Getaway Guides

Insider’s Guide to Mount Rainier National Park

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 05:00:00 -0700

Ever been on a flight into Sea-Tac and seen a passenger smush her nose to the window when the airplane passes Mount Rainier? Ever been that gawker?

It’s hard not to rubberneck at our massive lump of a mountain. It’s at turns regal and coy, reassuring and ethereal; always 60 miles southeast of downtown Seattle and always squatting 14,410 feet high. We just can’t always see it.

People have been poking around, sleeping next to, and sitting atop Mount Rainier for centuries. Its subalpine meadows, thick with wildflowers, were the hunting grounds for native tribes. They didn’t have to worry much about the volcano blowing its top; it has always been quieter than Mount St. Helens next door and hasn’t fully erupted since the early days of the Holy Roman Empire. It was 1792 when, in the logbook of the H.M.S. Discovery, explorer George Vancouver slapped the name “Rainier” on the mountain, but the name wasn’t fully settled until 1939. Many preferred “Tacoma,” a variation on an Indian word—especially in the city of Tacoma.

Rainier brings out the enthusiast in everyone. Theodore Roosevelt once, while making a case for the “Tacoma” moniker, called it “our noblest landmark.” Naturalist John Muir, better known for wildlife contemplation than bagging summits, visited in 1888 and told his wife, “I didn’t mean to climb it, but got carried away.” Just as soon as the National Park concept was invented, the peak was up for preservation: In 1899 it was the fifth chunk of land to get the status, coming in soon after Yellowstone and Yosemite.

The park became everyone’s playground, home to horseback pack trips and alpinists in wooly sweaters and wooden skis on a rope tow. An inn anchored the main visitor’s destination of Paradise on the south side, while to the north, Sunrise was named for its idyllic dawn view. For climbers, the 25 glaciers are our own private Everest, and 5,000 reach the summit every year.

Today nearly two million visitors enter the national park annually, not to ski or ride but to hike, camp, and drink in the grandeur of our giant. It hovers maternally over our city, but we can never forget that Rainier is a wild thing. The people who protect it perform great heroics; in 2012 alone we grieved for ranger Margaret Anderson, killed on New Year’s Day while keeping a wild shooter from Paradise, and ranger Nick Hall, who rescued stranded climbers in June before a fatal fall into a high-mountain crevasse.

Our mountain traces an indelible impression on the Northwest landscape. It’s not hard to make a case for Mount Rainier; it’s practically our state logo, our totem. We all stake a personal claim on the craggy monster in the mist, even when it isn’t out.

Bicycle Trips, Trails, and Gear

Fri, 18 May 2012 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Kyle Johnson

Seattle shouldn’t be a bicycle town. It’s hilly, it’s wet, and we’re all weak-limbed brainiacs or antiathletic hipsters…right?

And yet the Emerald City is one of the top-ranked cycle cities in the nation, thanks to our committed commuters and twisting trails. Turns out that we love our bikes, and the number of pedal pushers grows with every year (and every bump in gas prices).

With that in mind, we explored the best two-wheeled travel in the Northwest.

Bike Routes: On the Pavement

Washington Bike Towns

Group Bike Rides

Bike Routes: Off Road

Bike Gear: Head to Toe

How to Buy a Bike

Pedal Pushers

Bike Crashes Along SLU Streetcar Pit Cyclists Against City

Road Trips 2012

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Patrick Kehoe

Luxbus provided and driven by Luke Dorny

The Northwest has the best stretches of blacktop in the world: We can cross mountain passes and trace deserted shoreline, even motor up to the world’s best farm-to-table feast. All it takes is a full tank.

British Columbia Road Trip

Such Great Heights

Central Washington Road Trip

Geology Rocks

Oregon Road Trip

The Solitary Coast

Alaska Road Trip

North on the Alcan

Lummi Island Road Trip

Destination Dinner at the Willows Inn

Golf Getaways

30 Perfect Day Trips

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 05:00:00 -0700

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OUT & ABOUT

Image: Bob Jensen

Skagit Wildlife Area
Flight Patterns

Defy Gravity
iFly Seattle
Indoor skydiving is just like the real thing, only minus the “sky” and “diving” parts. Clad in a jumpsuit and helmet in a brand-new Tukwila facility, you’re suspended midair by massive fans that roar like a jet engine. First timers are carefully assisted by pros, but almost better than the weightlessness is watching those experts show off after each session—they bound and flip to the top of the 45-foot tunnel like CGI superheroes. They claim the skill just takes a little practice. 206-244-4359; iflyseattle.com

Getting There 20 minutes: south on I-5 and east on I-405

Shoot to Thrill
Adventure Paintball Park
Anyone can be splattered with paintball ammo during the Saturday walk-on sessions on the Longbranch field filled with trenches, sandbags, and an empty camper trailer. But book the Kitsap spot for a private party and you can devise your own “Most Dangerous Game” scenario, hunting an instructor—clad in a camo suit, naturally—armed only with a crossbow and paint mines. 253-793-7000; adventurepaintballpark.com

Getting There 90 minutes: south on I-5, west on WA 16 and WA 302, and south on Key Peninsula Hwy

Herd the Birds
Skagit Wildlife Area
When a cloud of thousands of migrating snow geese takes off from the mudflats on Skagit Bay, it’s like a trippy nature flick brought to life. The bird-watching at the Fir Island Farms Unit is world class, especially when bald eagles share the sky during the winter. Sandpipers tiptoe through the estuary, and even swans can be seen from the dike overlook. Bring binoculars—sights like these are why you own them in the first place. wdfw.wa.gov/lands/wildlife_areas/skagit

Getting There 70 minutes: north on I-5, east on Fir Island Rd

Fall for Foliage
Lake Cle Elum
Not every tree’s an evergreen on the Cascades’ east slope, which blooms in fall color along Highway 903 from Cle Elum. Head 20 miles northwest toward Salmon La Sac campground; the quaint towns of Roslyn and Ronald soon give way to the shores of Lake Cle Elum, where the maples and larch produce swaths of burnt orange and deep red. Sprawling resort Suncadia (509-649-6400; suncadiaresort.com) is nearby if you can’t stand leaving the autumn wonderland. 509-674-5958; cleelumroslyn.org

Getting There 85 minutes: east on I-90

Look to the Sky
Flaming Geyser State Park
As pyrotechnics go, it’s no Hollywood spectacle, but there is a flaming geyser in this modest Auburn park—a burble of lit methane the size of a Bic lighter. No matter, since the real draw is excellent Green River tubing and aerial feats by model airplane enthusiasts who have made the park into a mini airport. 360-902-8844; parks.wa.gov

Getting There 50 minutes: south on WA 167 and east on WA 18 and Green Valley Rd

Try This Town: Darrington

It’s not hard to get lost—in a good way—in the forests of this small outpost northeast of Everett. Once upon a time, cutting down this timber sustained the whole Stillaguamish Valley town, but now playing in the trees is becoming as important as harvesting them. Whitewater rafters head for the Sauk River, and rock hounds scour nearby Mount Higgins for fossils. A bright blue sculpture of three archers and their bows signals the town’s archery range (darringtonarchers.com), a regular site for national tournaments. A rails-to-trails project converted the train tracks west to Arlington along the Stillaguamish River into the Whitehorse Trail, but only the first six miles are presently open. More numerable are hiking routes like the artifact-laden Bornite Mine Historical Trail, and in winter the area’s frozen waterfalls make for good snowshoe destinations.

