The Power of Awe

Soap Lake, Washington, is contemplating erecting a gigantic lava lamp to attract more tourism in the sacred tradition of roadside america attractions.

The feasibility of building such a lamp successfully is dubious since, aside from the weight of the glass and liquid contained within, someone is going to have to do the math on the wattage of the bulb it would require to illuminate it and the amount of heat it would generate to keep the blobs moving while taking seasonal changes into consideration. The illustration shows a viewing platform around the base of the lamp which I suspect would fry the humans standing so near. I imagine a building would have to be erected around it to remove some of the climactic variables with climate control.

It's an amusing and cute idea but why does a town in the midst of some of the most amazing geologic features in the western US need to build something as incongruous as a lava lamp to attract tourists? Why not just build a Soap Lake spa and hotel to attract some of the people who visit the Grand Coulee Dam? I've visted the area and it's really worth the trip to witness the scale of the scenery alone since pictures just cannot capture its grandeur.