Two Dam Day

After breakfast I picked some more mulberries from the trees along the river, only this time I wore latex gloves so my hands wouldn't get so stained. Some of us drove up the Columbia River to the Rocky Reach Dam to see the salmon going up the fish ladder. First we had to pass through security, including a metal detector. It was like airport security except that we didn't have to take off our shoes. At an underground viewing window, we could see fish of various sizes, some really quite large, swimming up the river.

The visitor center included an excellent museum the Museum of the Columbia which we had only enough time to look through quickly. We didn't know this gem was there and so had not allowed time to see it.

We drove north and east on US Hwy 2 on our way to Grand Coulee Dam, passing through some really impressive topography called the Channeled Scablands, formed by the catastrophic Missoula floods. We checked in to Coulee Playland Resort in Electric city and then went on a tour of the big dam. It was disappointing because the big inclined elevator that takes visitors down into the dam is out of service, so we only got to walk out over the penstocks of the third power station. Judy Simington called to say that they are in Helena, Montana, and to ask where our group was. We'll meet up with them in Calgary if not before. It was good to hear her voice.

After dinner we went back to the Visitor Center to watch a one-hour movie about the geology of the region before going to the laser light show which is beamed on the face of the dam. Ordinarily no water flows over the top of the dam, but for the light show a thin layer of about six inches is allowed to spill over, creating a giant white screen for the story of the mighty River Columbia.

Ken has been having quite a bit of trouble with his back. Hopefully it will feel better after a night's rest.

Sweetie ate a fair amount for supper tonight, but it looks like she is continuing to lose weight.