Getting There 90 minutes:
north on I-5 and east on WA 530

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FOOD & DRINK

Image: Lindsay Borden

Cama Beach State Park
Shell Station

Choose Booze
Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen
Will and Mari Kemper (of Thomas Kemper Root Beer fame) opened a real-beer brewery near downtown Bellingham’s shops and cafes, with a focus on sustainable, European-style brewing. A waterfront pub, live music, and brewery tours fill an afternoon, but the Kölsch, British IPA, and Pilsner behind the bar inspire return trips. 360-752-3377; chuckanutbreweryandkitchen.com

Getting There 90 minutes: north on I-5

Get Crabby
Cama Beach State Park
If you’re hankering for a shellfish dinner, you can catch and cook up to five Dungeness crabs at this onetime fishing resort. While you wait for your crab pots to fill, hike the park’s 15 miles of trails winding among beautiful displays of fall foliage or rent a rowboat from the maritime volunteers at the Center for Wooden Boats (360-387-9361; cwb.org). 360-387-1550; parks.wa.gov/camabeach

Getting There 90 minutes: north on I-5

Image: Lindsay Borden

Bors Hede
Old-Fashioned Grub

Brew Your Own
Gallaghers' Where-U-Brew
When you start from the more than 50 recipes for beer and wine, the brew you mix yourself is likely to have incomparable flavor. To make sure that it’s as tasty as it is unique, seasoned brewers will pitch in and demonstrate the use of the facility’s professional equipment such as the wort chiller or the bottle sterilizer. Two weeks after mixing and boiling, you can return to bottle and take home your creation. 425-776-4209; whereubrew.com

Getting There 25 minutes: north on I-5

Eat Medieval
Bors Hede
Can you handle a menu that uses the words “buttered worts” to describe the sauteed greens? There are fourteenth-century recipes and the added theater of wandering minstrels at Camlann Medieval Village’s living history eatery, but there’s no Monty Python buffoonery. Your buttered worts come with a side of lute music and a straight face. 425-788-8624; camlann.org

Getting There 45 minutes: east on WA 520, Novelty Hill Rd and Fall City Duvall Rd

Image: Lindsay Borden

Boehms Candies Factory
Chocolate Desires

Satisfy Sweet Teeth
Boehms Candies Factory
Willy Wonka and Lucille Ball both understood the allure of a dessert assembly line; at this one you’ll see hands dipping candies in pools of chocolate. Tour the alpine-style chalet and chapel of founder Julius Boehm, an Austrian athlete-turned-chocolatier, then get a tasting tour of the 1956 factory itself. A two-hour chocolate-making class will give you new appreciation for the factory’s steady output of clusters, cordials, and Mozart-Kugeln. 425-392-6652; boehmscandies.com

Getting There 25 minutes: east on I-90

Try This Town: Edison

Image: Lindsay Borden

You’ll encounter more calories than people in this pint-size hamlet, also known as the Skagit Valley’s emerging foodie destination. At the Breadfarm bakery (360-766-4065), sour cherry–lemon bread loaves fly off the shelves, along with Samish River potato bread made from local spuds. Next door, the small gourmet shop Slough Food (360-766-4458) sells local cheeses, cured meats from Salumi, and wines both local and international. And one more door down, Tweets (360-820-9912) serves breakfasts of biscuits with lamb gravy (or huckleberry ice cream, if that’s how your mornings roll) on raw-hewn wooden tables.

New works from the neighboring Edison Eye Gallery (360-766-6276) grace the diner’s walls. But that’s just the beginning of the tiny town’s smorgasbord: The Edison Inn (360-766-6266) also fits inside the miniscule city limits, dishing up local seafood as it has done for a century, albeit under recent new management. Fuller service comes down the street at Edison Cafe (360-766-6960), known for homemade soups and a giant Wonder Bread advertisement by the front door.

Getting There
85 minutes:
north on I-5 and Chuckanut Dr

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LEARN & DO

Image: Lindsay Borden

Hibulb Cultural Center
History Speaks

Live Local History
Hibulb Cultural Center
Under the angular roof of the Tulalip Tribes’ new $19 million museum is  a high-roofed longhouse where storytellers pass on ancestral history. In interactive wall and video displays, the military tradition of local tribes is honored and a family tree painstakingly maps the tribes’ earliest ancestors. Outside, a 50-acre preserve backs up to the Marysville marshes. 360-716-2600; hibulbculturalcenter.org

Getting There 55 minutes: north on I-5 and west on Tulalip Rd

Pick for Yourself 
Jones Creek Farms
Sample as many apples as you like while you wander the u-pick orchard, but gathering your own bushel will take too long if you try them all. Farmers Les and Talea Price grow over 100 varieties of apples, a feat considering that the trees themselves number about 250. If you’d rather look than pick, you can try a guided tour of the farm or visit the Apple Core Store to pick up locally made soaps, art, jams, or the farm’s signature apple butter. 360-826-6820; skagitvalleyfruit.com

Getting There 90 minutes: north on I-5

Image: Lindsay Borden

Boeing Factory Tour
Airplanes Undressed

Ogle Airplanes
Boeing Factory Tour
Huge. Gargantuan. Massive. You may run out of words to describe the size of the building in Boeing’s Mukilteo facility, since the six giant doors are themselves bigger than football fields. No cameras are allowed as you peer over a towering third-floor balcony at workers and the green skins of new 747s and 787 Dreamliners—probably so you don’t copy them to build your own superjet. 360-756-0086; boeing.com/commercial/tours

Getting There 30 minutes: north on I-5 and west on WA 526

Get Crafty
Pioneer Farm Museum
Think of it as old-fashioned Etsy when your kids craft candles and cornhusk dolls with the help of costumed tour guides. Neighboring historical recreations feature nineteenth-century homestead cabins on one side and an Ohop Native American fishing village on the other. After a few hours of living in the distant past, time travel to the 1960s in nearby Eatonville, where Italian restaurant Jebino’s (360-832-3287; jebinos.com) has decor inspired by
the Rat Pack. 360-832-6300; pioneerfarmmuseum.org

Getting There 80 minutes: south on I-5 and WA 7

Cruise in Control
ProFormance Car Racing
Drive it like you stole it—that means “fast,” law abiders. An instructor will teach you to take corners at 85 miles per hour or faster at the Pacific Raceways near Kent, using your own car if you wish. If your dinky old Civic can’t take the heat, rent a track-ready Lotus for the full day crash course (so to speak) in high-speed steering and control. Here’s one injunction you shouldn’t disregard: Buckle up.  253-630-5130; proformanceracingschool.com

Getting There 40 minutes: south on I-5

Try This Town: Bellingham

Old and new are mashed up together in the ever-growing northern city. The oldest brick building in the state is located here (though uncelebrated by historic signage), as is the alternative culture mecca of Western Washington University. History nerds flock to the Bellingham Railway Museum (360-393-7540) and the American Museum of Radio and Electricity (360-738-3886), both celebrating cultural game-changers. Things get more contemporary at Mindport (360-647-5614), an institution dedicated to interactive science and art; it’s the kind of place where you can create music using marbles. Nothing’s stuffy in this funky coastal town; even the Whatcom Museum (360-778-8930), in the gothic Old City Hall, gets dynamic with summertime historic cruises. Delightfully strange combinations aren’t merely the purview of Bellingham’s learned institutions—at Mallard Ice Cream (360-734-3884) near the American Museum of Radio and Electricity, old-fashioned methods are used to create newfangled flavors.

