Motorcycle Adventures

Nelson 2009 – Day 6

We had a great sleep and woke up without an alarm.  We packed up quickly and then found a breakfast spot called the Hoot Owl Cafe.  This was a great little place, and clearly was the local choice for a good breakfast.

After breakfast, we were on our way back.  We decided to see if we could tour one of the many hydro dams in the area.  On one of our stop-offs Michelle found a great recommendation.  The Boundary Dam, one of the larger ones in the area, supplies 45% of Seattle’s power.  Several other hydro dams in the area make up the remaining power requirements.  The dam was built from 1963 to 1967, and has 5 generators (3 built by GE, and 2 by Toshiba).  Don’t ask me how I remember these things   It was a good tour, though nothing like the Mica Dam that I remember seeing years ago.

After our tour we were back on our way to the boarder.  The security was high at this crossing.  Just outside Nelson they were hosting a huge music festival, no doubt famous for drugs and alcohol.  As a result we had to chat with 3 US boarder guards while leaving the states, and then a nice Canadian boarder guard on the Canadian side.  Most people were being pulled over to be inspected, so it was great when we made it through the line and were allowed to pass right through.  Nicole even make the whole thing easier by talking about us when she spoke to the guard.  She waved both me and Michelle and Eryk through to the window so she could speak to us all together.

The ride to Nelson was uneventful, and a road we had driven several times before.  Weather was getting darker and we were very lucky that we didn’t get rained on.

Nicole and I went for a nice dinner at Jackson’s Hole back in Nelson and then had a quite night before going to bed.