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| When she came out an hour later our savings had been converted to yarn and are now measurable by the foot. |
With that box checked, we headed Northwest toward North Cascades National Park. New state, new landscape again. Now the mountains were replaced by initially colorful hilly farmland, and then dry grassy meadows.
On the way, we passed by the Grand Coulee dam. The Grand Coulee dam spans the Columbia river and is one of the largest concrete structures in the world, as well as one of the largest electricity producers.
I know there's been a lot of posts about dams on this blog, but this was the most impressive yet and we got an "exclusive" tour of some of the inside (that is, only Sharon and I showed up for the 4 PM tour).
The tour guide was a local college student born and raised in Coolee (a town that itself was born during the construction of the dam). We got to see one of several pump/generator rooms as well as drive across the top of the dam.
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| Lake Roosevelt is the artificial lake that was created on one side. |
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| Looking straight down. |
From here, we made our way further Northwest and found a campground by a river located about 45 minutes short of North Cascades National Park, which we plan to explore tomorrow.
Random Fact of the Day: Before 9/11, facilities like the Coolee dam were much more accessible to visitors. You could drive over it and take a self-guided tour through parts of the interior. Not anymore - thanks, Osama.