Getting There
90 minutes: north on I-5

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OLD & IMPORTANT

Image: Lindsay Borden

Lakewood Gardens
Structured Beauty

Bask in Greenery
Lakewold Gardens
This estate south of Tacoma passed through many wealthy hands before it was owned by a high-society matron named Eulalie Wagner. The rare rhododendrons and Japanese maples date to her collaboration with landscape architect Thomas Church, legendary for shaping much of California’s tony exteriors. Wagner’s Georgian-style mansion is open to visitors, but to see vintage photographs tracing the area’s transformation from cow-spotted prairie to city, visit the nearby Lakewood History Museum (253-682-3480; lakewoodhistorical.org). 253-584-4106; lakewoldgardens.org

Getting There 45 minutes: south on I-5

Turn Back Time
Fort Nisqually
Based on the Hudson Bay Company’s trading outpost from 1855, Fort Nisqually offers historically accurate buildings, period-appropriate clothing for museum “residents,” and activities—including an October candlelight tour and ghost stories around a bonfire—allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the first European settlement on Puget Sound. 253-591-5339; metroparkstacoma.org

Getting There 50 minutes: south on I-5 and WA 163

Dote on Design
Bloedel Reserve
More than 150 acres of greenery dwarf the English manor on the Bainbridge Island estate, even if the timber magnate who built it did decorate with fancy Louis XVI furniture and crystal chandeliers. Outside a ’60s-era guesthouse the landscape is inspired more by Japanese gardens than fussy flower beds. Austere Emily Brontë gets a poem engraved on a slate marker on the grounds, but don’t expect anything about UW poet Theodore Roethke, who drowned in a swimming pool on the property; the site is now a rock garden. 206-842-7631; bloedelreserve.org

Getting There 50 minutes: west on Seattle–Bainbridge ferry and north on WA 305

Fight Old Battles
Fort Ward State Park
Like most of the state’s old coastal military installations, this decommissioned fort on Bainbridge Island’s southernmost toe is home to old cannons, mossy battery structures, and (probably) a handful of ghosts. Clam diggers mine the rocky shore and scuba divers venture beyond into the waters of Rich Passage. The site was a top-secret World War II naval radio post, eavesdropping on Japanese communications. biparks.org/parksandfacilities/pkftward.html

Getting There 55 minutes: west on Seattle–Bainbridge ferry and south on Blakely Ave and Fort Ward Hill Rd

Set Sail
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
The U.S. Navy tosses all its mothballed old aircraft carriers in the waters of Bremerton (someone call Hoarders), but the naval base is no junkyard. A massive old crane hangs over a still-active ship maintenance area, and nearby the Puget Sound Navy Museum recreates life on a nuclear aircraft carrier. On the way home, swing by the Naval Undersea Museum (www.history.navy.mil/museums/keyport/index1.htm) 12 miles north in Keyport to see torpedo tubes and the control room of a fast attack submarine. 360-476-3711; www.navsea.navy.mil/shipyards/puget

Getting There 70 minutes: west on Seattle-Bremerton ferry and WA 302

Try This Town: Port Gamble

Image: Lindsay Borden

When the company town was constructed on the northern point of the Kitsap Peninsula, it was meant to evoke the coast of Maine, home to the two founders of the Puget Mill Company. Ergo, the delicate Victorian porches, modest gray church, and village green scream old-timey New England. In the center of town, the Port Gamble Museum (360-297-8078) has all the charm of a fancy parlor, displaying sepia-toned photographs and old lace parasols that evoke the area’s past. Antique stores line the main drag, where lunch with a side of hand-dipped milkshake is served at Port Gamble General Store (360-297-7636). Regular ghost tours—plus a whole ghost conference every October—make use of the gothic architecture, and Civil War buffs reenact battles among the nineteenth-century buildings (never mind that the Confederacy obviously never camped within five states of here).

Ten miles south, history gets a little more local with Chief Seattle’s newly renovated grave and the Suquamish Museum and Cultural Center (360-394-8496).

Getting There
70 minutes:
west on Seattle–Bainbridge ferry,
and north on 305, 307 and 104

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WEIRD & WONDERFUL

Image: Lindsay Borden

LeMay Family Collection
Traffic Jam

Uncover UFO's
Maury Island
Cue the conspiracy theories: In June 1947 a fleet of flying saucers reportedly visited the isle that is now linked to Vashon Island by a manmade land bridge. The alien rumor is, alas, unproven, but an otherworldly calm pervades Maury Island Marine Park’s mile-long rocky shore—a spot that once fed a gravel mine—and the lonely lighthouse at Point Robinson Park. kingcounty.gov

Getting There 70 minutes: south on WA 99 and Fauntleroy Way SW, west on Fauntleroy-Vashon ferry, and south on Vashon Hwy SW

Gander at Graves
Bayview Cemetery
If anywhere in the state is haunted, it’s probably the spot where Bellingham residents have been buried since 1888. But despite the eerie Mother’s Memorial (legend has it that lying here will speed your death!), the oaks and maples burst into warm fall colors. Nearby, folks at the 1920s Mount Baker Theatre (360-734-6080; mountbakertheatre.com) are pretty sure it’s haunted—many have sighted an apparition named Judy within the Moorish edifice. bayviewcemetery.com

Getting There 90 minutes: north on I-5

Slither with Snakes
Serpentarium
The squeamish need not apply to this private reptile museum outside Monroe, home to an albino alligator and a two-headed turtle (taxonomy isn’t everything; there are spiders, too). Hold one of the 150 creature residents, such as a rosy boa or Burmese python, though the deadliest creature, the black mamba, is obviously hands off. 360-805-5300; reptileman.com

Getting There 40 minutes: north on I-5 and east on WA 2

Fancy Wheels
LeMay Family Collection
The late Harold LeMay was the biggest car collector in the world, according to Guinness World Records, and he hoarded more than just Model Ts and Studebakers. His Dragonster car shoots fire, and his oldest is an 1899 Baldwin that runs on steam. Collectibles are displayed in every corner of the repurposed military academy—there are even cars on the old gym bleachers. 253-272-2336; lemaymarymount.org

Getting There 50 minutes: south on I-5, east on WA 512, and south on WA 7

Sculpt Wood
School of Chainsaw Carving
The sound of whirring chain saws is a constant outside George Kenny’s academy and storefront in Allyn, a town at the pivot of the Kitsap Peninsula. Call it kitsch or art, there’s clearly demand for the 500 bears and eagles that used to be stumps. Kenny goes highbrow as well; he owns the wine tasting room next door, Top of the Cork (360-275-5657). 360-275-9570;  bearinabox.com

Getting There 80 minutes: south on I-5 and west on WA 16

Try This Town: Tenino

Photo: Washington State Department of Natural Resources

The biggest mystery south of Olympia isn’t how to pronounce Tenino (it’s “teh-NY-noh”), it’s what’s going on with the acres of natural six-foot lumps of Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve. There’s no scientific explanation for what looks a lunar landscape (or the work of a Godzilla-sized groundhog). On the other side of I-5 in Tenino proper, you’ll do a double take at the town swimming pool: the converted sandstone quarry is a remnant of the area’s mining history. Down the road, the Monarch Contemporary Art Center (360-264-2408) is home to massive outdoor sculptures of every shape and artistic pedigree, while in the other direction Wolf Haven (800-448-9653) shelters recuperating carnivores whose otherworldly howls fill  the night air.

Getting There
90 minutes:
south on I-5 and Old Highway 99

Insider’s Guide to Olympic National Park

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Andrew Waits

Plan Your Trip

Olympic National Park
Nature guides, destination brochures, and back-country pass info. nps.gov/olym

Recreation.gov
Campground reservations for Kalaloch, available up to six months in advance, as well as bookings for nearby National Forest cabins.
recreation.gov

Washington Trails Association
Trip details for dozens of peninsula hikes.
wta.org

Climbers Guide to the Olympic Mountains
Climbing route descriptions, photos, and maps that supplement a hard-copy guide by Olympic Mountain Rescue. climbersguideolympics.com

Welcome to the Olympic Peninsula Local event calendars and trip suggestions from the local visitors bureau.
olympicpeninsula.org

WE JUST SAY "the Olympics" when we talk about our rainy national park, a bumpy line of peaks we can see over the Sound. Named for the home of the gods, Olympic National Park reigns as the fifth most visited national park in the country. Its three million annual visitors rank just behind blockbusters like Yosemite and Yellowstone. For a wild, unmarked space that isn’t on the road to anywhere, our mossy peninsula is far more than a backdrop to Seattle sunsets.

It helps that Olympic National Park is in pieces: one big round blob encompassing the peaks and rain forest, then a sliver that runs a third of the length of Washington’s Pacific shore. Visitors stream into the meadows of Hurricane Ridge, the sands of Kalaloch, and the forest canopies of Hoh—or all three.

It took two Presidents Roosevelt to preserve the nearly one million acres of Olympic National Park. Today it cradles forest creatures you won’t find anywhere else, rare temperate rain forest where winters drown in up to 14 feet of rain, and the largest unmanaged elk herd in the world. But now the park faces dwindling federal funding, and the challenge of removing dams that have gummed up its rivers for a century. Zeus may have lived on Olympus once upon a time, but these days the Olympics, and the expansive lands that make up Olympic National Park, are our treasure and our responsibility.

