R O C K S!

Coming back from Grand Coulee I took these shots. Is this not just beautiful! So peaceful ....

I don't know exactly what causes the colors on the rocks ... I'm sure minerals of some kind

I'm standing by our coach at the TT park Crescent Bar near Quincy WA. That is the Columbia flowing in the background. The only problem is no access to it from the park. The pool was closed, clubhouse air had gone out, BUT we got to play pickleball! A lot of fun.

GRAND COULEE DAM

When you see the dam, it doesn't look that impressive.

But when you see it from about 5 miles, it IS impressive. I hope you can see how big it is. A few facts: It is one of the largest concrete structures, it was started in 1933 and took 9 yrs to build working around the clock to finish it in 1942. Only 9 people died during construction, I say only because thousands worked on it.

One of the purposes of the dam, besides flood control, was irrigation. These pipes do that sending water to over 500,000 acres. It wasn't until later that electricity started being produced and is the main purpose to date. I could not find out how much it cost the people that irrigate their farms. In fact when I asked one of the men at the info desk he seemed irritated I wanted to know. So guess that will be on my todo list. (No not to irritate someone, to find the cost of water!)

APPLES - CHERRIES - HAY - WATER

This is in the Quincey,Wa. area. As you can imagine training these apple trees is very labor intensive. I hope you can see all the wires. There are lots of these young trees dotting the land. It seems the orchards don't last very long. And there aren't groves as I thought there would be like the orange groves in Florida.
I'm sure it isn't, but the orchards seem haphazard, as if the planters said , "Hey this looks like a good place!"

As we drove along we saw all this hay stacked in the fields. Field after field .... but no cattle, no dairies. So asked about it and we were told it was mostly all exported ..... to Japan.

Now the secret to all the cherry, apple, apricot, potatoe and timothy hay growth is the beautiful Columbia River. It has 11 dams on it. Grand Coulee is one of them and that will be the subject of my next blog.

DAY TRIP FROM NEWPORT

First we had to have a new windshield installed. Occured (probably) on a road that is beyond belief construction wise. They had the whole road torn out and we were driving on gravel. That was both sides, will sure be nice when they get it finished (no telling when).

We took Hwy 20 out of Newport and went by the Kalispel Indian Resz.

They have a wonderful big herd of buffalo that roam on several hundred acres.

Hwy 20 follows the Pend Oreille (Pen Ooray) river. I have never seen so many beautiful rivers in one area. They are so clear and healthy looking.

SALT LAKE CITY

This picture was taken 26 floors up in the office building of the Mormans. Great view

This is the front of the building, note newly married couple. The lady that helped us upstairs said that it is not unusual for up to 50 weddings a day are performed.

Here is the magnificient pipe organ. It is not a great picture, but maybe you can make it out. Depending on the song, the background color is changed. Unless you have been there it is kind of hard to decscribe. There is playing at 12 to 12:30 every day of the week.

This was at our campground when we were near Salt Lake. I don't know if you can see it, but looks like snow. It is from the cottonwood trees around the park. These are wonderful trees, but do have their drawbacks.

MORE ROCKS!

This is on the road just going into Utah on the way to Salt Lake. Should be 5 pictures. Enjoy!