We're finally heading east. Not quite heading home but aimed in that direction. With no regrets, we left Yakima and drove northeast to a small town with a familiar name - Ephrata. But in Washington, they pronounce it like all the tourists do in PA: E frait ah. The campground is Oasis and it truly is. We drove through mile after mile of dessert but this place has nice big trees and green grass. The trees (we were told) are Russian Olive. They are blooming now and quite fragrant but there are blossoms everywhere. There is also a small 3-par golf course with the campground and residents play free. Mini golf: Dennis won!
Our reason from coming to Ephrata was to visit the Grand Coulee Dam. So after we arrived at the campground yesterday, we drove to Grand Coulee. We were in the van so driving the road along the lakes with rocks right up against the road wasn't a problem. But with the motorhome, we may have had some scary moments.
At Grand Coulee Dam we took the dam tour. It was a very short tour along the walkway above the #3 powerhouse. The tour used to go down into part of the dam, but the elevator is out of service. There are three powerhouses at Grand Coulee and this thing is big... dam big! We were lucky to see water actually going over the dam. Most of the time, they don't put water over the top but because of the snow melt this year, they had "extra" water.
When we took the tour, we were glad we hadn't driven the motorhome to the dam. The signs for low clearance really gave us a chuckle.
The visitors center is on one side of the Columbia River and the tour takes place on the other side. After dinner at one of the local restaurants, we visited the Visitors Center. Every 30 minutes or so (if the attendant doesn't forget like he did when we were there) they show a short film about the creation of the dam or the creation of the Columbia River. We watched several and even napped for a few minutes.
The canyons and rock formations we saw on the drive up to the dam are a result of Ice Age Floods some 12,000 years ago (we're glad we missed that one). We never knew the area was referred to as the scablands so we are learning as we go. During the floods, tremendous amounts of water moved through eastern Washington and carried away soil and carved the channel system we see today.
At one point not far from here, the floods formed a waterfall 5 times wider than Niagara. This is now the Dry Falls and pictures can not capture the enormity of the area. It is 3 miles wide and the cliffs are 350 ft high. Can you imagine water pouring over these cliffs?
These floods are responsible for creating the striations we see in the cliff walls. And there were numerous floods, each leaving behind its own mark on the rocks. Dry Falls is referred to as the Grand Canyon of Washington state and we can see why.
On the drive to Coulee Dam, we also passed an unusual lake - Soap Lake. This is a mineral lake that is said to have curative powers. This was popular at the same time as the spa at Saratoga Springs NY. Rings of white sediment were seen along the edge of the lake and at first we thought we were back in the Great Salt Lake. But this is different - not just salt.
This weekend was free fishing weekend in Washington and people were out to enjoy the nice weather and fishing. We were surprised to see motorhomes and campers along the lakes at public fishing areas. Apparently squatters rights for a weekend apply here in Washington. Some people even had a fire going and their kids were playing in the water.
But the best of the visit to Grand Coulee area was the laser light show on the dam. It only started at 10 pm so we were hesitant to stay that late. Our campground was 90 minutes from the dam and we're not as young as we used to be. But we did stay.
The show was enjoyable and lasted about 35 minutes. It told the story (in a way) of the creation of the dam and the reasons for its existence. There were loudspeakers and plentiful viewing areas for the FREE show. Of course the story was punctuated with music and lots of flashing lights just to make it more spectacular. All in all, it was!
On the tour around Ephrata we also learned a new term: Urban Archaeologist. I'll explain what it is in the next blog.
1 comment:
I loved the oxymoran....urban archeologists. We are having a rainy day in NH. We had a little retail therapy this morning, finally finding some North Woods flannel we had been looking for in Central PA. I also found some LL Bean turtlenecks and a great sale on recorded books. We're going to see "Up" later this afternoon. then spend a quiet evening by the hotel lobby fireplace. :-)
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