• • •




Insider’s Guide to Olympic National Park:: 10 Top Places to Visit in Olympic National Park; Follow the Ranger; Summer Things to Do; Park Trails You Don’t Know; Poet of the Park; Places to Stay in the Park; The Marmot Brigade; Where the Wild Things Are; Art of the Park; Essential Rain Gear; Saving the Park; Timeline of Olympic National Park; The Elwha’s Last Dam Summer

52 Weekends

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:00:00 -0800

Image: Scott Spiker

Nordic Skiing in the North Cascades Five cabins provide respite along 21 miles of groomed track.

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Image: Alex Lloyd / EpicQuest

Heliskiing in Alaska Skiiers are dropped off in the mountains 40 miles south of Anchorage.

January

1. Scissor from Hut to Hut
The farmlands of Methow Valley become a Nordic skier’s mecca once the white stuff hits. Rendezvous Huts (509-996-2148; rendezvoushuts.com) is a system of mountain cabins spread along 21 miles of groomed track—and set about five miles apart—that provide a warm respite and kitchens stocked with cooking tools and fuel. Even better: A snow machine ferries your cargo from cabin to cabin as you glide beneath the peaks of the Northern Cascades. Replenish lost calories (and then some) with a three-egg, ham-filled omelet at the Duck Brand Cantina (509-996-2192; methownet.com/duck) in downtown Winthrop.

Getting there 5 hours east on I-90, north on U.S. 97

2. Benevolent Marauding in Poulsbo
Fine. Poulsbo, you call yourself “Little Norway,” but we reserve the right to act like Vikings when we raid your town. First conquest: Mor Mor Bistro and Bar (360-697-3449; mormorbistro.com), where we’ll demand ale-battered fish-and-chips—to be washed down, of course, with ale. And for dessert: ale. Then off to the Nordic Maid (360-779-9863; nordicmaid.com), where we’ll spend just enough time to realize it’s a Scandinavian souvenir shop and not a place to find actual Nordic maidens. Then—by the power of Thor!—we’ll invade Green Cat Bed and Breakfast (360-779-7569; greencatbb.com), where we’ll pillage and… Okay, we’ll just sleep.

Getting there 35-minute ferry to Bainbridge, 20 minutes north on WA 305

3. Heliski Till You Drop (You Will Drop)
Any Alaskan activity worth its salt should involve signing a “You will not be sued if I die” waiver, and heliskiing with EpicQuest (888-983-3742; epicquest.com) is no exception. The chopper drops skiers off 40 miles south of Anchorage near the top of the Chugach mountains, a glacier-dripping expanse with a panoramic view of the whale-filled Turnagain Arm. Slice through the heart-pounding 4,000-foot descent up to eight times before the day is done. Then sleep it off at the newly renovated, chateau-style Hotel Alyeska (907-754-2111; alyeskaresort.com). For dinner, ride the aerial tram up to the resort’s Seven Glaciers restaurant, perched atop a 2,300-foot peak.

Getting there 3½ hours to Anchorage on Continental Airlines (continental.com), 45-minute drive to Girdwood

4. Get Wowed in Whistler
So you didn’t make it to Whistler a year ago when, thanks to the 2010 Winter Games, it was the center of the universe. Make up for the squandered opportunity with a trek up BC way for skiing and boarding on the same runs where Olympians made history at Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort (604-296-5316; whistlerblackcomb.com). Dine hard on wild caribou at Bearfoot Bistro (604-932-3433; bearfootbistro.com) and tuck in at the timber-and-stone, lodgey Four Seasons Whistler (604-935-3400; fourseasons.com/whistler).

Getting there 4 hours, 20 minutes north on I-5, plus border wait time

February

Image: Dennis Frates

Storm watching on the Oregon Coast Thirty-foot waves crash against Cannon Beach throughout February.

6. Start the Month with a Splash
So many giant waves—30 feet high!—crash against the Oregon Coast this time of year (perfect storm-watching season), that the scene at Cannon Beach in Ecola State Park (oregonstateparks.org) is like a natural disaster movie without the bad acting. After the show, protein up on steaks at Spouting Horn (541-765-2261) and bed down at The Stephanie Inn (800-633-3466; stephanie-inn.com), where the Jacuzzi suites come with beach views, perfect for catching an encore storm performance.

Getting there 4 hours south on I-5, west on U.S. 30, south on U.S. 101

7. Hug it Out on Whidbey
Snag your sweetie the weekend before Valentine’s Day and nest at the Inn at Langley (360-221-3033; innatlangley.com), pad along historic downtown Coupeville (nps.gov/ebla/upload/walkingtourpanels.pdf), and spoil yourselves silly with the island’s famous Penn Cove mussels at The Edgecliff Restaurant and Lounge (866-825-3640; theedgecliffwi.com).

Getting there 1½ hours north on I-5 to Mukilteo, 20 minute ferry to Whidbey

8. Slip-Slide in Rossland, BC—But Keep a Lid on It
We’re always a little reluctant to spread the gospel of Red Mountain Resort (877-969-7669; redresort.com) in Rossland, where the lift lines are just the way we like them—short—and the two mountains, Red and Granite, are perpetually doused in powder. Join fellow alpine disciples for beers and burgers at the Flying Steamshovel (250-362-7323; theflyingsteamshovel.com). And nurse your powder-filled dreams at The Prestige Mountain Resort Hotel (877-737-8443; prestigehotelsandresorts.com).

Getting there 7 hours east on I-90, north on U.S. 395, plus border wait time

9. Astoria's Ode to Salmon
Listen to rhymes about salmon at the 14th Annual Fisher Poets Gathering, February 25–27 (clatsopcc.edu/fisherpoets); eat salmon at the Bridgewater Bistro (503-325-6777; bridgewaterbistro.com); and dream about salmon—as they swim in the Columbia River below!—at Benjamin Young Inn Bed and Breakfast (503-325-6172; benjaminyounginn.com).

Getting there 3½ hours south on I-5, west on U.S. 30

FLIGHT PLAN

Image: Alan Witschonke

5. Sundance Film Festival

With SIFF’s Carl Spence

Seattle International Film Festival artistic director Carl Spence knows moviefests, including the big one, theSundance Film Festival, January 20–30 (sundance.org), in Park City, Utah, where he stays at the Park City Marriott (800-234-9003;parkcitymarriott.com) and stuffs his face with beef ribs and corn bread at Zoom (435-649-9108; zoomparkcity.com), owned by the Sundance Kid himself, Robert Redford. When he’s hot for Italian fare—after all, many a festival flick conjures Fellini—he’ll darken the door at Café Terigo (435-645-9555;cafeterigo.com). But Spence is there to feed his head, not his stomach. Seven theaters in Park City and a handful of others in nearby Salt Lake City and Ogden screen films during 10 days of celebs, film panels, and competitions.

Getting there 2 hours on Delta Air Lines(delta.com) to Salt Lake City, plus 45-minute drive to Park City

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Image: Misty Valley Inn

Misty Valley Inn Load up on raspberry pancakes: the perfect fuel to begin a day of photography.

March

10. Rockport Pattern Baldness
The largest aerie of bald eagles in the lower 48 patrol the skies above Rockport State Park (parks.wa.gov), a 670-acre old-growth forest just east of Concrete. Might as well bundle up and kick back with a pair of binoculars on your porch at Skagit River Resort (360-873-2250; northcascades.com). Afterward, take flight for the Buffalo Run Restaurant (360-873-2461; buffaloruninn.com), which dishes exotics like buffalo, elk, ostrich—just about everything but (thankfully) bald eagle.

Getting there 2½ hours north on I-5, east on WA 530

11. Shoot Landscapes (and Maybe a Few Birds)
David M. Cobb, professional photographer and long-distance hiker, knows a thing or two about framing a rocky bluff, and after his three-day Best of the Northwest Workshop, March 4–7 (503-224-1856; nwphotoworkshops.com), in Olympic National Park, outside Forks, so will his students. Talk shop over a juicy burger from Sully’s Drive-In (360-374-5075), a satisfyingly simple greasy spoon in Forks. And rest your head close to the action at Misty Valley Inn (877-374-9389; mistyvalleyinn.com), which has all the antique trappings and hospitality of any good bed-and-breakfast with the added bonus of spotting elk out your window.

