11:00 a.m.
Of course, as we headed home from Winthrop, Washington to our home in Utah, after almost a week of gray skies and rain, the day was sunny and bright. We drove east across Washington and made a quick stop at Grand Coulee Dam. Entering from the west, on Highway 155, we crossed the Columbia River on a very interesting old bridge, just a short way from the dam. From the bridge we got a full view of the entire dam, but at that point we didn't see any observation points, so we continued through a residential area to the Visitor Center.

The parking lot is large, but there were only a few visitors on this day. The facility seems new, and very modern. There are exhibits, a movie about the dam, and personnel on hand to answer your questions. There are also rest rooms and drinking water.

On this day we were not allowed to bring any sort of bag into the Visitor Center. I suspect because of the terrorist threat. I can understand them protecting the dam itself, but who would want to blow up a Visitor Center in the middle of nowhere. That seemed kind of strange.

We walked around the paved area along the parking lot and viewed the dam and its spill ways and the water below. There is a park along the banks below the parking area, where there are picnic tables. A paved path leads down from the parking lot. Also, from the vantage point of the parking lot, looking back toward the bridge that we'd crossed, it looks like there is an observation point to the northeast.

Lake Roosevelt sits behind the dam. (See also the notes for Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area). From there we continued on to the southeast, through Spokane toward our evenings destination in Missoula, Montana.