Every time I travel to Eastern Washington I am struck by the barren landscape that greets me, and yet I am drawn to it at the same time. I took my two boys on a weekend trip of fishing, swimming, and site-seeing to Steamboat Rock State Park. If any of you grow tired of the rain and clouds of Western Washington, do yourself a favor and dry out on Banks Lake! The water is nice and warm, the sun is out and at least this trip the bugs were absent. We went fishing the evening of the 13th and the morning of the 14th. According to a boater I spoke with, the lake had been raised several inches over the weekend. That may have been the reason for the poor fishing. We ran into no fish, although I did see several fish jumping. Oh well. My sons were much more interested in swimming anyway, so I indulged them and kept the fishing to a minimum. I've learned not to force feed fishing on my kids, especially when the fishing is poor. I highly recommend the tour of Grand Coulee Dam when you're visiting the area. You can ponder if all the energy and irrigation was worth the massive destruction of the fishery and the land as it was. To see what water and energy did to this region is to witness man's power to bend the environment to do his will.

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