I have been doing a lot of traveling over the last week and I have been collecting stories wherever I go.
Last Sunday I went to the Contra Dance at the Trout Lake Grange – the culminating event of the Trout Lake Cabin Fever Festival. This consisted of about one hundred people in a two-room meetinghouse learning and repeating line and square dance moves. I learned for example that “do-si-do” can be more than the old name for peanut-butter sandwich Girl Scout cookies and “alabam” is more than the abbreviation for Alabama in an “Easter Parade” song. Once my friends had finally dragged me out on to the dance floor I faded back in forth between feeling like I was in the big dance scenes of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and “Meet Me In St. Louis.” Either way it was fun. Plus, I got to dance with a guy who has been growing herbs and selling them to Celestial Seasonings for tea for… well, for a long time!
Earlier that day, our group had attempted to hike Beacon Rock, the second largest free standing monolith in the world – second only to the Rock of Gibraltar. Lewis and Clark first named Beacon Rock in 1805 because they could measure tidal influences as far up the Columbia River as Beacon Rock. Beacon Rock is the basaltic core of an ancient volcano. Glacial floods that also carved out the Columbia Gorge; washed away the softer earth material from around the volcano’s slopes leaving this 900 foot tall rock mass. The Army Corps of Engineers wanted to destroy the Rock in the early 20th century just because it wasn’t doing anything for anyone. Luckily, a man named Henry J. Biddle bought the rock and spent several years building a trail up to the top. He then sold the rock to the state of Washington for $1 with the condition that it remain a park for eternity. Thanks Mr. Biddle! Anyways, I never made it to the top of the 2nd largest rock mass in the world. Our program leaders made the official decision to turn us around about 100 feet from the top because of the dangerously strong winds creating the possibility of trees falling on us. Brendan’s six-year old son said he was actually blown up a section of the trail… and I believe him.
Now is the interesting case of the town of North Bonneville and the Bonneville Dam. If you can believe this, in the 1970s, the entire city of North Bonneville was rebuilt by the Army Corps of Engineer several miles upstream of their original location just because the town was decided to be the ideal location for the second powerhouse on the Bonneville Dam. It took them seven years and over $35 million (in 1970s money) to complete the relocation and they also flooded a sacred Native American burial site in the process.
Last Sunday I went to the Contra Dance at the Trout Lake Grange – the culminating event of the Trout Lake Cabin Fever Festival. This consisted of about one hundred people in a two-room meetinghouse learning and repeating line and square dance moves. I learned for example that “do-si-do” can be more than the old name for peanut-butter sandwich Girl Scout cookies and “alabam” is more than the abbreviation for Alabama in an “Easter Parade” song. Once my friends had finally dragged me out on to the dance floor I faded back in forth between feeling like I was in the big dance scenes of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and “Meet Me In St. Louis.” Either way it was fun. Plus, I got to dance with a guy who has been growing herbs and selling them to Celestial Seasonings for tea for… well, for a long time!
Earlier that day, our group had attempted to hike Beacon Rock, the second largest free standing monolith in the world – second only to the Rock of Gibraltar. Lewis and Clark first named Beacon Rock in 1805 because they could measure tidal influences as far up the Columbia River as Beacon Rock. Beacon Rock is the basaltic core of an ancient volcano. Glacial floods that also carved out the Columbia Gorge; washed away the softer earth material from around the volcano’s slopes leaving this 900 foot tall rock mass. The Army Corps of Engineers wanted to destroy the Rock in the early 20th century just because it wasn’t doing anything for anyone. Luckily, a man named Henry J. Biddle bought the rock and spent several years building a trail up to the top. He then sold the rock to the state of Washington for $1 with the condition that it remain a park for eternity. Thanks Mr. Biddle! Anyways, I never made it to the top of the 2nd largest rock mass in the world. Our program leaders made the official decision to turn us around about 100 feet from the top because of the dangerously strong winds creating the possibility of trees falling on us. Brendan’s six-year old son said he was actually blown up a section of the trail… and I believe him.
Now is the interesting case of the town of North Bonneville and the Bonneville Dam. If you can believe this, in the 1970s, the entire city of North Bonneville was rebuilt by the Army Corps of Engineer several miles upstream of their original location just because the town was decided to be the ideal location for the second powerhouse on the Bonneville Dam. It took them seven years and over $35 million (in 1970s money) to complete the relocation and they also flooded a sacred Native American burial site in the process.
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