I offer a new slide show.
Brother Chip and I had a great day together. We started with the problem of salvage of the super8mm family films. We think we’re onto a good local company, and they made a special effort to take in those damaged by the water and run them through the first salvage process rather than have them set over the weekend. I don’t hold out much hope for those six, but the other, um, 40 s/b cool.
Then we headed down for the suspension bridge over the Spokane Falls. Incredible weather, great lighting, a lovely breeze…we couldn’t ask for more.
Spokane has this lovely Riverfront Park which was created for the 1974 World Expo. It showcases the beautiful natural waterfall, and has some glorious extra features. I haven’t really had a chance since our visit here in 2000 to really take the time to take some snapshots and fortunately Chip was testing a lovely new camera, so he indulged my rather leisurely stroll along the bridge.
If you ever come to Spokane, park near the big blue bridge near the Flour Mill (you’ll know when you get here). Head for the blue bridge and just before you get there, go right and work your way along a beautiful path edged with totem poles and a small amphitheater. You’ll come out of the woodsy shade to a point between two suspension bridges over the two halves of the upper Spokane Falls.
This time of year, this side of the river is low as all the water is being diverted over to the other “tame” half of the river that goes past the historic Louff Carousel. The tame side is substantially higher and drops through the a hydroelectric plant in the middle of town and at the far end of the bridge to the left (south).
Part of the water was diverted to form what is now the Thomas R. Adkinson Theme Stream. It’s a beautifully zen waterfall that cuts across the island in a series of fall constructed around native basalt columns, river-rounded rock and wonderfully smooth flat central tiers. The columns offer a delicious temptation to crawl over them, and people of all ages do. I understand why they do, but I wish they wouldn’t. Kinda spoils the ambiance, y’know? I have once or twice, but only to remove detritus.
If you ever have the chance to visit, I really recommend you take your time, let your eyes roll over the textures, colors and let the sound of the falls permeate your pores. It’s…magical.
Anyway, pictures and words and all that, here’s the slide show.
WONDERFUL pics!
Some of the ponds in the stream are screaming out for fish… are there, in fact fish? Either transient or permanent?
I was going to share a link to DrDianascience channel on YouTube, her latest is
showing off her brother and his RV-6A that took him years to build.
Any airport brat will appreciate this, they are also pretty people.
We need to share the excellences of the world around.
Your pictures make me want to see all this stuff in person it has to be even more
spectacular that way.
The basalt is quite stunning, the lines between human work and natural part
are very indistinct.
I posted a picture I took from the patio at Anthony’s in June. I thought it came out very well, considering it was a small digital camera with only 1.3 megapizels. The shutter speed was just right to give a dreamlike appearance to the North Falls. It’s in my gallery, but that is all I know about how to tell you where it’s at.
That is a gorgeous shot, Joe! (Everybody…just click on his avatar…it’ll take you to his pix) And your “body guards” are darling.
I have added two more pictures to my gallery. Of the “body guards”, Her Fluffiness Birdie, then Sydney, and Sadie the calico. I am fostering Sadie for a shelter, but I have a feeling I’m not going to be giving her up.
Beautiful pics! You are making me even more impatient for Shejicon 2012!
Pillar basalt, or columnar basalt, is common up here, but always wonderful. Basalt comes in several shapes, but the beautiful pillars only form when a very deep flood of lava (and our region had mega-flood basalts on an immense scale: we’re talking a mile thick)—cooling slowly. If it is VERY deep, another strange thing happens: the top and the bottom form pillars, but in the middle is a crinkly, faceted sort that may be a foot or so thick, with pillars above and below.
This fountain has no fish: too many pennies get tossed into it for that to be safe. (Copper is deadly to aquatic life over time—or faster, with inverts.) But it is a favorite spot. We also have a pillar-basalt fountain on the drive to the airport.
This moment of scientific explanation amid Jane’s beautiful images brought to you by CJ.
Now back to Jane’s pix.
Thanks, Carolyn! My online time has been very truncated the last few days!
And re fish: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/apr/12/spokane-river-fish-fun-to-catch-and-release/
Unfortunately there is a pollution problem in the big Spokane River due to some plants upriver, etc. Spokane now has a very strict no-phosphate-in-soap rule for what can be sold, and moves are being made to clean up past pollution: the fish are surviving, and every year the natural life becomes more plentiful, the cleaner it helps make the river. The Little Spokane hosts all sorts of wildlife. And is protected. http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/board/showthread.php/30691-Fishing-the-Little-Spokane-River—-
I for one am glad that when the strainer caught me, I was plunged into unpolluted water. Well, it was before I fell in…
And Bret almost died! The trip on the Little Spokane was one of the most enjoyable trips I’ve taken. A few times, when nobody was around, I imagined what it would have been like to be one of the first people to see the country from the river.
Again, I have to extend my sincere gratitude to OSG and OSGuy, too, for giving us such a great memory, and I don’t mean everyone who fell in.
(Let’s see if this works… I’ve been having login issues since I forgot my password and found that my original account was linked to an email address I no longer had access to…)
Nice pics – looks very different from when I was down there two months ago! The water was quite high then. (In fact, I have one shot that is almost identical to one of yours – except for the water level.)
Sorry about the problems! But it worked! It worked!
The dam upstream “turns off” the flow around the fourth of July. Very different indeed! The best…the absolute best…is in the spring…Mayish…when the snow melt has it so high you;re standing in the mist on the suspension bridges.
But the summer has it’s own otherworldly beauty and power. Seeing what the water has cut. And now Avista is looking to “redirect” the low water flow into something more “aesthetic.” In order to plan this magnificent gesture, they’ve put sand bags all over those fascinating rocks, damming the flow in many spots. Real aesthetic. Sheesh. I haven’t read anything other than the propaganda they’ve posted on the bridge…haven’t had time…just discovered it Thursday when OSG and Mr OSG, CJ and I went to the Imax theater.
Perhaps a not-so-gentle scream in Avista’s direction might be in order. If they want aesthetics, let well enough alone and work with what nature has given them. Sandbags are hardly aesthetic, and are much better used to prevent flooding in low-lying places.