Tacoma Trio Generates Eastern Washington Pacific Northwest Power

This morning incoming email from the Tacoma Trio asked in the subject line "Still in the PNW, right?"

Via the text in the email and the photos I soon understood the premise of the question was asking if Eastern Washington was considered to be part of the Pacific Northwest.

Years ago I found myself associated with a Tacoma business called the Pacific Northwest Shop. During that association I had reason to seek an accurate definition of what was considered to be the Pacific Northwest. I do not remember if Google existed back then, but I just Googled to quickly find....

The Pacific Northwest is the region of the western United States located adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. ... Much of the Pacific Northwest consists of rural forested land; however, there are several large population centers which include Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Portland, Oregon.

Wikipedia has a Pacific Northwest article in which the first explanatory paragraph is even more detailed than the above one...

The Pacific Northwest (PNW), sometimes referred to as Cascadia, is a geographic region in western North America bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and (loosely) by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common conception includes the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) and the U.S. states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Broader conceptions reach north into Southeast Alaska and Yukon, south into northern California, and east to the Continental Divide to include Western Montana and parts of Wyoming. Narrower conceptions may be limited to the coastal areas west of the Cascade and Coast mountains. The variety of definitions can be attributed to partially overlapping commonalities of the region's history, culture, geography, society, and other factors.

So, I guess the above answers the is Eastern Washington part of the PNW question.

The text in the email left no doubt as to where in the Eastern Washington part of the PNW the Tacoma Trio had taken their parental units, with the following two illuminating sentences...

So I don’t know if you can figure it out from the pics but we were at Lincoln Rock State Park in East Wenatchee this weekend. So much fun.

The rest of the email's first paragraph detailed the vehicular malfunction woes which were part of the Eastern Washington adventure. And then additional text explained what we are seeing in the photos, such as the photo at the top is Theo and Ruby riding from their campground to the Pybus Market. I have no idea what the Pybus Market is.

And then we see Ruby and Theo learning to row a boat. The twins have a history of successfully rowing boats. The water they are floating on would be what is known as the Columbia River, perhaps the reservoir behind Rocky Reach Dam. The Columbia is a real river which flows clear, clean water, not a glorified ditch flowing polluted sludge. There are no Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats on the Columbia River.

The text explaining the above photo, "View from the campsite. Ok, cabin. But it’s still camping!" That would be Theo on the left, with big brother, David, on the right.

We'll let the text in the email explain the above photo, "We toured the Rocky Reach Dam then went to the Entiat Fish Hatchery and the nice lady there who let us feed the fish told us about a cool hike called Silver Falls. We went but didn’t love it."

That does look like a rather lame waterfall. The Tacoma Trio is used to seeing BIG waterfalls, like Snoqualmie Falls. Methinks they would be ultra disappointed if they ever saw the waterfall in Wichita Falls. Analytical David would quickly opine that it was ridiculous, particularly when he figured out it was manmade and flowed out of a cemetery.

The email text explained that above Theo, David and Ruby were making electricity at the dam.

Rocky Reach Dam has a HUGE educational type museum sort of attraction one gets to experience when touring the dam. I have been told that post 9/11 one goes through some sort of security to get to the powerhouse museum part of the dam. The fish ladder at Rocky Reach is the best of that type thing I have ever seen.

And once again, photos and memories of the Pacific Northwest are making me homesick.

This month David, Theo and Ruby's Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack get to return to the PNW for the first time in years, well, two.

I believe school starts for the Tacoma Trio this week, so I don't know when next we will get taken on a new PNW adventure. Perhaps when Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack come to town. Maybe a pedal car tour out of Ruston Point on the new pedestrian bridge to Point Defiance...

A Happy Thanksgiving From A Pair Of Poodles Has Me Homesick For Washington

Ruby, Theo & David With Kristin
Getting Ready To Ski

This morning I saw that Tacoma's best known Adventure Poodles, Blue & Max, had written their annual Happy Thanksgiving blogging.

Apparently, on or about Thanksgiving, Blue & Max sent my nephews, David and Theo and niece, Ruby, up somewhere in the Cascade Mountains with their secondary caretakers, Michele & Kristin, for some fun in the snow.

It looks like the snow location may be the Snoqualmie Pass summit zone. There are several ski areas in this location. The Snoqualmie Pass summit zone is a fairly short distance east of Seattle and Tacoma, on Interstate 90.

Among the things I miss about Washington, that I don't have in Texas, is the extremely varied topography within very short distances.

In my current location the topography is pretty much the same in any direction for 100s of miles. There are no snow covered mountains in this parched part of the planet.

Where I lived in Washington, in the Skagit Valley town of Mount Vernon, I could drive about 10 miles to the east and be up in the mountains. Or go 10 miles to the west and be on a Puget Sound beach. Or in the tourist town of La Conner.

In Washington I could get up on a Saturday morning in November and choose to go cross country skiing, or go have a weenie roast picnic on a beach, or hop a ferry 20 miles from my abode, in Anacortes, and head out to the San Juan Islands, which is in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, and thus is a reliable escape from rain, if you feel in need of escaping the gray dripping.

