chugga chugga

Cool day y’all! First of all, the weather was perfect today. And second of all, off I went with a group from work on a field trip. We are considering bidding on an old,OLD hydro project owned currently by a local utility so today we went to check it out. This super project was ahead of its time when it was built in 1904. In fact, after seeing it up close it is truly remarkable the forward thinking they had then and how tough this must have been to put in. Nearly a hundred years later though, its starting to show its wear. I don’t know if we’ll take it on as a project but I feel super lucky I got to go see it for myself. TOTALLY COOL!

The staff at the project were as nice as you get. Very cordial and welcoming and so proud of their project. And honestly, I personally think they have dream jobs — challenging cool positions in a stunningly beautiful place. At the intake area, we were only six miles from our wonderful Mt. Rainier!

Basically this project — called Electron which I think is perfect for it — involves an intake area that diverts water through a ten miles long flume dropping down the mountain to a power house below. Best of all, we drove up to the intake but got to ride the flume down!  Anyone else do that by chance today? I’m thinking probably not but I bet you wish you did! You should anyways. The whole time, I was thinking how much Glen, my dad and my two bil’s would have loved being in the rail car with us!

I don’t know if we’ll end up with this — there’s an awful lot of maintenance on it — but it is a super cool renewable power site being cared for (and I use that deliberately — cared for — since the guys there more than work it, they are taking care of it with pride) by hard-working staff that has tons of historical value. I got lucky today. No need to head for Knotts Berry Farm for me — I found the fun flume ride right here down the road!  My job can be just flippin cool!