View from hotel 4th floor balcony looking northeast. Richland has a population of 35,000 and is located on the west bank of the Columbia River as it heads south just before joining with the Snake River, bumping into Oregon and turning west. It is one of the "Tri-Cities" which also include Pasco (where the airport is) and Kennewick. The 3 cities are all about the same population and although they share a common newspaper they don't get along too well otherwise. The cities have sort of "grown" towards each other to form one urban area with one big mall. Richland, of course, was taken over as a "government town" during WWII until the 60's as part of the Hanford development. There are several flights per day in and out to each of Salt Lake City, Portland, and Seattle using 737's or commuter planes.