A nation turning 250 is a glorious thing, malcontents determined to shame and berate us out of enjoying it notwithstanding. As for myself, since seeing the bicentennial quarters as a child — back when they were the only unique quarters in circulation — I have been anticipating this milestone.That being the case, I booked a room in January to take my family to the Grand Coulee Dam, which hosts an annual Festival of America on the Fourth of July. While it is less famous than the much smaller Hoover Dam, due to its remote location, this marvel of engineering deserves its place among America’s greatest achievements and is a glorious reminder that we have always been a people who can overcome any challenge if we choose to do so. Further, out among the good honest folks of the interior, one can almost entirely forget the constant harangues that dominate political discourse and enjoy camaraderie with fellow citizens celebrating their country.The drive to Grand Coulee is only a few hours from our home south of Spokane, and we decided to take the most direct route over scenic byways, which show a diverse array of northwestern landscapes. Starting from the rolling hills of the fertile Palouse region where we live, one passes through stands of forest, high desert, and what would be most striking to a visitor, the Channeled Scablands, a unique geological feature created when ice age mega-floods ripped away the soil and left unusual rock formations in its place. It was similar ice age geological forces that made the Grand Coulee itself a large dry riverbed, some of which the dam has now filled for irrigation. Most importantly, for dams, are the region’s dramatic gorges, which made the entire Columbia Basin Project viable. Living here, one gets used to seeing them, but when the Lewis and Clark expedition passed through the region (though not to the site of the Grand Coulee Dam itself), this would have been stunning.