Week 184: Twisp and Wilbur, WA
Aug. 07 - 13, 2022
Sunday, well, I am a bit sorry to leave the Riverbend RV Park in Twisp. I've enjoyed the river view out the front window. We traveled east thru Grand Coulee to the tiny community of Wilbur, WA. Our new park is Country Lane Campground and RV Park. It has everything we need and nothing we don't LOL. It was a very pretty drive over here.
Monday, we just chilled.
Tuesday, we were able to get a tour of the Grand Coulee Dam. They loaded up two vans full of people and actually drove us out onto the dam, as well as into one of the turbine rooms. Our tour guide had a good sense of humor. This place is MASSIVE. The dam is almost a mile wide, it would hold 3 Hoover Dams or 4 Great Pyramids. The tour guide said he met a woman from Grand Coulee recently that said while she was in high school here (I think he said in the 80s) the seniors would cut class and hide out inside the dam. Apparently until fairly close to 9/11 the elevators down into the dam were open to the public and you could visit and wander around down inside the tunnels! Can you imagine? After the tour we returned to the visitor center and watched a video about the formation of the area. Apparently the huge canyons in this area were carved by giant floods. There were ice dams that formed on the Clark Fork river blocking the flow and creating a huge lake in Montana. Once the ice melted enough that it could no longer hold back the waters, broke and the flood waters carved this area creating coulees, of which "Grand Coulee" is one. Our guide suggested one of the best views of the dam is from Steamboat Rock State Park Crown Point, he was right. He also recommended the laser light show they have nightly on the dam. We may have to come back for that. We also visited the Keller Ferry and campground area. It was cool to see that historic area too. We did see the ferry but it is a modern one, not the historic one.
Wednesday, zip, nada.
Thursday, we made a road trip around the area starting with Dry Falls State Park. These are falls that were created by those ice age floods and they are/were like 3 times the size of Niagara Falls....WOW. It was pretty impressive. Next we drove along the shore of Banks Lake, which was created to provide irrigation after the completion of the Grand Coulee dam. It is pretty. We also drove out onto Steamboat Rock state park. There are some great campgrounds here and people were definitely taking advantage of the water in this hot weather. Next we found a cute little quilt shop, Quail Run Quilt Studio. Of course, I did find a few things I needed. We stopped at a little local garden called the Gehrke Windmill Garden. Mr. Gehrke started making windmills from scrap in 1965. There are over 500 windmills, whirly-gigs, and merry-go-rounds, they were very cute. Next we went back down town Grand Coulee to walk across the historic bridge and read the interpretive signs. Another great way to view the dam. On our walk to the bridge we scared off a deer who was enjoying a neighborhood yard. While on the bridge we say an altercation between an osprey and a bald eagle, the osprey won. On the way back to the car we scared a fawn who was also enjoying a neighborhood yard. We were pretty hungry by this time so we stopped at La Presa Mexican Restaurant. They had great salsa, margaritas, and fajitas.
Friday, we did laundry and chilled today until around 9 pm and then went back to the dam to see their laser light show. It was cute but I am not sure it was worth the 30 minute drive back into Grand Coulee. The full moon rising over the dam, however, was beautiful.
Saturday, we finished up the laundry and did pre-moving day preparation. Another good week.
Make Life An Adventure Y'all!
