Out of Touch

Tuesday we traveled from Missoula, Mt, to Republic, Washington. We went up through the Idaho panhandle near Lake Pend Orelle (pronounced Ponderay), and then across northern Washington. The town of Republic was a gold mining town and also is known for fossils. It's only 25 miles from the Canadian border. The terrain in the area is very unusual severe rolling ground. It was shaped in the last ice ages by massive floods caused by ice dams creating huge lakes (Great Lake size) which periodically collapsed leading to unimaginable flood waters racing to the sea. A coulee is the low area between rises. It was about a 350 mile drive and quite scenic. Our camp ground in Republic was maintained as finely as a golf course. It had automatic irrigation and the owner must mow twice a week.
Wednesday I started the day with a visit to a local health clinic. I believe the smoke from the fires around Missoula got me. The Doc said she thought "flatlanders" could be suseptable to such conditions at the higher elevations. Never recall having a combination ear, sinus and bronchitis situation before. Glad I went instead of doing the normal and putting it off. Dana kicked my butt into going.
Upon return, we loaded up and headed south to the Grand Coulee Dam. The ride south on Rt. 21 was spectacular, through canyons, mountains and coulees. Roads designated as Scenic By-ways are marked in the atlas and we try to ride them when possible. The dam is unbelievable. Four times as large as Hoover Dam, and a mile across. Produces more electric than any dam in the world. The visitors center was great and we saw a movie on the Great Flood, where we got info on the local land formations, mentioned above. On the way back, we cut through the Colville Indian Reservation which was another scenic ride, but not denoted in the atlas. Got home and basically collapsed after dinner.
Thursday, Andy's birthday, we left Republic heading for Bellingham and the Strait of Georgia, just north of Puget Sound. We took Rt. 20 west which turned out to be the ride of a lifetime. The road through North Cascades National Park was as pretty as anything we've scene. Washington Pass was spectacular but the prettiest place we saw was the Diablo Overlook above Lake Diablo. Hopefully the picture do it justice. The water is torquoise caused by "glacial flour,"the powder that is produced by glacial movement over terrain.
The town of Bellingham is right on the water, and is a sea port. Our RV park is urban in nature, but nice. We had dinner at the Bayside Grill and Bistro overlooking the marina on Bellingham Bay and had some very good halibut. Went to a local park and watched a country trio play a few tunes, and called it a day.