Central & Eastern Washington - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 411

round recreation (and tourist dollars) for millions of people. All told, its economic im-
portance dwarfs its significant physical presence.
The towns servicing the dam - Grand Coulee, Electric City and Elmer City - are
sleepy and bland, but the surrounding gorge scenery is spectacular. Grand Coulee has a
small heritage area and walking-tour maps are available at most hotels and at the Grand
Coulee Visitor Arrival Center.
THE EMPIRE BUILDER ACROSS THE CASCADES
With its two-level superliner carriages and grand imperial name, Amtrak's Seattle-
to-ChicagoEmpire Builderruns along the former Great Northern Railroad on a
route that is a proverbial A to Z of the American West. Yet, unlike other more
tourist-oriented trains, it's not prohibitively expensive: a standard 'coachliner' seat
can cost as little as $150, while roomettes with private bathrooms go from $420.
Throw in forests, prairies, ghost mining towns and snowcapped mountains and
you're onto one of the biggest bargains in the US, a magnificent journey significant
not just for its amazing scenery but also for the fascinating insights into American
life that you see on board. A mostly windows viewing car makes the view that much
better.
For reservations and further details, see www.amtrak.com .
Grand Coulee Dam
The Grand Coulee Visitor Arrival Center ( 509-633-9265; 9am-5pm) details the his-
tory of the dam and surrounding area with movies, photos and interactive exhibits, while
free guided tours of the facility run on the hour from 10am until 5pm (May to Septem-
ber) and involve taking a glass-walled elevator 465ft down an incline into the Third
Power Plant, where you can view the tops of the generators from an observation deck.
Similarly spectacular is the newly updated (with a $1.6-million injection in 2012)
nightly laser show ( after dark May-Sep) - purportedly the world's largest - which illus-
trates the history of the Columbia River and its various dams against a gloriously vivid
backdrop.
Folks from all around Washington and beyond descend on Grand Coulee each year for
one of the state's best firework displays from the top of the dam on July 4. Crowds usu-
ally number over 50,000 and for many the show is a family tradition that goes back gen-
erations.