Let’s take a break from touring Spain and Portugal, which I’ve been writing about over the past few weeks, and focus on something travel-related closer to home. I’ll return to our arrival in Lisbon shortly.

But first some context. Last week some out-of-town guests from the East Coast came to visit. And we tried to think of things that we could do to entertain them. Since they wanted to get a feel for this part of the Pacific Northwest, we took to the road.

And our travels took us both east and west.

Wallace, Idaho.

I’d been through Wallace any number of times, usually enroute to somewhere else. But I’ve stopped on occasion, once to eat breakfast before venturing on to Montana, another time to give some Chinese exchange students a break – and a chance to buy some souvenirs – after taking them on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour.

This time, however, I made the 80-mile journey with an open-ended agenda. All our friends wanted to do was walk along the main street and drink in the town’s history.

And, of course, it has plenty of that as the various plaques around the town will reveal. We ended up buying some souvenirs of our own at Johnson’s Gems & Collectibles. We also stopped for a late lunch at The Fainting Goat.

For a full list of things to do in Wallace go to www.WallaceId.fun, the tagline of which is “Where history meets the center of the universe.”

When we asked one of the guys in the gem shop what made Wallace the center of the universe, his answer was short and sweet: “No one can prove that it isn’t.”

Grand Coulee Dam

One of the best nonfiction books that I’ve read in the past several years is Daniel James Brown’s history “The Boys in the Boat.” And amid Brown’s various tales of the University of Washington rowing team that participated in the 1936 Olympics, one involved the team member who worked on the Grand Coulee Dam.

I’ve lived in Spokane since February 1980, arriving here barely two months before Mount St. Helens blew. In all that time, though, I’ve never visited the dam – despite having driven past it a number of times enroute to Wenatchee or Chelan or other points west.

It is definitely worth the two-hour, 87-mile drive, even in the heat of a summer day, and particularly as a way of entertaining – and educating – visitors from elsewhere. The visitor’s center is expansive and full of interactive exhibits, from explanations about the dam’s science to a history of the people who were affected by the project to a theater that screens a variety of topical films.

One exhibit that proved less popular to our friends was the model of a rock drill that, when operated, fills the center with an ear-pounding cacophony of noise. Before exiting to get some burgers at the Electric City Bar & Grill, we stopped by the center’s front desk.

When our friends inquired about the noise, one of the two uniformed rangers offered up his own succinct reply: “Imagine what it’s like working here.”

Whidbey Island

My wife Mary Pat and I embarked on a far more ambitious trip once our East Coast friends departed for Chicago via Amtrak’s Empire Builder. My former Spokesman-Review colleagues, John Nelson and Leslie Kelly – the same two who pioneered the newspaper’s Going Mobile section – had taken temporary jobs as volunteer docents at Fort Casey State Park. (Their own story about their exploits can be accessed on this very page.)

So, we decided to do a quick trip over to see them. They, of course, travel in their RV, camping in whatever scenic spots they can find. We opted to stay at the ritzy and rustic Captain Whidbey Inn, which sits – so the website states – “nestled among old growth firs on the shores of Whidbey Island.”

There’s a lot to do on the island, from experiencing the Pacific Northwest Naval Air Museum to driving through Deception Pass State Park. Since we were there only two nights and one full day, we couldn’t take full advantage of the many opportunities. We did have dinner one night at The Inn, where we had to put up with an ultra-loud birthday party a few tables away (the food was tasty, though, and artfully presented by our gracious server Stevie).

And we toured the park and the historic Admiralty Head Lighthouse, plus we walked through the artsy town of Coupeville, both buying books at the Kingfisher Bookstore and having lunch at The Cove, which sits at the far end of the town wharf.

The only real drawback to our whole Whidbey Island venture was the seven-hour drive that it took to get there. The highlight for me, though, was witnessing the sun set as we stood on the wind-swept shore of Fort Casey.

To close this post with a quote may seem superfluous. But I will anyway.

“Wow,” I said.