Glacier National Park Encore

We traveled into Glacier National Park again today for a half day.  We then hit all of the gift shops in Apgar Village in Glacier, in Hungry Horse, and in Columbia Falls.  Debbie spent a lot of time shopping, while I used most of the "man chairs."  To my surprise, she didn't buy anything, no huckleberry jam, no t-shirts, no jewelry!  You feelin' okay honey?  We also added another state to our RV map, Montana.  That's 17 states in 17 months.

Not snowfall, another melting glacier

Pinchot Mountain

Across the lake is Many Glacier Lodge

Natures Majesty

                                                                              Click to view the mountain stream                  

They still have pay phones, but not a booth!

                                                                               

Glacier National Park, Washington

We arrived in Columbia Falls and will be here for a week.  On our first full day we took a nine (9) hour tour of Glacier in a 1934 Ford Red Jammer Bus.  Our tour guide was Glenn, who was very informative. The majority of the time we drove on the Going-to-the Sun road.  We saw all 8 glaciers, numerous waterfalls, a grizzly bear and a mountain goat.  We stopped at Logan Pass, the continental divide, and the water that falls on the west side of the pass eventually runs into the Pacific Ocean.  The water that falls on the east side, eventually runs into the Gulf of Mexico.

Important Fact: The glaciers have been here for many thousands of years, but they are melting at an alarming pace. If you don't get here to see them soon, they'll be gone.  It is estimated that between 2025 and 2030, they will be gone.  Do you believe in global warming?

Debbie boarding the Going to the Sun bus

Goose island and St. Mary Lake

Sitting atop the snow on the left side is a mountain goat

The mountain, snow pack, waterfalls, & lush greenery.

We stopped for lunch at Many Glaciers Lodge

The view out the window from our table

Debbie relaxing after lunch

Grinnell Glacier

Salamander Glacier (look closely at the outline)

Lots of trees swept down the mountainside by an avalanche

Another beautiful waterfall

We had a great day

                                                                               

Spokane, Washington

We are in Spokane, Washington for a week at the Alderwood RV Resort.  We relaxed our first day here and went in the indoor pool, did laundry and purchased videos on the second day.  We need videos for those occasional days when we camp out in the woods and no TV signal is available.  We ended up buying 20 at a pawn shop for $60.  On day three we went to Spokane's Riverfront Park.  Its in the center of the city, the Spokane River runs right through it and there are attractions to keep you busy all day.  Day 4 through 6 was just hanging around the pool, relaxing, shopping at the fabulous White Elephant on Division Street.  You won't believe this store, which sells everything from guns, toys, rockets, camping supplies, fishing, boating and RV supplies, as well as kitchen, hardware, and just about anything you can think of, and at a great price.  Deb also worked on her new puzzle while I napped and planned for future stops on our adventure. On our last day we went to our favorite market, Trader Joe's and stocked up on frozen veggies, gnoochi and wine and then hit the indoor pool one last time.  On to Montana tomorrow.

Can you see Debbie at the picnic table working on a puzzle?

Debbie at the Clock Tower

We rode the gondola over the Spokane Falls and back

The falls from the gondola

You can take the train around the park

You can cool off in the water

You can ride the 1909 carousel

You can ride a pony

You can take a spin on one of the amusement rides

                                                                             

Sun Lakes/Dry Falls RV Resort, Coulee City, WA.

We are staying outside Coulee City, 30 miles south of Grand Coulee at Sun Lakes RV Resort, inside of Sun Lakes/Dry Falls state park.  This is an amazing area.  Steep basalt walls and the Dry Falls.
Fact:  12,000 years ago this was the largest waterfall on Earth.  Melting glaciers melted, refroze and melted again at least 35 times during and after the ice age. 

Deb at our campsite, on the way to the pool

                                                                         

The view in front of our RV

See our RV, its in the right lower corner.  Nice view from above.

                                                                        

Dry Falls today

Artist dentition of what it looked like 12,000 years ago

We are awed by the views around here, just awesome

Natural arches

On the road from Coulee City to Grand Coulee

                                                                                

Grand Coulee Dam

We visited Grand Coulee Dam and took the tour.  We also went there at 10 p.m. to see the laser light show.  Grand Coulee was built starting in 1933 and was originally completed in 1941 with only one generating facility.  A second generating plant was added in 1948 and a third in 1957.  This dam produces more electricity that any dam in the USA, three times more than the Hoover dam and the third most on Earth.

Water coming over the spillway at Grand Coulee

The view from atop the spillway

Lake Roosevelt behind the dam (part of the Columbia River)

One of the three generating plants

The wheelchair used by FDR at the dedication

                                                                                   Video atop the dam                    

Aplets & Cotlets

Today we drove to Cashmere, Washington to the famous Liberty Orchards, makers of Aplets & Cotlets and many other candy products.  They specialize in what is known as Turkish Delights, most have a mixture of fruits, walnuts, sugar, and powdered sugar.  If you don't remember them, they are semi-soft little rectangles with fruit and nuts inside and their trademark powdered sugar outer coat. 
Aplets is for Apples and Cotlets is for Apricots.  Libertyorchards.com is where you can order them. They started with apples, branched out to apricots and now use peaches, and every berry you can think of.  We took a 15 minute tour and gorged ourselves on the free samples before and after the tour.  We also purchased a few boxes, of course.

Debbie preparing to enter and taste the Turkish Delights

Vats cooking up the syrup

The line begins

Hand sorting & filling trays of candy

Today's run

                                                                                

I've already overdosed on samples prior to the tour

"I'm ready for more samples."

                                                                           packing and sorting the candy