

During the night, it was not waves that rocked our “boat” but fierce winds that caused our coach to rattle.

Under the still morning air, we drove the scenic byway created by those prehistoric floods.  It was a lovely ending to a great trip.

Spokane

We started our exploration of Spokane with a 10K walk that took us along the lovely Riverwalk.

 
 We admired waterfalls, crossed bridges and wished we were children again so we could climb the gigantic American Flyer Wagon or ride the tiger on the carousel.

 We could not help thinking of Cheryl when we passed a depiction of a group of runners out for their morning exercise.

A book we had on board praised Frank’s Diner, located in a restored luxury private railcar, for the volume and quality of its food so having worked up our hunger on the walk, we decided to give it a try.

 It was good but did not live up to the Miss Albany that our son introduced us to in Troy, NY.

We then went to the Moore-Turner Gardens.  An excellent docent explained that the gardens were the backyard of a magnificent home owned by one of the major industrialists who made Spokane a rich mining, lumber and agricultural area.  We were too late in the season for much bloom but could appreciate how lovely the area must be in the spring.

The next morning our “wonderful wander” (a quote from the docent at Moore-Turner) was through the multi-hued gardens of Manito Park.  From the formal Duncan Gardens to the chromatic dahlias to the Nishinomiya Japanese Garden, this was a lovely morning destination.

Anna Lee’s friend Pat is from Spokane and offered some suggestions for our visit.  A delicious lunch at the Rockwood Café near the gardens extended to a purchase of muffins for breakfast the next morning.

Then it was off for an afternoon on the campus of Gonzaga University visiting the home of Harry Lillis Crosby, popularly known as Bing.  He was raised in Spokane and his family home is on the campus as is a room filled with records, plaques and his Oscar for “Going My Way.”

We enjoy finding art by Dale Chihuly on our travels.  The Jundt Art Center on campus has a large red chandelier as well as vases by this outstanding glass artist.

Following Pat’s recommendation, we dined well at Anthony’s overlooking the river.  We both enjoyed excellent seafood dinners and ended our time in Spokane with a “slump,” a yummy peach pastry dessert.

Our Last Day in Glacier

Glacier National Park

When we were last here, we spent eight wonderful days in the east, west and Canadian sections of the park yet never drove the Going-to-the-Sun Road due to snow. We have returned to rectify that omission.  Now instead of snow, we have encountered construction delays on the road but that has not diminished the pleasure and beauty of the drive.

On one side we are dwarfed by jagged mountain tops, waterfalls and weeping walls (caused by the continuous melting of the ice).  On the sheer drop-off side, flowers in multi-shades of blue, red, yellow and white grow midst the many hues of green. 

With clear blue sky above, no matter which way we gaze the sights are truly awesome.

 We stopped to stroll through Cedar Nature Trail then continued, stopping for photo ops ‘til the end, St. Mary’s.  There we enjoyed lunch at a café and ordered slices of peach and mixed berry pie for dessert later (they were really good).  We met a climate scientist at the café who reminded us that all this beauty we are enjoying is at risk.  There are only 1/6th the glaciers of 150 years ago and those are expected to melt by 2020.  His major concern is why Americans seem to care so little about what is happening.  His words lent gravity to this spectacular experience.

Turning north, we went to Many Glacier to walk along Swiftcurrent Nature Trail.  One nice thing about hikers is their eagerness to share information about the trail and things to see.  Several of them told us about moose in Fishcreek.  We took a short detour to where we got fairly close to two female adult and one young moose enjoying a meal of water vegetation. 

Question for wordsmiths: If the plural of mouse is mice, goose is geese, why isn’t there a plural form of moose (not the chocolate kind)?

The next day we to extended our hiking adventure to find waterfalls.  The angle of the sun brought out the glacial blue color of the frigid water.  Where the water flowed smoothly, it was easy to see trout swimming over the red, brown and grey stones.

Our campsite is nestled in a forest of fir and pine.

Crater Lake and Portland

 Our drive around Crater Lake included waterfalls and wild flowers.  Unfortunately, much of our view was obscured by haze and smoke from the fires in Oregon.

 

Anna Lee felt this tree resembled a damsel from some mythical story.


