Bummed that you missed last week’s free concert by Jr. Cadillac? Don’t be.
Sunbanks Lake Resort is offering a great lineup of about 19 bands listed for this weekend at their annual fall Blues Festival.
This is a beautiful setting and a great time. Call the resort for details and to see if there is any room available. Or get another room or campground locally.
Note: If you’re a boater, the only access to Banks Lake right now is at Coulee Playland, just down the street. The upside of this: The water is reportedly warmer than normal and beaches are BIG. This is a temporary thing for this year only. The USBR is lowering the lake for maintenance purposes.
This is the ultimate Good Time Band, and they’ll play in Grand Coulee Sept. 3.
Seattle’s legendary good-time rock n roll band… Jr. Cadillac will play at North Dam Park for your enjoyment Saturday, Sept. 3, and it won’t cost you a bloody thing!
These guys put on a helluva show. They’re entertainers and really, really fine musicians. Take a listen.
What do they play? A mixture of stuff from the four decades they’ve been teaching the Pacific Northwest how to have a good time. Start with Louie Louie and then get more fun.
We’re talking the big band, with horns and all that. No slowed down boom-chick-chick stuff. This is a big show.
And it’s free. Paid for (mostly) with Hotel/Motel taxes like the ones you pay whenever you check into a motel room or campsite. So kiss the next tourist you see. (If you are a tourist, leave a message and we can connect at the show!)
North Dam Park features a grassy amphitheater. Bring your blankets, your picnic stuff. Some shade and some sunscreen. We figure we can fit 1,500 people. First come, first served.
A recent visitor to the area was kind enought to post a great blog piece about their climb up Steamboat Rock.
Posting photos from significant stops along the route, you get to see how the climb looks before you decide to try it. (It’s pretty do-able for most folks, but it’s utterly without any services at the top).
I haven’t done this in a while, but it’s a worthwhile endeavor, especially is you’ve visited the Visitor Center at Grand Coulee Dam and understand how the Grand Coulee (the canyon, not the dam) was formed. It’s a jaw-dropper view from the top.
For a quick preview of it, see this couple’s great post.
Star gazers will have an opportunity to take advantage of an astronomy program, Saturday, Aug. 13.
The star gazer event will begin at Grand Coulee Dam’s Visitor Center auditorium at 7:15 p.m., and end up at Crown Point, using telescopes to search the skies.
The event is sponsored by the National Park Service and Washington State Parks, the Bureau of Reclamation and Grand Coulee Dam. Nebulae will be one phenomenon stargazers will look for Saturday night.
The program is similar to one held early in July.
The program begins with an introduction to the night sky by NPS Sky Ranger Janice Elvidge. That will take about 45 minutes.
The group will then gather at Crown Point, where telescopes will be set up for examination of a galaxy, nebula and the moon, as well as other wonders of the sky.
The entire program is free and suitable for persons of all ages.
Organizers encourage people to bring their telescopes and binoculars and to wear or bring a warm coat.
I’ve got some good news and some not so great news, both about lake levels– on different lakes.
First the good. Lake Roosevelt has started to drop. Tonight, it’s down a little more than a foot. You might not call this non-touristy spot on North Marina Way a "beach," but my dog loves it anyway. And sandy beaches will be better now, too.
That means we’ve got beaches! Last weekend, we boated to Swawilla Basin, an area with great beaches, but found no beach at all. But the big lake just started down last night and will likely continue.
By the weekend it will probably be down 2 to 3 feet, which I consider in the perfect range. It exposes beaches and leaves driftwood along the shore, not in the way of boats.
By the way, we found swimming to be quite pleasant, not cold, like it was just a couple weeks ago. This despite the fact that this has been the coolest summer since I’ve lived here (1989).
Now about Banks Lake.
The USBR started taking it down Aug. 1, as it does every year. But this time is different. A drop of 5 feet is normal, but by the end of August it’s predicted to be 13.5 feet down, depending on irrigators’ needs.
By October, it’s supposed to be at the record low of 30 feet below full, and it will stay that way until spring.
This planned drop is for maintenance of several things, including infrastructure at the south end of the lake.
The lake will still be accessible to boats at Coulee Playland in Electric City.
