07-May-2000 -- With some time to kill between the
end of spring term and the start of summer school, I thought it would be
interesting to drive up to see the Grand Coulee Dam and visit the
confluence point which is nearby. It took a couple of hours to get from
Pullman up to Grand Coulee. From there we drove across the river and
through Coulee Dam (the town is called that). Unfortunately this was
the wrong direction, which I realized when we crossed 48N but were much
too far east. So we turned around and headed back through Coulee Dam
(which had more well groomed lawns per block then I have ever seen
before). This time we turned north on the west side of the river.
We found our way to a bluff which had a nice view of Grand Coulee
Dam. There was an informational sign here which said that the dam was
the largest concrete structure ever built (though I think it has been
surpassed in recent years). It was completed in the late 1930's or
early 1940's, I don't remember which. In any case, it was a pleasant
afternoon and a nice view, I would recommend making this stop to anyone
who visits this confluence.
After the short side trip, we started out on the road which the map
seemed to indicate passed right over the confluence point. After a
short drive the GPS indicated that the confluence point was near. In
fact, this confluence point was the closest to the road of any that I
have visited so far; it was only about 15 yards off the road, as you
can see in the second picture.