Chieko and the Grand Coulee, Part ll

   

 

 

Thursday, December 18

 

We set out fairly early for the Grand Coulee, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains in eastern Washington State. As we drove out of my neighborhood we had a fine view to the west of downtown Bellevue, Seattle, and the Olympic Mountains...

 

 

Eastbound along State Route 2, up to Stevens Pass...

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

   

 

 

 

Down the eastern slopes of the Cascades...

 

       

 

 

Along the Wenatchee River...

 

 

We took our luncheon at Leavenworth...

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

Between Leavenworth and Wenatchee... apple growing country...

 

     

 

 

Crossing the Columbia River at Wenatchee...

 

 

We proceeded on to the frozen Columbia Plateau...

 

       

 

       

 

 

 

We reached the Grand Coulee at Dry Falls Dam and Banks Lake at 4:30pm under freezing fog and darkness. We looked for lodging at Coulee City, finding nothing. So, we headed north on SR 155 up the Grand Coulee canyon, toward Electric City and Grand Coulee Dam. With visibility down to about 50 feet we could barely discern a great canyon wall to our right and water to our left. We suspected that we were traveling through spectacular country, but we would not see it until the following day...

 

  

We took our evening meal at the Siam Palace in the little town of Grand Coulee...