Getting there 3¼ hours west on U.S. 101

13. Get Royally Flushed at Tulalip
Because a weekend in Vegas just isn’t enough but a couple of nights in Marysville is plenty, every winter we roll north to roll the dice at the Tulalip Resort Casino (866-716-7162; tulalipcasino.com). We spend our winnings in the resort’s restaurants. Sometimes we gnaw on multiple helpings of Korean-style lamb chops from The Tulalip Bay Dining Room (360-716-1500), and sometimes it’s multiple helpings of the salmon at The Blackfish (360-716-1100). But usually we just have multiple helpings of both.

Getting there ¾ hour north on I-5

April

Image: Peter Evans

Rock climbing in Oregon’s Central Cascades Smith Rock State Park boasts 1,800 climbing routes.

14. Rock It with International Athletes
Strong-fingered folk will have a hard time finding an agility test as perfect as Smith Rock State Park (541-548-7501; smithrock.com) in Terrebonne, home to 1,800 climbing routes in Oregon’s Central Cascades. The tuff and basalt faces of the monoliths sprout up from 651 acres of temperate (even in the winter) desert plateau. After you’re off the rock, head to Terrebonne Depot (541-548-5030; terrebonnedepot.com), in a 100-year-old former train station, for buffalo nachos. Back in the park, $5 gets you a first-come, first-served camping site, but fire and camping stove use is limited, so pack your granola bars.

Getting there 5½ hours south on I-5, east on U.S. 26

15. Family Fun in Spokane
Know what Seattle really needs? A good amusement park, and not a moribund one like the Fun Forest at the Seattle Center. Know who’s got one? Our semiurban counterpart to the east, Spokane. Hit Riverfront Park (spokaneriverfrontpark.com) for a whirl on the carousel and an aerial tram ride over Spokane River Falls. After that you’re crashing at safari-themed Davenport Hotel and Tower (800-899-1482; thedavenporthotel.com) and breakfasting at Walters’ Fruit Ranch (509-238-4709; appleranch.com) where apples and peaches are out of season, but you can still order the best pancakes around.

Getting there 5 hours east on I-90

16. Have a Whale of a Time
Get to know Puget Sound’s other cetacean population: gray whales, which at up to 52 feet long and 36 tons, dwarf orcas. Each spring, the grays pit stop in the Saratoga Passage on their migratory path north. Depart from La Conner on a five-hour trip with Mystic Sea Charters (800-308-9387; mysticseacharters.com) and you’ll come within eyeshot of these majestic creatures. Savor the day’s adventure over dinner at Seeds Bistro and Bar (360-466-3280; seedsbistro.com) and turn in for the night at the La Conner Channel Lodge (360-466-1500; laconnerlodging.com).

Getting there 1½ hours north on I-5, west on WA 534 

17. On a Long, Long Beach, in a Town (Not Too) Far Away
Sure, we like clamming, which put Long Beach on the locavore map. Yet there’s plenty else to see, do, and eat in this seaside Washington town. Okay, we mostly mean eat. The crab grilled foie gras and quail stuffed with wild boar cranberry sausage at the Depot Restaurant (360-642-7880; depotrestaurantdining.com) is hard to pass up. But so is the carnivalesque downtown, with its creaky elevated boardwalk, saltwater taffy made on site, and salty breeze that takes hold of your senses and doesn’t let go till you reach dreamland at the Inn at Discovery Coast (360-642-5265; innatdiscoverycoast.com ).

Getting there 3¼ hours south on U.S. 101

18. All Creatures Great and Weird
The parrots, snakes, hamsters, and small assorted farm animals to descend on Creature Fest, April 7–10 (creaturefestival.com), will turn Chehalis, Washington, into, well, a zoo. Enjoy a bird show and pet trick demos and (why not?) buy Junior a bunny. If that doesn’t make him giggle with joy, a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge (866-798-9653; greatwolf.com/grandmound), 12 miles up Interstate 5, will. The indoor water park draws comparisons, not too unjustifiably, to Pleasure Island in Pinocchio; kids get to run around with a MagiQuest wand, for example, which brings inanimate animal statues to life. Sorry, the wand doesn’t work on dead-tired parents.

Getting there 1½ hours south on I-5

FLIGHT PLAN

Image: Alan Witschonke

12. Spring Training in Peoria

With Larry Stone

Seattle Timesbaseball columnist Larry Stone has made the trek to spring training in Arizona for so many years—24 to be exact—that he considers himself “practically a resident of the state.” He stays in a condo rented by the paper, but there is a La Quinta (623-487-1900;lq.com) and a Comfort Suites (623-334-3993;comfortsuites.com) just a baseball’s throw from the Peoria Sports Complex, Mariners training headquarters. Don and Charlie’s restaurant (480-990-0900; donandcharlies.com) in Scottsdale is “the classic spring training hangout” for major-league players and execs—and a meat lover’s paradise. But the wait is long. Good thing there’s baseball memorabilia on display to occupy your time.

Getting there 3 hours to Phoenix on Alaska Airlines (alaskaair.com), plus ½-hour drive to Peoria

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Image: Sean Pecknold

Memorial Day weekend at the Gorge Sasquatch! is extending the music festival to four days this year.

May

19. Sing Along at Sasquatch
The Columbia River channels as much indie rock as it does water during the Sasquatch! Music Festival on Memorial weekend (sasquatchfestival.com), a four-day, overnight music fete that brings together the biggest names and wildest beards. For $120, you can buy a weekend camping pass for your car and two tents at Wildhorse Campground (wildhorsecampground.com); you’ll also get shuttle service to the concert venue and access to showers to clean off the dance and dust. When you emerge from the fest, make your first priority the melt-in-your-mouth beef tenderloin from Valley Cafe (509-925-3050; valleycafeellensburg.com) in Ellensburg.

Getting there 2½ hours east on I-90

20. Willamette Valley's Iconoclastic Side
Eugene, Oregon, is a hotbed of health-conscious eateries, eco-friendly shops, and endless outdoor adventure. Stop by Broadway Plaza and salute the bronze statue of Ken Kesey, Merry Prankster and counterculture icon. Shop for organic goods and artisan wares at the Eugene Saturday Market (eugenesaturdaymarket.org), the nation’s oldest open-air crafts fair, and stretch your legs at Hendricks Park, where a riot of rhododendrons bloom in springtime. Dine at farm-to-fork restaurant The Sustainable Table (thesustainabletable.com) before calling it a night at The Augusta House (541-342-8615; augustahouse.net).

Getting there 5 hours south on I-5

21. Tongue Aflame, Eyes Impressed in Qualicum Beach, BC
Spend the day strolling through downtown Qualicum Beach—on Vancouver Island’s eastern shore—taste-testing mouthwatering chili and spying chainsaw-carved ice sculptures during the Fire and Ice Street Festival, May 7 (fireandicestreetfestival.com). Chili flavors range from raw vegan to wild game smothered in spices. Avoid Qualicum Beach’s multitude of overly quaint B&Bs and stay at the Zen and eco-friendly Harmony Inn (250-757-9051; harmonyinn.com). Once your chili coma subsides, sit down to a light dinner at Lefty’s (250-752-7530; leftys.tv).

Getting there 5 hours via ferry from Port Townsend to Victoria, BC, then north on BC 1

June

23. Smell the Roses in Portland
Get an eyeful—and a noseful—of petal-clad marchers in the Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade, June 11 (rosefestival.org), a flower-powered rally down Burnside and beyond. Dine on the American kobe beef pastrami at James Beard Award–winning Paley’s Place (503-243-2403; paleysplace.net) and sample a few of the 90-plus tequilas—served in sherry glasses—at Trébol (503-517-9347; trebolpdx.com) before tucking in at night at Hotel Lucia (503-225-1717; hotellucia.com).

