Desert, Volcanoes, Floods, and Pirates!

Now we've made it over the mountains and are now in Eastern Washington. Notice: no trees -- it is DRY over here. All the rain fell on the west side of the mountains because of the rainshadow effect.  Also, where the west side has temperate weather all year (40s in winter; 80s in summer), we experience below zero weather and often snow in the winter and 100 degree weather in the summer!

We stop for sustenance at the Sundial Bistro in Soap Lake. The sculpture above was in the parking lot. 

Down the road from the restaurant, along the edge of Soap Lake, we visited the famous Sundial Sculpture by local artist Keith Powell. 

We saw an old roadster parked by the sundial a pirate ship floating on the lake!

In Soap Lake, we really noticed the amazing landscape. Millions of years ago in southeastern Washington, lava oozed out of the ground for millions of years (video) -- forming two mile high layers of basalt columns. 

Then, when the glaciers covered much of the Northern Hemisphere, glacial floods occurred when the glaciers melted. Those floods began near Missoula, Montana and spread across Washington (video) out to the ocean. This happened at least forty times. And you know what water does? It erodes the land, and in this case, it eroded the basalt layer, forming coulees with high cliffs.

Eastern Washington: semi-arid desert ! The opposite of Western Washington. Below is Dry Falls, formed by that ancient melting glacier in Montana whose flood reached here over 40 times, creating the world’s largest (now dry) waterfall and the Grand Coulee.

Let's visit these results of the both floods, one of lava and one of water:

This is the Coulee Monocline -- see how the land is slanted? Millions of years ago, the lava that oozed out of the ground, forming layers of basalt left a huge empty cavern in the earth. The weight above ground tipped the basalt layer, and this is an example.  Here is an online book about the Spokane Flood.

Water from the Columbia River is pumped from Grand Coulee Dam into the Grand Coulee for irrigation and to save to pump back through the dam when more electricity is needed.  That creates Banks Lake, a mecca for fishing and boating -- thirty miles long.

See the tall basalt cliffs.

And this landmark is Steamboat Rock. At the right edge in the picture are huge granite formations. When the giant flood hit the granite, which is harder than basalt, the waters parted around and left this huge landmark, now a state park. Herds of deer roam the top, and people hike up there. Watch out for rattlesnakes. 

Pooka cannot stand it. She goes for a swim in the coulee.