A ride to the Grand Coulee Dam.

It cooled down and was “really” windy overnight. 

This morning it is still windy and cool but at least it’s sunny.  What to do….what to do. 

First off lets talk about the “Smokiam” RV Resort.  The name was apparently changed to an Indian word that is supposed to mean healing waters in the Colville Indian language.  There was a push to rename the lake as well.  Apparently the bid to change the name of the lake failed and it remains Soap Lake.  In my mind Smokiam is  just an unattractive name and….who’s to say the Soap Lake Resort ..a.k.a. as Smokiam RV resort won’t fail again. A big tadoo about nothing.  

So….after lunch we geared up for a motorcycle ride.  Once again without heated jackets we wouldn’t be able to ride at this temperature.  When you are whizzing along the highway at 60miles an hour it’s a lot colder than standing still.

 https://www.myscenicdrives.com/drives/washington/coulee-corridor-scenic-byway  This link talks about the scenic corridor from Omak, Washington to Othello, Washington.  Soap Lake is at the south end of the Grand Coulee Canyon and we are going to ride up it to the Grand Coulee Dam.

Lots to look at as you ride along.

That’s Lake Lenore on our left as we head north.

Blue Lake is now on our right.

That’s Dry Falls off in the distance.

We continued on through Coulee City and then north along Banks Lake towards the Grand Coulee Dam.

There must have been a lot of blasting to put a road through this mountain of rock. 

That is Steamboat Rock off in the distance. For the history of the geology of the area read this….http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7506

Banks Lake is still on our left.  It was created when the dam at Coulee City was constructed.

Coming into Electric city. 

Here just as you enter the town of Grand Coulee you can head east to Wilbur on 174 and then continue on Highway 2 to Spokane.

Grand Coulee.

Grand Coulee Dam.

When we were here a couple of years ago there was a huge amount of water being released….not today.

Just past the dam you enter the pretty little city of ….Coulee Dam.

The town was created in 1933 as a headquarters for the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam.  It was sold to the public between 1957 and 1959.  Immaculately kept and pretty as a picture on the west side of the river.

Over the Columbia River and here we turned around to head back.  You can continue on highway 155 on a scenic route to Omak Washington.  We did that a few years ago but there was a blinding rainstorm and we didn’t see a thing!

Eric thought we should take a look at some of the State Parks and see if we wanted to stay at a future date.

Here we are parked at a Steamboat Park boat launch….illegally!  In all of these parks you are only supposed to enter if you have a Discovery Pass.  $10 a day or $30 for the year. 

Hurry up Eric….we might get caught in here.

Riding into Steamboat Rock State Park.  Turns out there was a free day sign posted so we don’t have to worry about getting fined.  It all seems ridiculous if you just want to have a look.

See that big cut through the rocks….a huge prehistoric waterfall at one time.

The Arrow leaf Balsamroot is in full bloom here. 

A beautiful big state park with full hook ups and over 300 sites. The water at the edge is the Devil’s Punch Bowl which is an inlet on Banks Lake.

Back on the highway heading home.

 

Lots of farming here and small calves are everywhere.

Coming down from Dry Falls with Park Lake on our left. 

At this point we had a look at Dry Falls State Park.  Not as pretty as the Steamboat Rock State park but nice. 

So….a good day and home by 4pm.