Getting there 3 hours south on I-5

24. Wine and Dance
Woodinville makes for a perfect summer kickoff. When you check in at Willows Lodge (425-424 3900; willowslodge.com), get a good look at the swimming pool-size outdoor hot tub, because that’s where you’re ending your night. But first traipse over to Barking Frog, a few feet from your room, for sous-vide-cooked beef tenderloin, then across Highway 202 to Chateau Ste. Michelle (425-488-1133; ste-michelle.com) for the winery’s summer concert series. You’ll have to check their website once they announce the 2011 lineup, but last year the likes of Ringo Starr and the B-52s kept pilgrims to Woodinville toe tapping all summer long. Now about that hot tub. . .

Getting there ½ hour north on I-405

25. 100 Rapids in 100 Miles
Idaho’s Salmon River is at its most aggressive during May and June, when the currents can toss a boat of rafters down the 100-mile section of Middle Fork in four days (normally, it takes six). Join Middle Fork Wilderness Outfitters (208-720-2823; idahorapids.com) and shove off from Boundary Creek. You’ll float past a 2.1-million-acre preserve, and sleep under the stars and craggy teeth of the Sawtooth Mountains. During downtime, relax in one of the six hot springs along the route. When you make it back to the town of Salmon, find a stool at Bertram’s Brewery and Restaurant (208-756-3391; bertramsbrewery.com) for beer brats and kraut.

Getting there 1½ hours on Horizon Air (alaskaair.com) to Boise, 3-hour drive to Stanley, Idaho

26. Orcas Island Summer Solstice Parade
During the annual Summer Solstice Parade, June 18 (360-376-2273; orcasislandchamber.com), Eastsound Village’s eclectic—dare we say eccentric—nature is on full display. Musicians, performance artists, and citizens clad in outrageous costumes march to Orcas Island Farmers Market (orcasislandfarmersmarket.org), which serves up sumptuous dishes ranging from authentic El Salvadoran specialties to fresh seafood. Drift to sleep at the bucolic Inn at Ship Bay (innatshipbay.com).

Getting there 2½ hours north on I-5 to Anacortes, 1-hour ferry to Orcas

FLIGHT PLAN

Image: Alan Witschonke

22. Golfing in Palm Springs

With pro Travis Haugen

Having called Palm Springs home for a handful of years, Travis Haugen, the assistant golf pro at Mill Creek Country Club, knows a thing or two about golfing in the desert. Stay at the recently remodeled Hotel Zoso (760-325-9676; hotelzoso.com) that emerges from the palm-speckled hills like a mirage, its four-acre property a veritable oasis within walking distance of shops and live entertainment. Haugen recommends The Falls (760-416-8664; thefallsprimesteakhouse.com) for steak and seafood. After refueling with an order of spicy ahi tempura rolls, you’ll be more than ready to hit the desert heat for another 18 holes.

Getting there 3 hours to Palm Springs on Alaska Airlines (alaskaair.com)

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Image: Monashee Adventure Tours

Biking near Kelowna, BC Riders pedal along the Kettle Valley Railway.

July

27. Greenbank Farms Loganberry Festival
If you’ve never experienced the loganberry taste sensation, then make plans to attend Whidbey Island’s Loganberry Festival at Greenbank Farms, July 23 & 24 (greenbankfarm.com). During the two-day celebration, you can sample loganberry wine, truffles, jams, syrups, and candy, or pluck berries straight from the fields. When you’ve had your fill of loganberries, drop into Prima Bistro (primabistro.com) for trout grenobloise and sleep off your food hangover at the Guest House Log Cottages (360-678-3115; guesthouselogcottages.com).

Getting there 1½ hours north on I-5 to Mukilteo, ferry to Whidbey

28. Take a Cowboy Holiday
Anywhere else, and a clanging dinner bell might seem desperate, a little put-on. But at the Covered Wagon Ranch (800-995-4237; coveredwagonranch.com) —a dude ranch in southwest Montana and spitting distance from Yellowstone Park—it works. The cowboy way carries over to the 1920s-era log cabins, heaping egg-and-meat plates at breakfast, and stars that open up in the black sky each night. Before you leave the Big Sky state, drive an extra 20 miles north of Bozeman to sink your teeth into the prime rib at Sir Scott’s Oasis Steakhouse (406-284-6929)—it will guarantee your return if nothing else does.

Getting there 1¾ hours to Bozeman on Horizon Airlines (alaskaair.com), 1¼-hour drive to the ranch

29. A Doggone Good Weekend
Is Fido really your best friend? We’re not convinced—and neither is he—until you’ve treated him to a doggy weekend in Redmond, site of Marymoor Park, the biggest freaking dog playground in the land. He gets to roam 40 acres off-leash and fraternize with other dogs. And what exactly do you get out of the deal? Let poochy cool his heels in your suite at pet-friendly Residence Inn Marriott (425-497-9226; marriott.com) while you take a dip in the pool or paw a few blocks over to the Matador (425-883-2855; matadorseattle.com) to fetch goat cheese–stuffed jalapeños and a margarita or a Corona or four. You’ve earned it.

Getting there 20 minutes east on WA 520

30. Tip Back Pinot in the Willamette Valley
Join Oregon’s oenophiles—and sample more than 250 wines—at the International Pinot Noir Celebration, July 29–31 (ipnc.org) in McMinnville. Soak up all that vino with steak tartare and escargot at Bistro Maison (503-474-1888; bistromaison.com), then roll seven miles down the road to Abbey Road Farm Bed and Breakfast (503-852-6278; abbeyroadfarm.com), which you’ll be sharing with chickens, goats, and jackasses—real ones, not just some guys who drank too much pinot and wandered onto the property.

Getting there 4 hours south on I-5, west on OR 99

31. Bike in the BC High Line
Ed Kruger, owner of Monashee Adventure Tours (888-762-9253; monasheeadventuretours.com), near Kelowna, British Columbia, has biked the Kettle Valley Railway for over 19 years. Pedal an average of 15 to 30 miles a day and “Trailhead Ed” rewards you with wine stops and award-winning restaurants such as Bouchons Bistro (250-763-6595; bouchonsbistro.com), which serves French indulgences like housemade duck pate and pork tenderloin medallions. On the last day, after a train ride through Prairie Valley, you’ll spend your last afternoon in the Sumac Ridge Estate Winery (250-494-0451; sumacridge.com), the oldest operating estate winery in BC, for a few sips or maybe bottle of one of their best sparkling wines.

Getting there 6 hours north on I-5, east on BC 97

August

Image: Rhys Logan

The Omak Stampede Get a little bit country at the most exhilarating rodeo in the state.

32. Fly Like a Kite
Cascade Kiteboarding (541-647-6373; cascadekiteboarding.com) provides instruction along the Columbia River Gorge via a radio-controlled helmet. Instead of watching your instructor yell, scream, and wave his hands at you as you deafly wave back, he can calmly let you know that, in five seconds, you’re going to collide with one of the gorge’s waterfalls. Unzip the wet suit for rest at the Best Western Hood River Inn (800-828-7873; hoodriverinn.com). Then head down to the Cebu Lounge (hoodriverinn.com/cebu.htm) for your choice of 15 appetizers for $4 or less during happy hour.

Getting there 3¾ hours south on I-5, then east on I-84

33. This Brew's for You
The suds do flow in Joseph, in the mountains of eastern Oregon, during the Bronze, Blues and Brews Fest, August 13 (bronzebluesbrews.com). Sample the 50-plus microbrews on tap—perfect for washing down burgers and dancing to national and local blues bands. Sleep it all off and fuel up on omelets in the morning at Bronze Antler Bed and Breakfast (541-432-0230; bronzeantler.com).

