Washington Sights

Jim Young

Member
Messages
507
Location
Northville, MI
I would like to know what sights people would suggest seeing in the wonderful state of Washington. I know there are a couple of people in here that live up there so some good answers should be coming my way:wave:

So far my Dad and I couldn't come up with any "must see" places in Washington. We aren't too keen in looking at volcanoes so don't suggest them. We will be driving through plenty of mountains on our trek so the volcanoes probably won't be so interesting.
 
Grand Coulee dam.....you can tour it and actually see the power turbines operating. Pretty impressive when you consider the size and weight of the turbines......Seattle......Space Needle.........Take a "Milk Run" ferry boat ride out of Anacordes to the San Juan Islands......Drive from Seattle to Portland on the Interstate is one of the prettiest Instate drives you take........

Jim....if you've never been out west before...You are in for a wonderful surprise. Each of the mountain ranges have their own special beauty......The Northern Rockies........So grandiose........The Cascades....the volcanic craters.........The Tetons in Wyoming.....so magnificant and majestic..........The deserts.....each alike and yet so different from northern Utah....to California.......Southern Utah.....Arizona.....New Mexico...........each has it's own splendor....it's own beauty.......So much so it's hard for me to have a favorite.....it's all eye candy to me!
 
Last edited:
Jim,

Mt. St. Helens is not just a "volcano"... It shows the power of nature, and the smallness of man!... :D Boeing Air Museum, Pike Place Market, Boeing factory tour, bunch of stuff. When will you be coming? Let me know and I can steer you to other interesting things, depending on what interests you have. I live about 20 minutes from Seattle. I'll do what I can to help you have an enjoyable time,

Greg
 
Jim,

If you like mountains.... going up to the Mount Rainer visiter center is great. The view is beyond words.:thumb: I think it was also mentioned, but Mount Saint Helens is another great one too. I was out there in 97. There was a visiters center that looks right in to the crater where the top blew off. As of the summer of 97, just a very little bit of vegetation was beginning to grow back in the blast zone. You can still see all the trees that were blown down when it erupted in the early 80s.

My wife and I took a ride out to Levenworth, WA, where we went white water rafting. Levenworth is this little town that is in the mountains east of Seatle.
 
Exactly what part of Washington will you be traveling through? There are many interesting sites ranging from Grizzly in Bellingham to Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union in Seattle to the Tacoma Glass Museum (Dale Chihuly's home town) to Pike Place Market in Seattle to Lake Ozette on the Pacific Coast, etc. etc.
 
Hardwicks would be on my list. It will be when I go back up there, the last time I was there I was there twice digging around...it's one of the coolest hardware store I've been to.

The Log Home Museum isn't such a great visit, but more historical than anything else. The resturaunt has awesome fried chicken.

Speaking of food, if you like chowder, try Duke's Chowder House, it kicks...

Have a good trip!
 
Grand Coulee dam.....you can tour it and actually see the power turbines operating. Pretty impressive when you consider the size and weight of the turbines......Seattle......Space Needle.........Take a "Milk Run" ferry boat ride out of Anacortes ( Spelled right:) :wave: Just so you don't get lost)to the San Juan Islands......Drive from Seattle to Portland on the Interstate is one of the prettiest Instate drives you take........

Jim....if you've never been out west before...You are in for a wonderful surprise. Each of the mountain ranges have their own special beauty......The Northern Rockies........So grandiose........The Cascades....the volcanic craters.........The Tetons in Wyoming.....so magnificant and majestic..........The deserts.....each alike and yet so different from northern Utah....to California.......Southern Utah.....Arizona.....New Mexico...........each has it's own splendor....it's own beauty.......So much so it's hard for me to have a favorite.....it's all eye candy to me!

Ken lives pretty close to Washington & pretty much says it like it is so we will give him the web foot award.

Bart living real close to Anacortes in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.
 
Last edited:
I'm close to Seattle so if you are near Seattle here are a few ideas.

The Ballard Locks are cool if you like boats, locks, and salmon. Snoqualmie Falls if you like water falls. If you like tours There is an underground tour of Seattle that I hear is cool, although I have never taken it.

If you like markets Pike's Place is always a fun place to explore. If you do this I'd walk South along the water towards the Aquarium. You'll get some nice views of Elliot Bay and the ferries.

Mount Ranier is a cool place, but it had major flooding and many of trails are washed out.

I second the idea of Leavenworth if you like German food and shopping. Cool place.

There is really so much to see that we rarely do the same thing with out of town visitors.

I do need to disagree about driving the I-5 to Portland. I do it many times a year and there is no reason to make this drive unless you want to go to Portland. Portland is a great place, but the drive is boring and offers little in the way of scenery. Just the opinion of someone who makes the trip a lot.
 
Washington -the best state to visit (and to live in)

We lived in Washington state from 1997 to 2003 and never did see everything that there is to see. While we lived there, we had many many guests and by far the top attraction to them was Mount Saint Helens. As a result of escorting company, I have been there at least 15 times and I never got tired of the place. So in spite of your appeal not to see volcanoes, I am recommending Mount Saint Helens.

Do you like hiking? If so, I can recommend many great hiking trips in the Seattle vicinity.

The drive on highway 20 from Rockport to Winthrop is just about the best drive I have taken anywhere in the world. But, the road is only open part of the year, so it might be closed when you are there.

The whole north and west portion of the Olympic Peninsula is worth a multi-day stay. In particular, we enjoyed Makah Indian Reservation at Neath Bay.

I could go on and on and on but it is just making me home sick for our home away from home.
 
...
I do need to disagree about driving the I-5 to Portland. I do it many times a year and there is no reason to make this drive unless you want to go to Portland. Portland is a great place, but the drive is boring and offers little in the way of scenery. Just the opinion of someone who makes the trip a lot.
And Jim, I agree with your disagreement. The only reasons to take the drive are:
(1) it is the way to Mt St Helens from Seattle
(2) you often get good views of Mt Rainier
(3) it is the way to Portland from Seattle
 
If you like wine, Woodinville is a good stop. Chateau St. Michelle and Columbia Winery are right across the street from each other and offer tours with free wine tasting. If you like beer the Red Hook Brewery is right next to the Columbia Winery.

Had to give my place of residence some props!:thumb:

As everyone else has said Mt St Helens is something that can't be appreciated without viewing it in person.

Whatever you do I'm sure you will find Washington to be a beautiful state, especially so from May-October.
 
OK, it sounds like Mount St. Helens will have to go on the list.

We will be in the west for about two weeks taking in as much as we can. We will be flying into Vegas and driving from there. So far I have a couple of things to see in the Vegas area, some Az places, quite a few Utah places and then we head north for a some more stops. I didn't want to drive back down the same way so I decided we need to hit Washington Oregon and California (Yosemeti(sp?) falls).
 
Jim....If you get to eastern Washington, let me know! I'd really like to meet up with you!

Regardless....enjoy you tour of the area where God comes for a vacation!
 
Top