First stop is Wanapum Dam. Grant County PUD (Public Utility District) visitor center is closed on weekends outside of summer.
So I walked around the little Turbine park next door. Shaded picnic tables and clean bathrooms. I filled my water bottle here at the drinking fountain.
The turbine is quite big when you stand in front of it.
A ramp of stairs to its top for a better view of the dam.
2nd stop is Beverly Rail bridge.
I first made a stop at a roadside pullout north of the bridge to take this photo.
Some leftover of an abandonned concrete structure.
Access to the bridge on the east side is problematic.
Maybe at the corner of Railroad Ave (1st Ave on Google Map) + Main St.
There's a gate closing half of the lane, so a car cannot drive over.
I saw two small groups walking the bridge, one brought lunch.
There are benches here and there, but no two together.
Then I drove to the depressive-looking town and parked at a road end.
Walked up to the trail, and then all the way to the west side of the bridge and back.
The view is better on the west side. A nice walk.
Now the highlight. I arrived ahead of my scheduled tour.
Nice lobby, clean bathroom, water refill.
A museum with interactive activities on simple physics concepts.
An old quad suspension setup in its own display case showing how the mirror is held to minimize disturbance.
Tour startes with a brief introduction in the classroom. Then we slowly walked to the control room, quite a few kids in tow, as young as ~5. We walked by a discontinued laser tube section and the cover. The metal cover is made in sections to take heat expansion into the account, as well as to provides topical access to the laser tube, which is vacuum sealed.
Saw 2 researchers in the control room on this Saturday afternoon.
Soon 2 more came in with their lunches.
They are rushing to get the final fixing in place for an imminent run.
Many charts and diagrams on large monitors hanging on the walls.
One plots current earchquakes around the world.
3 times: current local time, GMT, and epoch time.
Last, we went to an overpass, above one beam, so we could see both laser arms, even though we were still fairly low. The midway station (at 2km) looks so far out, that only then, the 4km length stroke me with its physical presence. Beyond this, earth curvature needs to be taken in account. VIRGO in Italy, even though much newer, is only 3km long, so less accurate.
A postdoc from Australian is our tour guide today.
She's displeased with the Australian government for its unwillingness to build an observatory, as Australia has a unique advantage to set up one for its large uninhabited territory, and being on the southern hemisphere.
She's here only for a few month, lodging in the town nearby with other postdocs, and doesn't drive (wrong side).
She visited the LIGO in Louisana before, and said there was once an alligator took a liking to a pond next to the beam created by a down pour.
She likes to give tours. I certainly enjoyed her tour.
Stopped at Yakima for gas. First, checked out the city's arboretum, right by the highway (I-82).
A large lawn, a small rose garden (non blooming), a winter garden, one Japanese-looking small section with a stone bridge and tiny pond.
The visitor center has a classroom, a couple of fish tanks (has a turtle in one).
Not too many trees, no labels.
The odd part is that it's next to Buchanan Lake, but you cannot see it.
I had to almost bushwack through some "mining" warning signs and overgrowth of dead branches to get to the waterfront. It looks very industrious.
There's a nicer trail south of the lake, going by Wenachee River.
After filling gas, I checked out a Mexican grocery store called Fiesta Foods. Good price on some groceries, not all. It has fresh-looking tortillas, meats, as well as lots of junk food.
Last, visited Cowiche Canyon.
Started at the west TH. Mine was the only car parked there, which made me uncomfortable, because we had a break-in not far from here 2 years ago at a TH (in Naches).
I made a small loop, from the boardwalk of the canyon floor, up along Lone Pine trail to the Summitview trail, then back down on an unamed trail.
The canyon floor is nice, as you don't see houses and trash.
Once up on the plateau, lots of rusty junk, but better view of distant mountains.
Also more flowers. Found good patches of Grass Widows, and Golden Bells.
A few white lomatians (not sure what kind), Sagebrush Violets, some buttercup (not sure which kind).
Not a flower meca, maybe not time yet.
On my drive back, hit some rain. Tomorrow the weather is worse. Otherwise, I'd make this a 2 day outing. Filled up gas at Cle Elum, and got back to Seattle just ~9:30pm.