We then headed off to Portland to enjoy books, food, and gardens. 

We started at the Lan Su Chinese Garden in the Pearl District.  We visited it last year and enjoyed taking Jeff to see this small treasure.  We each enjoyed a repast of tea and snacks in the tea house.

Our next stop was mandatory, Powell Books, one of the best independent book stores in the country.  We paid proper respect with our purchases.

Jeff stopped a woman on the street to get a dinner recommendation.  Jake’s Seafood was excellent.  The men enjoyed a luscious salmon stuffed with crab while Anna Lee had a huge crab Louis salad.  We ended dinner with a god bread pudding.

 Our Oregon friends, Anne and Jerry, joined us for a lovely, cool day in Portland.  We stoked up on brunch at Kenny and Zuke’s Deli.  Then we joined a tour of the Japanese Gardens, a commemoration of the sister-city of Sapporo.  We learned of the three levels of the gardens and the aesthetic values of the different spaces.

Across the road is the famous Portland International Rose test Garden.  We wandered by hundreds of bushes in hundreds of colors.

All this walking stirred up our appetites.  Following the recommendation of a lady in the gardens, we went to Salt ‘n’ Straw Ice Cream. 

More walking led to more appetite which we sated well at Bollywood Theater Indian Restaurant, a recommendation of a local food truck owner whose truck was out of food.

Our Son is Visiting

When Jeff was in high school, he took a summer class on Shakespeare that culminated in a camping trip to Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare Festival. Over the years, our whole family has come to enjoy this theater experience. For Jeff’s visit with us this year, we have returned to Ashland. Unlike past visits, we are experiencing a 100 degree heat wave in normally cool Oregon. After a beautifully presented dinner at Taroko,

we attended a delightful pre-theater lecture on The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa. You may recall from an earlier entry, Jerry and Anna Lee saw the Merry Wives of Windsor on a trip to DC. The updated play, performed in the outdoor Elizabethan Theater, is a pun-filled satire on Iowa’s same sex marriage laws and the Iowa caucuses. While humorous, the play would have been better if it were shorter. The excellent acting did not make up for the overuse of the same jokes. The acting was still up to Ashland quality.

 The next morning we had the pleasure of visiting one of our regular haunts in southern Orego, the Butte Mill in Eagle Point.The mill makes great flour and this was the first time we actually saw the grinding process in action.

After spending time actually watching the machines work, we enjoyed shopping. From Eagle Point, we drove to Jacksonville for our next shopping adventure at Gary West where we sampled their famous jerky and did more purchasing.

 Both plays for Thursday were in the indoor Bowmar Theater. All the Way, is the story of the first eighteen months of Lyndon Johnson’s Presidency. This was an outstanding presentation of the political machinations Johnson used to get the Civil Rights Bill passed and to get elected. From major players like Martin Luther King and Hubert Humphrey through legislators George Eastman and Sam Rayburn to aides and wives, the performances were gripping and the story mesmerizing. The same cannot be said for our second play of the day, Medea, Macbeth and Cinderella. This was a too-long exercise in what Jeff said was an idea that should have been stopped in development. While many in the audience found it funny, we three were unimpressed. Fortunately, we had enjoyed an outstanding dinner at Amuse. We each ordered the caprese salad with peaches substituting for tomatoes. Our dinners of halibut, salmon, and hen were all delicious.

The cheese platter and bittersweet chocolate cake were yummy.

We started Jerry’s birthday with a 7K volksmarch around Ashland going past public art, through Lithia Park and the Japanese Garden and along neighborhoods. We admired the Native American statue and enjoyed the underside of an overpass decorated with art including playful penguins. After refreshing ourselves from the walk, we went to Rogue River Creamery for their award winning blue cheese and more. This evenings pre-play lecture on Henry V was excellent. The educator explained the family history and issues between Britain and France. We would enjoy taking a class from him. A friend of a friend of a friend recommended Smithfield Restaurant, a meat-centric eatery. We enjoyed steak, cod and chicken ending with a birthday creme brulee and chocolate torte. Henry V was excellent. Our only complaint was how hot it was in the outdoor theater. But the heat did not diminish the outstanding performances.