Getting there 7 hours east on I-90, east on I-82, east on OR 204, east on OR 82

34. No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of this Travel Suggestion
The last time we advised readers to motor over to Omak in north central Washington for The Omak Stampede, August 11–14 (509-826-1002; omakstampede.org), our inbox filled with animal-rights missives admonishing us for promoting the rodeo’s signature event, the Suicide Race, wherein riders gallop their steeds as fast as they can down a 225-foot cliff and into the Okanogan River. So whatever you do partner, don’t go to the Omak Stampede for a superfun weekend, or sleep at the Omak Inn (509-826-3822; omakinnwa.com). And don’t, for God’s sakes, belly up to the Breadline Café (509-826-5836; breadlinecafe.com) for a beer and a taste of the juiciest 10-ounce steak ever.

Getting there 4 hours east on I-90, north on WA 97

35. Float a Boat and Go Remote
Yeah, we’ve all heard stories about your trip to the San Juan Islands. But we remain unimpressed until you’ve sailed to the San Juan Islands. Commission your own vessel via ABC Yacht Charters (800-426-2313; abcyachtcharters.com) in Anacortes and set a course for remote—like Robinson Crusoe remote—Sucia and Patos islands (parks.wa.gov) or migrate with orcas up Haro Strait, then follow the wind to Friday Harbor to nosh on black cod fillet at Coho Restaurant (360-378-6363; cohorestaurant.com).

Getting there 1½ hours north on I-5 to Anacortes, then however long it takes you and your crew to get your yacht to the islands

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Image: Colleen Lane

Balloons over Yakima Valley The Great Prosser Balloon Rally is the last weekend of September.

September

36. Great Prosser Balloon Rally
Watching two dozen rainbow-colored hot-air balloons soar over the Yakima River at sunrise during the Great Prosser Balloon Rally, September 23–25 (prosserballoonrally.org), is one of the few reasons to get up before dawn. For more than 20 years, balloon pilots have descended on this tiny wine-country town for a three-day festival featuring an arts and crafts fair, a farmers market, and a street painting competition. Join the fun and book a room at Desert Wind Winery (509-786-7277; desertwindwinery.com). Grab a post-balloon-rally lunch at the Taco Truck across from Prosser Airport.

Getting there 3 hours east on I-90, south on I-82

38. Hot Tub Time Machine
Hot Springs Cove, tucked under a canopy of old-growth forest near Tofino, BC, is a magnificent display of cauldrons, all tipping and spilling over into each other like a rock-hewn champagne glass tower, each level dropping in temperature to allow customized soaking. Claim a spot at the Hot Springs Cove Campground (250-670-1106). When you’re hungry, head to local favorite Sobo (250-725-2341; sobo.ca), a perfect mix of laid-back sophistication and just great, homegrown food. Try the smoked wild fish chowder or killer fish tacos.

Getting there 7¼ hours via ferry from Port Townsend to Victoria, north on BC 1

39. Doggiestock in Snoqualmie
Don’t let the name fool you. Doggiestock, September 17 (valleyanimalpartners.com), isn’t for pet lovers only. Even casual friends of Fido will enjoy watching Doggie Olympics events such as peanut-butter licking, tail wagging, and costume contests. The festival, which benefits Valley Animal Partners, also offers dog search-and-rescue demonstrations, obedience trainings, and live bands. Afterward, check-in at Salish Lodge (800-272-5474; salishlodge.com), which welcomes dogs of all sizes and features a canine in-room dining menu.

Image: Adam Harrison

Port Townsend’s Wooden Boat Festival The weekend event features 300 preserved vessels.

Getting there 40 minutes east on I-90

40. Book It to Port Townsend for the Boats
The only thing better looking than the view in Port Townsend—Whidbey and Vancouver islands rise in the distance—are the 300 exquisitely preserved vessels at the Wooden Boat Festival, September 9–11 (woodenboat.org). Sleep like a Victorian shipping magnate at Manresa Castle (360-385-5750; manresacastle.com) but eat like a sailor at Sirens Pub (360-379-1100; sirenspub.com), where the burger is a thing of legend.

Getting there 35-minute ferry to Bainbridge, 1¼ hours north on WA 305 and WA 19

October

41. Leaves of Pass
The best way to enjoy the fall colors is slowly, deliberately, and with the best view possible. The seven-mile Maple Pass Loop is sure to satisfy all of the requirements. The beloved Okanogan National Forest Trail (fs.fed.us/r6/oka) takes all of its year-round natural wonders—waterfall, wildflower meadows—and multiplies them with autumn’s stunning array of vermilions, oranges, and eye-popping yellows. Head back down to Lone Fir Campground for a night next to Early Winters Creek.

Getting there 2½ hours north on I-5 and WA 20

42. Leavenworth Faux Real
The Bavarian-themed burg is always on lists of Washington State destinations because it’s so damn fun—especially during Oktoberfest, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, October 1–16 (leavenworthoktoberfest.com). The town was made for this event, as were München Haus (509-548-1158; munchenhaus.com), where the beer is great but the brats are king, and the Bavarian Ritz (800-854-6465; bavarianritz.com), where you’re the king.

Getting there 2¼ hours east on U.S. 2

43. Ellensburg: Eastern Washington’s Cultural Outpost

43. Ellensburg: Eastern Washington's Cultural Outpost
Catch mainstream and independent movies at the Ellensburg Film Festival October 7–9 (ellensburgfilmfestival.com). Or engage regional artists while they create artwork in public at Paint Ellensburg, September 17, hosted by Gallery One Visual Arts Center (gallery-one.org). Hotels and restaurants book up fast during festival weekends; we recommend reserving a room at the Winery at Red Hawk on the River (509-899-1413) in nearby Thorp and a table at Sazon (509-925-2506; sazonellensburg.com).

Getting there 2 hours east on I-90

44. Shroom Seek in the Olympics
Stalk porcini and chanterelles—the very mushrooms topping plates at the best restos in Seattle—in Olympic National Forest, where Lake Quinault Lodge (866-297-7367; olympicnationalparks.com/accommodations) makes a perfect base of operations. The lodge hosts the Mushroom Festival, October 14–16 (olympicpeninsula.org/event/mushroom-fest). And because finding ’shrooms is no guarantee, stock up on forage-fueling eats at “The Merc,” aka Quinault Mercantile (360-288-2620).

Getting there 3 hours south on I-5, west on WA 8, north on U.S. 101

FLIGHT PLAN

37. Napa Wine Weekend

With pro oenophile Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott, a former Napa wine rep and current Seattle oenophile, travels to California’s grape playground every few months and knows exactly what makes a visit unforgettable. Scott suggests booking a room at Avia Napa (707-224-3900;aviahotels.com) in downtown Napa. For restaurants, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen (707-963-1200; cindysbackstreetkitchen.com) in St. Helena, where roasted artichokes with tarragon-basil dipping sauce will make you weak in the knees. Stay upright, though, because it’s hard to experience Napa’s wineries from the floor. Scott raves about Conn Creek Winery (707-963-9100; conncreek.com) and its “amazing” wine-blending experience.

Getting there 2 hours to Santa Rosa on Alaska Airlines (alaskaair.com), 1-hour drive to Napa

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November

45. Break the Rules in Victoria
Sure, the kaleidoscopic petal show explodes in spring at Butchart Gardens (250-652-4422; butchartgardens.com). For our money, though, we’ll take Victoria in fall, when the pastels give way to mood-altering earth tones. And we don’t drive there either. We brave the Strait of Juan de Fuca aboard the Victoria Clipper (206-448-5000; clippervacations.com). But we don’t buck the system too hard—meaning we still stay at the Fairmont Empress (250-384-8111; fairmont.com/empress), where, heck, we even take our hat off during tea time.

Getting there 2¾ hours via passenger ferry

46. Smack-Talk Beavers Over Beer Before the Ball Game
The UW’s rivalry with Oregon State is nowhere near as rabid as it is with the University of Oregon or
( shudder ) Washington State. But you wouldn’t exactly call Husky-Beaver relations cozy. All the more reason to purple up the sea of orange in Corvallis come Game Day, November 19 (gohuskies.com/tickets). Before hitting the stadium lot for tailgating, swing by Old World Deli (541-752-8549) and pick up their “Famous Corvallis Sack Lunch,” which includes an enormous takes-two-people-to-eat-it sandwich with your choice of meat, a brownie, chips, an apple, and a soda. Postgame, celebrate—or nurse your sorrows—over pints and pie at American Dream Pizza (541-757-1713; adpizza.com) and slumber at The Harrison House Bed and Breakfast (541-752-6248; corvallis-lodging.com), where—fair warning—there’s probably a Beaver fan or two.

