Headed for Coulee City

While I was in the pool at the Hot Springs, I overheard a guy saying that he and his family were headed for Coulee City for their vacation..  I couldn't believe my ears.  This is a dry, treeless hot dusty place in the middle of the desert on the eastern side of Washington State.     I thought maybe there was another Coulee City.

As I heard him talk more, he was indeed talking about THAT Coulee City. He said his family had been going there for a few years, and last year was his first time.  He enjoyed getting away from everyone and everything in a place that was quiet.  (He was from Juneau, which means he had to take a boat or an airplane to leave there.) He talked about Dry Falls and Grand Coulee Dam, and the Sun Lakes State Park.  The thought occurred to me that, just like the couple in Chicken who lived in Moses Lake in the winter, this is the first place of this nature that you can get to when you leave Alaska.  Just like we go to see the mountains, rivers and trees, they go somewhere just the opposite. He said he was interested in Larson Air Force Base  in Moses Lake because his last name was Larson (Swedish). I told him the pool was only about en degrees hotter than the outside temperature in Coulee City this time or year!

I mentioned in the last blog that people are challenged to put a rock on a pile in the hottest part of the pool .  This guys' family were pushing him to do this.  He was reluctant, but finally manned up to it.  The first problem is to find a rock on the bottom of the pool, which he did.  As he made his way through the scalding water, with his back turned to the main part of the pool, it started to rain.  These were big drops, very heavy.  His family scattered like chickens to find shelter.  People even got out of the pool and ran for cover so they wouldn't get wet???!!!

As he placed his rock on the pile, and turned triumphantly with his hands in the air, no one was watching!