Spokane, Washington

The flight was uneventful, we landed on time and they didn't lose my luggage. All good things. I had to wait a little for the bus into town, but that's a minor thing, at least there is a bus. On the bus I got talking to two guys, Rex and Precious! Finally someone told me I had a cute British accent, they thanked me for coming to America and were firmly of the opinion that Americans don't travel enough. Then this conversation moved to encompass the rest of the people of the bus and it was generally decided that everyone should travel more to get a fuller perspective on the world. One lady blessed me before she got off and then it was my turn to disembark! As I had arrived in Spokane a day earlier than expected (I knew the no planning thing would get me) I had no place to stay, so off to the local library I went. I got online and found myself a hotel that didn't include a bench or a bridge. Something I know that would reassure my mother.
I spent the rest of the day wondering around the Spokane downtown area, which is centred around the Riverfront park. The Spokane river flows through the park and there are even some waterfalls. That night I gave in to my inner t.v. critic and watched a lot of t.v.. Surprisingly I haven't really watched a lot of t.v. since I've been here, I think I was trying to catch up.
Friday morning I checked out of my hotel and went to get a pedicure. Now I've started to have someone else take care of my toe nails, I can't seem to bring myself to do it. It also means that my feet get an extended bath and with all the walking I do in my flip flops, that's a good thing.
I met Kenna Morgan, Dewey's mum, outside the book shop where she works. We went straight to her car and set off for her sister and mother's house in Electric City, about two hours from Spokane. It was really nice to see her again, like Dustin's parents, we had met when she,Jim,Dewey's father, and his grandmother visited Hokkaido. Kenna was going to her sister's to help them with some canning and had offered to let me stay in Spokane but I didn't want to miss this. I've never seen anything canned before or jam made. During the drive we saw a coyote, they are a lot smaller than I expected and look nothing like Wily E. Coyote!Too bad.
Electric City is so named because it is one of three small towns that have grown up around the Grand Coulee dam. Construction on the dam started in 1934 and it has paid for itself many times over.
I met Tracy, Dewey's aunt and later that evening her daughter, Areielle. I helped with picking some vegetables and generally trying not to get in the way.Then Kenna and I headed to the dam, she wanted to check if I could still take a tour and if they still had the laser show at night. The visitor centre was still open and we went in to talk to one of the volunteers. Kenna's father had worked at the dam as an electrician and prior to 09/11 they had been able to walk across the top of the dam itself, someone even once drove a flock of sheep across. The road across the top is now closed, according to the volunteer because of "the damn A - rabs". We got the details we needed and it was back to the house. We decided that we would all go to the laser light show. I was very excited.
The next morning Kenna handed over her car keys and sent me off to the dam. I looked around the visitor centre and then drove across the river to the third power house for the dam tour. Before you go through the gate on to the dam you have take everything out of your pockets and go through a metal detector. You can't have anything with you, except your camera, but no camera case. It's hard to get an idea of the size of the building,the water pipes, the turbines from a distance and up close it is overwhelming. The pipes that feed the water into the turbine chamber can hold three buses parked side by side. One pipe can allow more water through in a day than the whole of the Hoover dam can let through. The Coulee dam has paid for itself many times over and requires almost no power to operate, they use the water for everything. The workers use bicycles or golf carts to get around, not that we saw any of them. Our tour was guided by a volunteer. While we were on the tour they opened one of the water pipes and started the turbine, the whole building immediately started to rumble, it was cool. It gave me a sense of the immense power of the dam. I spent the afternoon walking around the "city". I guess it's just your average, typical American town.
Tracy,Areielle,Kenna and me headed to the dam that evening. The visitor centre shows a laser "video" about the dam,projected onto the dam spillway. This is the centre part of the dam, it has gates at the top that can be opened to allow excess water to run over the top. When this is done this water is generally considered to be wasted as it is not used for power generation. The spilway itself is concrete and looks black at night. In order to provide a good back drop for the laser show they open all of the gates at the top of the spillway. Just enough so that there is a thin layer of water running over and it looks white. The show was excellent and inculded some information about the native people and how their lives had,in some cases, been destroyed by the dam. I was so glad that I got to see this.
Kenna and I headed back to Spokane on Sunday morning and when I got back to there house, Jim had already loaded up the pick-up with the kayaks and it was off to Coeur D'Alene lake in Idaho. I hadn't realised that Spokane was so close to the state line, it only took us about thirty minutes to get to the lake. We unloaded the kayaks at the boat ramp and off we went. It was a nice sunny day with a bit of breeze, which us along quite nicely. We went around a couple of headlands and I got to see the floating green of the local golf course. The golfers tee off from the lake side and then have to take a boat out to the green to complete the hole. Cool. At this point we turned back and then that breeze was no longer fun, it made rowing very difficult and constantly pushed water up over the bow and into the kayak. It wasn't too cold, but a bit of a shock each time and very hard going. I thought I would never make it back to the first headland. We had just got around the first headland on our return trip when Jim capsized and went in. He swam for his paddle and then the shore and Kenna and I had to rescue his kayak. It had drifted quite a ways before we got it attached to Kenna's kayak and she was able to start rowing it back to him. When we all got back to the dock,we were all relieved that Jim still had his car keys in his pocket. He still had his phone too, but it didn't survive the ducking.
Unfortunately for Kenna she had to go to a staff meeting that night, so Jim and I went off for dinner at the local Irish bar. I got to try corned beef and cabbage, as well as a local brew. Nice dinner.Then it was home to rest my weary bones