We took a three day road trip of about 600 miles, out east, through the Columbia River Gorge, to the Columbia Plateau area of south central Washington and north central Oregon.
We left Thursday, and stayed two nights in Kennewick, Washington, one of the Tri-Cities. The Tri-Cities area (Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco) in south central Washington is at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia Rivers. About 190,000 people live here.
The Columbia River Gorge drive on Interstate 84 from Troutdale, Oregon, to Boardman, Oregon, is spectacular. Impressive basalt cliffs line either side of the Columbia River for 147 miles, with equally impressive changes in vegetation up the cliff walls. When we drove I84 East it was very overcast with many low lying clouds, when we drove I84 West from The Dalles in the early afternoon it was clear. The weather is part of changes to our present seeing of this dramatic scenery along this powerful river.
On Friday, we visited the Hanford Nuclear Reservation Reactor B, the REACH Museum, Sacajawea State Park, and got acquainted with this area.
The area in and around the Tri-Cities is used for agriculture, retail, infrastructures, suburban life, and industry all along where these three rivers meet. Outside the rivers, outside the three cities proper, and outside the outlying irrigated fields using pumped river water is a desert. This is a desert enviornment with low grasses, very few low shrubs, and no trees. The hills have no trees in this dry area. Elevation of 407 feet, and under 10 inches of rainfall a year average. The three rivers meet here and provide the water for the homes and workplaces of 190,000 people.
On Saturday, it was a chilly 35F and very foggy all morning in the Yakima Valley.
Hanford Nuclear Reservation, 1960
All of the three nuclear reactors in the above photograph
are now deactivated and two have been demolished.
We visited the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and toured the deactivated nuclear reactor B, from the Manhattan Project days of 1942 to 1950, and then, along with eight other similar nuclear reactors at Hanford, through the Cold War years of producing nuclear fissionable material (plutonium) for atomic bomb warheads. In 2019, the challenge is to “safely” store the remaining 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste materials not far from the Columbia River.
This four hour tour of the B reactor was excellent. The docents where highly informed and friendly. It took 40 minutes to drive from Richland to the B Reactor in a vary nice bus.
The area in and around the Tri-Cities is used for agriculture, retail, infrastructures, suburban life, and industry all along where these three rivers meet. Outside the rivers, outside the three cities proper, and outside the outlying irrigated fields using pumped river water is a desert. This is a desert enviornment with low grasses, very few low shrubs, and no trees. The hills have no trees in this dry area. Elevation of 407 feet, and under 10 inches of rainfall a year average. The three rivers meet here and provide the water for the homes and workplaces of 190,000 people.
Remains of the Kennewick Man are dated at over 8,500 BCE. Native Americans camped here for thousands of years. Europeans began to tap the Columbia, Yakima, and Snake Rivers for commercial agricultural production after 1890. We saw many orchards, vineyards, hop vine structures, farms, pastures, wheat fields, and some cattle, as we explored the fertile Yakima River Valley from Richland to Toppenish.
On Saturday, it was a chilly 35F and very foggy all morning in the Yakima Valley.
The drive from Toppenish to The Dalles is very dramatic. The road was U.S. 97, a very good road we have traveled south all the way down to Weed, California. We enjoy stopping at the St. Thomas Bakery north of Goldendale on US97 for a rest. May the good Saints bless all for safe trips today.
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