Waterfalls, Canyons & Superheros

July 19, 2015

Rock Creek RV Park
Twin Falls, Idaho

We are camped at a beautiful city park situated in a greenbelt along a fast moving creek.  The charge for 50 amp service is $15.  Can't beat that.  When we arrived we saw a group of people dressed as superheros.  Later as we were walking around we found them in another section of the park.  They were filming a movie.  This appeared to be a low budget (probably no budget) production.  I can only hope that it improved after the sound track was added.

Yesterday we went out to see Shoshone Falls.  The photos don't do it justice; it is much more impressive in real life.  Luckily it didn't start raining until we got back into the truck.

This is Perrine Bridge spanning the Snake River.

 
While we were walking along the trail at the rim of the canyon, several parachutist jumped off the bridge.  By the time Dave got the camera out, most had already landed.

Everyone as old as we are will remember Evel Knievel.  The dirt ramp is the only remaining remnant of the day the daredevil attempted to cross the Snake River Canyon on his motorcycle.  He didn't make it.

Brig, Beach. Wagons & Moose

July 14, 2015

Elks Lodge #1254
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Yesterday we took a short scenic drive to Farragut State Park near Bayview on beautiful Pend Oreille Lake.  This was the site of the 2nd largest US Navy Training Base during World War II.  It seems strange for it to be landlocked.  The entire base of over 300 buildings and 35 miles of roads was built in 6 months. 

 The museum is housed in the former brig. 

 This area is now a very nice state park with a swimming beach and campground.

 

On the other side of the lake is Sandpoint, a scenic town with a wonderful pie shop where we ate lunch.  

This is a Peace Pole with the same message written in different languages on each side of the post.

When we got back to the campground, the host told us that quarter size hail fell while we were gone.  We checked the camper, but didn't see any damage.

Today we drove over to Spokane for a stop at Riverfront Park.  The park is built on the site of the former 1974 Expo.  Love this sculpture of people running along the path.

 I've never seen a wagon this big.

The handle is a slide.

It is very peaceful to walk along the river.

Spokane has an upper and lower falls on the river.

We spent this afternoon walking around Coeur d'Alene. This area is so pretty.  It's quite a change from Arizona.

Boots, Underground & Wool & Dams

July 11, 2015

Coulee City Community Park Campground
Coulee City, Washington

Yesterday we spent the day in Pendleton, Oregon, a very interesting town with much of the historic architecture preserved. 

Around town are several large cowboy
boots, each decorated in a different theme.

Our first stop (after those delicious cinnamon rolls) was the Pendleton Underground Tours.  Many years after the original town was built an extensive tunnel system (8 miles) was dug under the town by local Chinese laborers.

Since law enforcement was absent, the tunnels originally functioned as a means to transport goods from the railroad depot to the merchants without going on the streets where bandits frequently took possession of the items.







 


In  later years functions varied from bars, ice cream making, storage, opium dens, Chinese living quarters, meat storage, etc.

Originally large skylights were cut into the sidewalk to allow light into the tunnels.  The town government later declared the skylights a hazard and had them replaced with a wood grained concrete sidewalk intended to resemble a boardwalk.  Don't you love progress?

After the underground tour was finished, we were taken to the "Cozy Rooms" in the upper floor of the hotel.  This was the site of a very progressive brothel.

Next we toured the Pendleton Woolen Mill.

  This is where the wool is spun into yarn and the blankets are woven.

  

 

It is hard to believe how rough these beautiful blankets are before the numerous finishing processes the fabric eventfully goes through.  At this stage the fabric feels like burlap.


Today we drove up to Coulee City, Washington and then on to see the Grand Coulee Dam.

This was a stop along the way, Dry Falls.  During the Ice Age this was the largest waterfall in the world.  Not much water left today, but still a spectacular site.

I never realized that Grand Coulee Dam is largest dam in the U.S. This is a view of the reservoir.

This is one of three generating stations.

View looking down the spillway from the top of the dam.

Downstream on the Columbia River.

 The Hoover Dam would fit into the middle section of the dam with room to spare.

 This is a view from a bluff overlooking the town showing the dam and the bridge.  Every night there is a music and laser light show on the dam.  Since it didn't start until after 10:00 we decided to skip the show.  That's past our bedtime.

Wrong Turn, Wagon Train & Rain Dance

July 8, 2015

Mountain View RV Park
Baker City, Oregon

We had an interesting trip to Baker City.  We missed our turn and decided to just take the next road across the mountains.  Our GPS kept telling us to turn around, but we didn't think an unknown dirt road would be much better so we just kept going.  We ended up going over the pass on a very narrow road.  We were fortunate to not meet many vehicles so finally made it to the other side safely.  I now have to figure out know how to get the fingernail impressions out of the armrests.

We enjoyed visiting the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center today.  It was an excellent museum with a very knowledgeable staff preforming living history programs.

We have not had a single day of rain since we left Arizona so our truck was very dusty.  We treated it to a wash and as soon as we got back to the RV we had a torrential downpour with small hail.  If we had realized that a truck wash was all that was needed for rain, we would have washed it in California where they really needed the rain.

4th of July

July 5, 2015
Olde Stone Village RV Park
McMinnville, OR

Every place is so crowded this weekend we haven't been doing too much, just taking it easy. 

This is a sculpture of a salmon swimming through the corner of a building. Naturally it's on Salmon St.

Columbia River Gorge













Right next to the RV Park is the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.  Inside is the original "Spruce Goose".  The best part is the 4th of July it is free so we saved the $24 admission.  The fireworks were great and we could watch right from the RV.

The Spruce Goose is so big it was difficult to photograph.

Dave flew in a helicopter like this one when he was in the Navy.


















Dave doesn't look too relaxed at the prospect of being a passenger while I drive the cheese van.