Conquering the Pacific Northwest: Where Transportation meets Water

Despite the early hour and cool air, we left Grand Coulee in style—top down! State Route 174 took us through winding prairie and we returned to U.S. Route 2 in the sleepy town of Wilbur. The prairies out here have one abnormality compared to those in Iowa, there are volcanic rock formations all over the place. The farmers here have simply adjusted to these geographical differences. Soon the farm fields were replaced with small strip malls which were growing in frequency. The sun was heating up our heads and the timing was right to come across a Wal-Mart.

Across from Fairchild AFB we stopped for a geocache. This was a clever cache in a typical location. It was a tape measure. Dad held one end of the tape measure and I pulled the other, we measured about 6 feet when I signed the log. We crossed the shopping center to Wal-Mart where Chris and I picked up baseball caps. I got a Washington State University and he got a Gonzaga University cap. A generic cap simply wouldn’t do.

Spokane passed in a flash. To those new to Spokane I think the size of the city is surprising. Many seem to believe Seattle is the only big city and Spokane merely an outpost on the frontier. Winding through downtown on the freeway you could as easily be in Richmond, Virginia or Madison, Wisconsin. Before we knew it, we were in Idaho. We grabbed lunch quickly just north of Coeur d’Alene at a Wendy’s and make tracks for Sandpoint.

Sandpoint is famous for its breathtaking location on Lake Pend Oreille. U.S. Route 95 crosses the lake. When an upgraded bridge was needed it was built parallel to the old one. Thankfully, the old bridge was not removed. Rather, the old bridge lives on as a pedestrian and bicycle facility. While time did not permit us to enjoy the entire bridge, Chris and I walked out about half a mile. It was a beautiful opportunity to stretch our legs. In the distance we saw a BNSF freight train cross the lake while boats passed next to and below us. I also enjoyed seeing the aged mile marker signs next to the new ones. Then right before returning to the car we saw a group of kids playing on an old pier in the water. It looked absolutely heavenly on such a hot, hot day.

U.S. Route 95, mile 472: old and new

While not directly on the route, our next stop would be Montana. Dad nor Chris had ever been to Montana and we would just be passing too close to miss the opportunity. We took U.S. Route 2 toward Troy and decided to find at least one geocache. It took only a few miles and we didn’t see a whisper of Troy. Chris and I took a souvenir rock and left some “Friends of Coal” pins we had picked up at the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine the month before back in West Virginia.

On our way back to our route at the border crossing into Canada at the end of U.S. Route 95 we stopped to visit a rest area. To our surprise, the area was an overlook for the Moyie River Bridge and Falls. The bridge reminded me so much of the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia. When on the Moyie River Bridge on our way into Montana we had no idea we were over 400 feet above the river below. On the New River Gorge Bridge you haven’t the faintest idea you are nearly 900 feet above the river below, nor do you know the beauty of the structure holding you up. Just beyond the bridge, the falls used to generate power for the municipally owned Moyie River Dam are also visible.  Infrastructure never fails to take my breath away!

Moyie River Bridge, Idaho's second highest bridge

From this breathtaking rest area, we make tracks to Canada! One of the most entertaining things to happen on the trip occurs at the border, and one member of our party did not even know until several days later! Chris discovers a unique solution to a problem in the Canadian mountains. And we all discover a relic from North American motoring history. Stay tuned!

Conquering the Pacific Northwest: Toward the Dam!

We kept a tight travel schedule every day of the trip, regardless of the time zone. Alarms went off at 7:00am and we would be in the car by 8:00am. Having come from the Eastern Time zone was a blessing for Chris and me. At least on day two of the vacation, 7:00am felt more like 10:00am. For dad it was just getting up at 7:00am on a Saturday.

In the planning stages of the trip I had evaluated the time difference between taking the interstate highway or U.S. Route 2 toward Wenatchee and ultimately Grand Coulee. I decided the 30 extra minutes on U.S. Route 2 would be worth it. It did not take long for each of us to appreciate this choice. Within half an hour of getting on the road we discovered gems such as the Wayside Chapel, a section of a thousand year old Douglas Fir, and an adorable drive in restaurant in the Sultan area. But the most important reason to follow this route was to visit Leavenworth.

Standing next to a section of a 1000 year old Douglas Fir

Leavenworth, Washington (not to be confused with Leavenworth, Kansas, which is home to several penitentiaries) was the headquarters for the Great Northern Railroad until the 1920s when the railroad relocated to nearby Wenatchee. In an attempt to reinvent the town, an improvement organization was formed in the early 1960s and they decided to turn the town into a mock Bavarian village. Dad, who was a military brat and lived in Germany as a kid, confirms that Leavenworth has very successfully replicated the look of a Bavarian village. As schnitzel enthusiasts, this was where we stopped for lunch. I can assure you that the jagerschnitzel I barely took the time to chew was fantastic.

Front Street in Leavenworth

Beyond Leavenworth the primary goal was arriving at Coulee Dam in time to catch one of the last tours of the day. We made only one stop on the way. By the time we arrived in Coulee City we needed to stretch our legs. We stopped at a little café in this town of a few hundred that had a very unique way of stocking over 30 flavors of ice cream. They had a machine that dispensed vanilla soft serve and 30 flavors of syrup. In this unique container they could mix the soft serve with the chosen flavor, then they could pump the mix out of the container into an ice cream cone. The flavor was perfect and the dispensing end of the container dispensed the product to look just as if it came out of the soft serve machine. Maybe it’s the engineer in me, but I thought this was absolutely ingenious!

Continuing on the road, now off U.S. Route 2, we passed by Steamboat Rock State Park. The namesake of the park appears to rise up like an island in Banks Lake, but we learned that this is not the case. It is possible to drive up to the rock and many people were enjoying this element of geography.

Steamboat Rock as seen from Washington State Route 155

Finally, we arrived in Coulee Dam. We were closing in on 4:00pm so we made a beeline for the Grand Coulee Dam tour center. To our surprise, the 4:00pm tour was completely full and people were already beginning to wait for the 5:00pm tour. We decided it was worth the wait. Dad had done the tour here in the 1950s and again in 1997 with me. We were very excited.

Our first surprise was that we each had to go through a metal detector. Our second surprise was that there was a contracted security officer with a fully automatic assault weapon. I acknowledge that the Grand Coulee Dam is a critical piece of infrastructure and must be protected, but I would have preferred the gentleman with the assault weapon to be donning an Army uniform. We were also informed that the tour would not be the same tour that dad and I did in 1997.

How had the tour changed? What big attraction had not changed? How else did I get nostalgic for this town? Beyond Coulee Dam what discoveries did we make near Spokane and in Idaho? What awkward question did we encounter while crossing the border into Canada? This and more in future installments!