Today we returned to Dry Falls. In 2008 we stopped here just because we spotted the Brown Sign and it was then that we began to learn about the Missoula Floods, the series of catastrophic floods that occurred during the Last Ice Age and so dramatically sculpted the Washington State landscape. Even as we were driving from Grand Coulee to Dry Falls along the shore of Banks Lake, we were noticing the basalt, the result of lava flows from 6 million to 17 million years ago that was the substrate that the ice age floods carved. It was a beautiful drive and we learned even more at the interpretive center.
It was an incredible experience to actually walk the streets of Pompeii, once a bustling resort town in the Roman Empire until 79 AD when an apocalyptic explosion buried it under 20 feet of volcanic ash. Archeological excavations since the 19th Century continue to reveal evidence of a thriving community.
Once the largest cruise ship in the world, Allure of the Seas will be our home for the next seven nights as we cruise the Western Mediterranean and explore the eighteen decks of this behemoth.
Our recent travel misadventures seriously curtailed our time in Rome pre-cruise but we did get to visit the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel before making the trip to Civitavecchi for an overnight in the port city of Rome preparatory to departing on Allure of the Seas tomorrow.
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