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Published: September 27th 2007
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Posted by Onaxthiel: Our drive out of Troy revealed something to us about the attitudes of the inhabitants of northwestern Montana and northern Idahos' panhandle. Namely that they hate waterfalls. Everywhere we went that had a falls in its' name or a sign for falls or rapids would then, upon closer inspection, have a dam and a sign telling us about how the residence had decided between the 1920's and the 1960's, that they liked electric lights more than scenic views. I can't say I really blame them. In my opinion, daily convenience often trumps aesthetics. It did make for a largely boring drive through the region though, as each and every anticipated beautiful vista turned out to be hydroelectric in nature.
There were a few exceptions. Lake Pend Oreilly in Idaho for instance. We detoured off our route a bit to see what was listed on our map as an 1809 fur trading post. The glacial lake we were treated to on the drive south became progressively more scenic as we cruised. Out in the lake itself are what look like boxes mounted on pipes. These are artificial eagle and osprey habitats, set up in hopes of attracting more
Bonner's Ferry, ID
I think it's in Bonner's Ferry. We had breakfast in Bonner's Ferry anyway. of the giant raptors to the region. It seems to be some sort of a time share condo scheme, where the ospreys take summer months and the eagles kick them out for the winter. Towards the base of the lake, there is a peninsula and an island. Both look like nice places to live if only you could foot the million dollar price tags. The fur trading post turned out to be kind of a bust. Just a sign commemorating the Brit that set up a cabin to do business with the locals all those years before. The drive out to the sight and a few miles beyond made it worth it, though.
Our next big stop was Spokane, WA. After making a stop at the Safeway and the Best Buy outside of town, we went on into the downtown. Once upon a time, Spokane had falls too. Now it too has hydroelectricity. There are still some nice falls next to the dam, even if they are not as impressive as they once were. The park area of downtown played host to the 1974 worlds fair. The small islands in the stream all had something worth seeing on them,
totem poles in the Canadian exhibition area, small amphitheaters, gazebos and fountains, all strung together by an unlikely amalgam of different forms of bridges. We took the chance to go look at some of the obviously interesting architecture in the district. The Spokane court house is a 19th century design in French Renaissance style. I imagine it makes large, televised trials look a bit like the storming of the Bastille. The local Catholic cathedral was also pretty from the outside, but had a mass going on, so we were unable to get interior shots. The local newspaper has a wall of heads on it's exterior. Perhaps this is to warn other papers from entering their turf. Each head is mounted on a plaque listing the three major crimes committed by the doomed soul who's' grisly visage is there displayed.
The day we were there was the weekend of something called Greenfest. They had a long series of bands playing and a host of vendors selling merchandise and advertising their viewpoints about the legalizing and commercial applications of their favorite currently proscribed product. No, it was not nuclear power. We bought some hot dogs and doughnuts from one of the
vendors (ironically located next to the anti-animal exploitation/ meat is murder crowd.) and listened to a young lady sing the blues and do a Hendrix cover before the entire party started wrapping up around quarter past four. Back to the car and an unsuccessful attempt to connect to the downtown Spokane wireless network. I am surprised that a city that will invest the money to wire its' entire downtown district won't go to the trouble to give it easy on access, but perhaps I am just missing something.
We drove on. The plains out past Spokane were reminiscent of our trip through western North Dakota. Rolling plains with large farms and ranches, with some hints that we were in a dessert. We went on to a place called sun lakes state park. It is a campground found in a series of canyons, next to dry falls, which the state of Washington maintains was the largest falls in the world. 15,000 years ago. Now it is a series of crumbly rocks and mesas, though quite lovely still. At twilight, the local deer population came out to see what kind of waste food we might have produced and the raccoons came
down from the hills to check out our picnic tables scents. I will say that these animals were a bit smarter than the ones at glacier, at least. They ran when we started approaching them.
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