View From My Bedroom Window Of My
Van & Car Covered By Snow

The Puget Sound lowlands do not get a lot of snow. Some winters pass with no snow. There was one snow storm in the 1990s that was the deepest snow I ever saw in the Puget Sound lowland zone. I was pretty much trapped in my house for a week. I could not drive anywhere, but I could cross country ski to the grocery store.

When the thaw finally came I had all sorts of problems. Water was backing up on the flat roofs. Two drain pipes broke off. It was a mess.

Go here to visit me in Washington. Scroll down and you will come to more photos of the most snow I ever saw piled up in my location in Mount Vernon.

In Western Washington when you want a really major change of scenery you can drive one of the passes over the Cascade Mountains to a starkly different type of topography than the evergreen western side of the mountains. East of the mountains the hills have no trees growing on them, except for the 1000s of acres of fruit orchards.

In Eastern Washington you have a climate much more like Texas. Very HOT in the summer.

There is a big river than runs through Eastern Washington, called the Columbia, with several big dams, like Grand Coulee. Because of the big river and the reservoirs behind the dams, much of the desert of Eastern Washington has been turned into land upon which all sorts of things grow. One of the side benefits of Grand Coulee Dam was the appearance of lakes in various coulees (Washington Indian-speak for canyons), like Sun Lake. Sun Lake State Park was one of my favorite places to go in summer in my younger years.

Dry Falls, by Sun Lake, is the location of what at one point in time was the biggest waterfall the world has ever known. The melting of the last Ice Age and its massive flooding is what made the coulees of Eastern Washington.

Can you tell I'm feeling a bit homesick for Washington? It has been over 3 years since I've been back. That is the longest I've been away from Washington in my long life. I'm thinking I will likely be going to Arizona and Washington soon.

Walking On The Brown Oakland Lake Park Hills Thinking About The Brown Hills Of Eastern Washington

So far it does not appear that Tropical Storm Don has arrived. But, for some reason the rain chance has been raised 10 points to 30%.

I think I remember what rain feels like.

I had a rough night with N. Somnia last night. It is hard to sleep with N. Somnia. During the short sleeping bouts very disturbing nightmares disturbed me, of which I remember nothing except for finding them disturbing.

A long bout in the pool seemed to have perked me up.

Before noon I went to Oakland Lake Park, again, to walk around Fosdic Lake, again. It was 94 degrees when I left air-conditioned comfort. It was 96.5 upon my return to air-conditioned comfort, with the Real Feel Heat Index feeling like 101.

The browned grass of Oakland Lake Park reminded me of Eastern Washington today. That is the browned grass in the picture, looking west at a stand of trees in front of Fosdic Lake.

When I was a kid I was always fascinated by the brown hills of Eastern Washington. Going from the green, west side of the Cascades, to a totally different climate and topography on the east side.

It was not til I was 12 years old that I traveled far enough from Washington to discover that those brown type hills cover a lot of America, though Washington's version, with its rolling hills and coulees, is more scenic than some. That, and much of the brown has had green added to it, with irrigation allowing the growing of apples, peaches, apricots, grapes, nectarines, cherries, wheat, corn, hops and other stuff I'm likely forgetting.

The last time I saw the brown hills of Eastern Washington was the summer of 2001. We went on a fruit run to the Wenatchee zone with a stop in Leavenworth on the way. In the years since I moved to Texas, the Walla Walla zone has become a wine producing mecca. When I lived in Washington the agricultural product Walla Wallas was known for were its Walla Walla Sweet Onions.

I'm in the mood for a Washington visit. I think cherry season may be over. But, blackberries should soon be ripe for the free picking.

100 Degree Streak Ends Yesterday In North Texas With Return To Super HOT Today

As you can see, odd clouds are above me as I sip coffee out on my patio this morning, the day after the North Texas Hot Streak ended. As in, we did not reach the 100 degree mark yesterday, due to being under a cloud cover for most of the day, insulating us, a little, from the sun's brutal rays.

But, today, apparently, there will be no respite from the sun's brutal rays, with a return to heating us to over 100 degrees.

The sun is coming back with such a vengeance today that the National Weather Service issued a HEAT ADVISORY for today and tomorrow.

I believe this is the first time this HOT season that the NWS has issued such an advisory.

With it being a HOT day you'd think I would start it off by going swimming. Well, you'd be thinking wrong. My pool is in treatment mode, as in it has been shocked. It takes a delicate balance of chemicals to keep the pool water crystal clear when it gets subjected to day after day after day over of over 100 degree temperatures.

Meanwhile, up in Eastern Washington, Tootsie Tonasket sweltered yesterday in 109 degree heat. Due to being in Eastern Washington, where it's sort of a desert-like climate, I don't believe humidity would have been a factor in making Tootsie feel even hotter.

Unlike people in Western Washington, as in, on the west side of the Cascade Mountains, those on the east side of the mountains have air conditioning. So, Tootsie was able to stay cool.