Random Road Trip Stop: The Rocky Reach Dam

The beauty of being on a road trip is that when you see something that might be remotely interesting you can just pull over (surprisingly difficult on all those Turkish busses).  This was the case with our quick visit to the Rocky Reach Dam - one of at least 11 on the mighty Columbia River.

A massive turbine from the dam - with variable pitch on the vanes.  The park around the site is so nice they actually have a spot all set up to host wedding ceremonies.

The spillway is in full use with so much water in the river at this time of year.

Cheap labour = cheap power.

Inside and outside the fish ladder.

The power company urges you not to "Michael Jackson" your baby.

Obligatory joke: Damn this is a nice dam!

The tops of the turbines.  This is one of the smaller dams on the Columbia, but it generates an incredible amount of power.  The dam company suggests that you would need 900 wind turbines, or a similarly enormous area of solar panels, to generate the same amount of power.