Not far from our house, a power station was put in by the state to generate electricity for the region.  Not a lot, but it was largely an experiment to see if a new engineering principle would be feasible... generating power without a large dam.

The concept is simple... siphon off some water in a stream up hill of a large drop, then use a pipe to direct water to a power station at the bottom of the drop, and reinsert the water into the stream.  A small, inflatable bladder holds back some of the water to help maintain a consistent flow through the pipe.  It seems to work, but since there aren't a lot more of them, I don't know how cost effective they are. 

To make up for the "damage" caused by the project, the state built a state park at the outlet, which provides a place to go and enjoy the river, and several trails in the area.

The little guy is fascinated by moving water... so I brought him to the park to show him A LOT of moving water... =]

He really enjoyed it!  The water moves pretty fast, especially right at the spillway, where they exhaust the water out of the generator station.

The river is VERY clear, and the park enjoys a great view along its banks... there's about 12 miles of trails in the park, and its an easy place for us to get to an enjoy the nice weather.


After a bit, we headed back home... but he made sure he got his last few looks in! =]

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