Day 19.

Do I really need road trip in the title anymore?
This morning I was up, and maybe a bit worn out from the marathon driving session yesterday all over western Washington. I was relieved a bit to drive north from Kent straight into downtown with zero traffic issues. I even made it to my Safeco Field tour spot an hour early. I decided to drive north on 1st Avenue to spend some time, and it was pretty neat. Huge trees spanning four lanes wide down the avenue. And, although 1st avenue isn't that hilly, the cross streets are pseudo San Fran-esque. I returned back down to the stadium down the pier, and it was relaxing and scenic. It was Saturday, and things weren't moving at regular speed on the wharf just then.
The tour was excellent. Tour man Steve gave a lot of background not only about the building, but also about the history of the Mariners, and some information about Seattle in general. It was a great tour informationwise for someone that has never visited the area. Time well spent. And as far as the stadium goes, very fan friendly. Lots of options, perspectives, and areas to enjoy the game for the price of a bleacher ticket. I shall be back.
My friend Rick is an REI enthusiast. If you aren't familiar with REI sports, its an outdoor sports place, offering equipment, lessons, and basically anything else needed for pretty much any sport out there. Well, any outdoor sport maybe. Not bowling, for example.
Anyhoo, Rick mentioned that the flagship REI store was in Seattle. Being just a few miles away, I stopped by. It might as well could have been on Las Vegas Drive or in Times Square. It was probably half a city block. Two floors. Two spiral wooden staircases. A climbing wall. There was probably 1000 square feet of socks alone. The bike area was about the size of my grocery store. It was spectacular. And outside, there was a gravel trail that was a "bike test drive trail only." Tip of the spear for sure.
I then began my journey easterly, down I-90 toward Spokane, but got off to head through the coulee canyon, and to the Grand Coulee Dam. I was hoping to catch the last tour of the day, but it was not meant to be; and tonorrow's plans arent flexible enough to absorb the first tour tomorrow morning. However, there are a number of videos, and a good amount of info of the technical variety to satisfy my curiosity in the visitors center here. I've learned quite a bit about the Columbia river, and the projects developed and carried out to irrigate a good portion of Washington as a whole. The storage of water possible actually stretches into Canada, and channels and such effectively irrigate former waterless areas all the way south almost to Oregon. It is impressive. The dam itself is almost a mile long and is three times the size of the Hoover dam. It is the largest concrete structure in North America, with 12 million cubic yards of concrete. And, its gonna be real neat tonite to watch the laser light show on the face of the dam. I know, I'm an engineering geek. I guess I needed a fix.
So tonight might be a camping night...we'll see if I can find a pretty spot to land.
Drive on!