I've been wanting to check out Grand Coulee Dam for quite some time now. We finally did. We left Saturday morning, stopped in Ellensburg and had lunch (we ate breakfast foods, but it was noon, so technically it was lunch) at the cute Little Yellow Church Cafe. Yes, it was a church, it has also been a residence (which is what I would do with it if I could), and an architects firm. The food was good, and the service friendly. Definitely worth checking out if you're going by, near, or through Ellensburg.
On to Coulee. Google maps said the trip would be about 4 1/2 hours. Not counting our stop for lunch, we made the trip in 4 hours. It seemed long, but would be very short compared to the drive home, but more about that later.
First a few facts about Grand Coulee Dam...
- 6,809 Megawatt hydro electric dam, largest in the U.S. (4th largest in the world)- 5,223 feet in length (almost a mile)
- 12 million cubic tons of concrete
- 3 time wider, and produces 3 times more electricity than Hoover dam
To say that the sight is overwhelming is an understatement. I grew up in Mt. Morris NY, near the Letchworth State Park, which contains a dam so I thought I was prepared for this one. I was wrong.
It's hard to appreciate the overall size and immenseness of the dam, even in the pictures, but believe me, it's pretty cool. The dam created Lake Roosevelt, and Banks Lake. Both are huge.
As dorky as it may sound, the laser light show that is projected onto the main spillway of the dam was also a lot of fun. It's about 40 mins and portrays the history of the Columbia River (which come to find out has 14 dams on it, 3 in Canada, and 11 in the U.S.) and more specifically Grand Coulee.
If nought for all the granduer and magnificence of Grand Coulee, I would have called the rest of the day a waste!
Got up (relatively) early to head back home to Seattle. I thought it would be fun to head back via WA Route 2 versus I-90 like the way we arrived. So off we went. Hit Leavenworth in about an hour and a half (about what I anticipated). Stopped for lunch at Gustav's. The food was only OK, and the service was less than spectacular. For what we spent, could have enjoyed McDonalds as much probably.
We got on the road, hoping for only another 2 hour trip. Route 2 is for the most part, not much more than a two lane road (one lane in each direction) and follows the scenic Wenatchee River. Well, there are two major, pain in the ass problems with Route 2. The first being that you run the risk of getting stuck behind some yahoo who can't/won't do the speed limit! Here is where the fun begins. After about 30 - 40 mins of this, we finally get to the section where 2 opens up into two lanes each way. Wow, you think, I'm going to make up some lost time and be home in no time, and so did we. First made it through Douglas, and whatever the name of that other small town was, and we were looking forward to Monroe. But alas...it wasn't to be so. For the next hour, as we approached Goldbar, Sultan, and some other truck stop on the way to Monroe, we were stuck in stop and start traffic! It was ridiculous. The worst part being, was there were no accidents, to brekdowns to speak off. It's because there is only one stupid road, and stop lights every couple of miles that forced everyone to crawl along. Needless to say, never again am I taking Route 2, anywhere. I don't care how many miles I have to drive out of my way to take I-90 or anything else, but to have the trip to Grand Coulee be 4 hours and the trip home almost six, no scenery along the crappy little way home was worth the extra two hours!
Anyway, a definite thumbs up for Grand Coulee. Check it out. If you leave early enough you could do the whole excursion in one day. Caution, be there before 5 if you want to catch the free tour of the complex. I'd recommend spending the night because then you get to check out the laser light show. I'd do the trip again.
