Bear Lake and Logan Canyon

 We drove past Bear Lake, which is beautiful with its deep blue, and through Logan Canyon, where we were met by people doing fi ber optics an slowing down traffic.

Poem

Grand Coulee Dam: Visited Friday March 20, 2020

Grand Coulee dam is not impressive interms of height; but it makes up for it in width.  This dam is blocking the Columbia River and turning the flow of the river into hydroelectric power.  As such it is a massive structure of concrete and creates electricity for over 4 million homes.  Because of the virus scare I had the dam almost to myself.  However the Visitor Center was closed.

Visitor Center

The stats

above the dam

The dam also represents a massive water reclamation project with a series of canals and dams.  Just below the dam is Bank Lake which is also a dam.  Then there are a couple more reservoirs including Pot Hole Reservoir above Othello.  This series of dams and canals is what brought water to the Columbia Basin and prompted my family to move to Othello to raise potatoes.

The Columbia River

I crossed the river at least four times in my journeys.  The first was in Portland, just before the river turns north to follow the freeway before it turns again and enters the Pacifice.  Then three times traveling to and from Othello.  I almost crossed again at grand Coulee but turned around just before the bridge. 

Before Othello on the 90

At Hanford

Following the Columbia after crossing into Oregon

Shaniko School and Grainery

 How many schools have a sign warning of rattle snakes.  This school was just too cute to pass by without a picture.  And then this other building just up the road.  I assume it is some kind of old grainery.

A Windmill Garden: Electric CIty Washington

This is something you don't always, windmills for decorations.  Here are a few pictures that can't really do justice.  This are close to Grand Coulee Dam.

Columbia River Temple is Beautiful

Of course closed for Corona Virus concerns, still the gates were open and the Columbia River Temple is beautiful.  This is the temple that would have serviced our family when I was first born, if had been built then.  It is only 50 miles from Othello to the temple.  I got there just as the sun was on its downward descent.  These pictures are from Friday 3/20/2020.

Traveling Highlights: Weather and Erosion Issues

I took a few days off work, and traveled with the family and Charity and her babies to Idaho to meet Baby Todd.  We went through many areas that have had weather related problems on the roads this year.  Caleb and Annie live in Rexburg where they go to school at BYUI.  Traveling over Donner's on the 80 we passed where they had problems with landslides a couple weeks ago.  You could still see where they had tried to push back the landslide.  However we had no real issues with weather traveling to Idaho.  In Nevada, we cut up from Wells to Twin falls, and on that road they had also had erosion issues with mud sliding into the highway.  We were limited to one lane, so had to wait about twenty minutes and follow the pilot car to get around this area.  They were almost done with the work, so we had no problems here on the return trip.  In Idaho there were no problems.  We did have some snow left over from scraping the parking lots.  However it mostly rained which wasn't good for the snow.  Sunday morning there was a good snow storm while we were at grandpa's  The little ones went out to see if they could catch flakes on their tongues.
The return trip was a bit more eventful.  Both directions we passed where there had been flooding and closure of the freeway west of Pocatello.  On the way back we were sure of the location, Raft River, however there really was no sign of the previous flooding.  There was a really good rain storm, and hail after we left Winnemucca.

This was on Tuesday.  We thought we were making good time and looking forward to getting home.  However things turned snowy after we left Reno.  Chains were required at the state line.  It was slow going.  We ended up creeping along, getting to the base of Donner's Pass and being turned around.  They said there were white-out conditions.  I heard this was verified by a news story which showed a view of the snow storm.  We encountered one vehicle, with chains, which went into a spin, maybe two times around.  The backed into the center guard, but looked like they were ok.  I didn't let Sheri stop as to do so would have put us in jeopardy of being hit by cars behind.  Snow is pretty but scary.

We spent the night at Boom Town.  We were able to check out Cabella's, which had a very large African section, as well as a domestic animal section, and a couple fish tanks.  Tony and I also looked at guns.

The next day we tried again.  We left Boom Town at 8 a.m., but there was an accident on the freeway, so we jumped off at the first exit, Verdi.  I hadn't realized Verdi had such a nice park.  We may have to return sometime.

However driving wise it was a bust.  Charity found another route going even farther inland on bridge road, however this was false as it never came out, and people were in a precarious position trying to get over the one=lane bridge.  We backed up the hill and turned back around, and headed back to Boom Town.  however there is no way to get on the freeway were we started or where we got off.  We ended back in Reno, and traffic was still backed up.  After over three hours, we were back in Boom town at the gas station so I could use the restroom.  The only good thing was getting back on the freeway, the accident was picked up, and traffic started going pretty well.  We didn't need chains in the end (we still had ours on from the night before which was nice in Boom Town) and so pulled over in Truckee to take them off.  I did this getting under the car in a puddle.  Then Sheri drove the rest of the way, mostly uneventful.  It was impressive the swelling of the sloughs between Sacramento and Stockton.