It is an enormous structure, truly a feat of engineering in its time. It's the largest dam in North America, and fourth largest in the world (after two in South America and the largest, the Three Gorges Dam in China).
We visited the Visitor Center and then the three towns in the area. They were built for the people who built the dam, and true to the times they were very different. One town was for the engineers and administrators, one for the masons, and one for the general workers. Needless to say, the one for the engineers and administrators is fancy, with the other two less and much less so. These towns remain, even though no-one originally was supposed to live below the dam. The damage to the Native American culture of the area was enormous. Originally a salmon fishing based culture, when the salmon could no longer come up the river there had to be changes. Now there have been provisions made for the fish, but the culture was already irrevocably changed. All that remains is an annual ceremony by the locals Native Americans to honor them.
The next day we toured the dam, along with a group of seventh and eighth graders. We felt right at home with them and they were a great group.
After touring the dam we headed for Buckley, WA, to our friends Rick and Debbie Pabst and their lovely Blue Ribbon Farm. Bill has told you about our visit, but I wanted to add an explanation of the photo. They raise Thoroughbred horses, and foaling season has just ended so their fields are full of beautiful mares and their foals. On the way there we stopped at Dry Falls, which in its heyday (several million years ago,
before the glacier came along and totally stopped its flow) was three miles wide and several times higher than Niagara Falls.
We also passed the Wild Horse wind farm, which has about 70 turbines. Thanks to stimulus money more are being added, and we passed several of the giant blades on truck
After a couple of days in Buckley we went up to the cabin of Fred and Sandy Connell. It's located about a mile outside of Mt. Rainier National Park on a forest service road in the middle of the forest. Silver Creek rushes loudly by and the trees are so tall and the forest so thick that you have to look up to see what the weather is. We returned to Rick and Debbie's on May 31, after driving as far up into the Park as the road was open.
When we crossed Frying Pan Creek the sun peeked out and the clouds parted and Mt. Rainier showed us her face. The glaciers glinted in the sun and looked quite spectacular.
On June 1 we went to Seattle and spent the night with Fred and Sandy at their place there. Bill has already included photos of Pike Place Market. I enjoyed that so much; it reminded me that sometimes I really miss living where such an array of produce is available. It was a reminder of our year in San Francisco. After spending several hours at the Market we drove north to Verlot campground in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Another rushing river outside our van, and everything covered in moss, even the tree trunks. No drought here!
The next day we drove to Larrabee State Park, near Bellingham and the ferry terminal at Fairhaven just South of Bellingham. The road took us high above Puget Sound and the oyster beds there. It was a lovely sight, especially since it was our first really sunny day in ages. After getting settled in our site we took a hike down to Bellingham Bay.
Finally, June 4 and we are really on our way up the Alaska Marine Highway. We sleep in our tiny cabin and spend all of the rest of the time outside on the deck.
Today we saw a pod of porpoises that we were told was a rare sight as there were so many in it.
We have also seen whales; even a mom and baby she was teaching to breach. Fortunately for us it liked to practice! We have seen many bald eagles, even a pair doing their mating flight. So far the weather has been sunny, if a bit cool in the wind. There is always a place on deck where you can grab a spot out of the wind and soak up the sun. Tomorrow, a short stop in Ketchican. Bill asked, and was granted permission for us to visit the bridge of the ship today, so Bette, Tom, Bill and I got a tour by a very nice young cadet from the CA Maritime Academy who is doing his internship on this ferry. We met the pilot, Jim, who is originally from Cape Cod but now lives in Ketchican.
He has invited us to come with him for a short tour of the area during our three hour layover there. Ketchican has famous totem parks, so we are really looking forward to it.
Finally, an apology for the delay in posting. It took a while to figure out the blog app on the iPad, and we have been without Internet for a while now. However, now that we have it figured out, we will write in a more timely fashion, store it, and post when we can. When we get to Juneau we will post everything we have accumulated.
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