Getting there 4½ hours south on I-5

47. Bag Your Own Thanksgiving Dinner
Cut out the middleman with a two-day, guided wild-turkey hunt at Miller Ranch (509-370-5535; millerranch.com) in Cheney, 30 minutes outside of Spokane, where you’ll stalk your prey through the swamps, scablands, and pine forests of this 1,000-acre reserve, and learn the nuances between a wingbone and a tube call. Rent a cabin on the property, but expect to make your own meal (depending on how the day goes, it could be a fresh one). While you don’t need a license on the preserve, don’t forget your hunter orange stocking cap—it could save your head.

Getting there 4 hours, 20 minutes east on I-90

48. Kick-Start Christmas
Dayton, in southeastern Washington, comes to life during Christmas Kick-Off, November 25 & 26 (historicdayton.com), with carolers, mule-drawn hayrides, and shops pouring hot cider. The Weinhard Hotel (509-382-4032; weinhard.com) offers a front-row seat to the festivities. Across the street, Weinhard Café (509-382-1681; weinhard-cafe.com) serves up hearty American dishes made with seasonal, local ingredients.

Getting there 5 hours east on I-90, I-82, and U.S. 12

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Image: Lloyd K. Barnes Photography

Toast the end of 2011 with Canadians Massive Gala 2012 in Vancouver, BC, will be the biggest New Year’s Eve bash in the land.

December

49. Start Winter in the Valley of the Sun
Sun Valley (208-622-4111; sunvalley.com) outside Ketchum, Idaho, fits Seattleites like a glove—skiing, snowshoeing, and we-know-they’re-there-but-we’re-keeping-our-cool stargazing. (Both Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis call Sun Valley their second home.) Check in at Aston Hotel and Resort (800-635-4444; astonsunvalley.com) and strap on your skis or board atop either Dollar Mountain (great for beginners) or Baldy Mountain (it’s a doozy). At night throw back a few and devour a rib eye at Pioneer Saloon (208-726-3139; pioneersaloon.com).

Getting there 1 hour, 40 minutes to Sun Valley on Horizon Airlines (alaskaair.com)

50. Holiday Shopping in the Emerald City
The Hyatt at Olive 8 (206-695-1234; olive8.hyatt.com), on Eigth Ave, is just steps away from Pacific Place (206-405-2655; pacificplaceseattle.com) —home to Tiffany’s and, just opened in November 2010, Michael Kors. It’s also within loot-carrying distance of a number of unique, locally owned boutiques, including plush-toy palace Schmancy (206-728-8008; schmancytoys.com). Rest your weary holiday-shopping dogs while you stuff your face with tapas like albacore tuna at Bisato (206-443-3301; bisato.com).

51. Not Home for the Holidays
Dreaming of a white Christmas? Don’t count on it in typically snow-free Seattle. Instead, put on the chains and motor up Evergreen Highway to Skamania Lodge (509-427-7700; skamania.com) for the holiday weekend. As of press time, there are still suites yet to be booked for Christmas 2011, but hurry—availability won’t last. Come brunch time, head to the lodge’s Cascade Room for the annual Christmas buffet, where you can scarf Rockport shrimp and Dungeness crab like Santa with a plate of cookies.

Getting there 3½ hours south on I-5

52. Ring in 2012 in Vancouber, BC
Kiss 2011 goodbye in style with a room at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (604-684-3131; fairmont.com) before it sells out. The good news is that after that the script for the ultimate 31st is already written. Visit Vij’s (604-736-6664; vijs.ca), two miles from downtown and just off Granville Street. Fill up on samosas and grilled salmon in coconut and green onion curry, then cab it back downtown for Massive Gala 2012, featuring live music, lots of bubbly, and several thousand Canadians counting down the seconds left in the greatest year of weekends you’ve ever had.

Getting there 2 hours, 40 minutes north on I-5, plus wait time at the border

Small Town, Washington

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau

Toppenish, in the Yakima Valley, is home to 73 murals—a new one commissioned every year—depicting regional history and culture.

I CREDIT THE PIG. It was that swine corralled in the livestock barn at the Klickitat County Fair that finally pushed Seattle from my mind. There I was dodging piles of manure and chubby 4-H kids and wondering if I’d ever get at the heart of Washington’s small towns, when I heard it. A snort. I turned. The pig looked up at me and, swear to god, locked eyes and refused to look away.

I had been comparing everything I saw on my tour of small towns—sidewalks, restaurants, coffee stands—to their equivalents in Seattle. But I could think of no Emerald City counterpart to this cloven-hoofed oinker. A few of the 4-H-ers noticed me photograph the animal with my cellphone and stomped across the barn in their cowboy boots for a better look. They giggled at the peculiar piggy staring down the man in a Banana Republic button-down and Adidas newly covered in cow shit.

I was going to like Goldendale.

The 3,760-person burg in the south-central part of the state was one of three Washington small towns I set out to explore. The others were Toppenish, on the edge of the Yakama Indian Reservation, and Tieton, a moribund farming community resuscitated by a handful of Seattle artists.

I credit the pig. But I suppose I should really credit Stephen Stout, Star Man of Goldendale, for showing me how to get my small town on. “Want to really see some local color?” he had asked at the astronomical observatory he’s manned for the past three decades. “Come to the opening night barbecue at the county fair.”

Image: Ed Marquand

Tieton is enjoying a revival, thanks to cooperation among farmers, ranchers, and Seattle artisans.

And so I followed Stout and his Jeep Cherokee down the mountain from the Goldendale Observatory and into town and to the fair grounds, where, before encountering Stare Pig, I heaped my plate with barbecued buffalo, tomato-and-cucumber salad, a baked potato, and a monster cob of sweet corn. Everything on my fork had been grown in Klickitat County, Stout explained, including the peaches in the cobbler we scarfed down while a fiddle and banjo duet serenaded the sun as it sunk to the horizon.

Soon it would be dark enough to climb back up the mountain and take in the night sky at the observatory, where I would learn the most important small-town lesson of all.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines 189 communities in Washington as “smaller cities, towns, and villages”—those with populations ranging from 1,000 to 6,000. Many have strange names like Chewelah and Lochsloy, so foreign to Seattleites they might as well be obscure outposts in the Canadian Yukon. The small towners vote differently than urbanites: Last November, those living in rural Washington, roughly 85 percent of the state’s territory, overwhelmingly voted “no” on marriage equality Referendum 71, which nonetheless passed due to a crush of support in Seattle. And rural Washingtonians earn significantly less than city dwellers; of the 39 counties in the state, King County is one of only six—all in relatively urban and suburban Western Washington—where the poverty level is below 10 percent, according to a 2008 study by the United States Department of Agriculture.

The contrast is even starker once you set foot in, say, Toppenish, as I did on a scorching 90-degree August day. Weighing in at slightly larger than what the Census Bureau defines as a small town, 9,000-person Toppenish is known, at least statewide, as Mural City USA, thanks to 73 paintings that depict the region’s history (Yakama Indians) and its economic (farming) and recreational (polo) proclivities.

But Mural City was eerily quiet—unless you count the country music wailing constantly from a loudspeaker outside City Hall and ricocheting off downtown’s brick buildings. The Yakama Nation Cultural Center, in the Indian reservation on the outskirts of town, was even quieter. The center’s museum dedicated to the history of local Native Americans, however, impressed. The first dioramas in my path—taxidermic bears and buffalo and costumed mannequins depicting various tribes—didn’t do much for me. But after a few displays, the museum got interesting. The large font on the walls announced, in no uncertain terms, that the U.S. government had lied to the Native Americans and duped them out of land. The unapologetic language left no doubt about the exhibit’s thesis: Never forget what happened to us.

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Image: Rebecca Latson

Goldendale, in south central Washington, is known for horse ranches, stargazing, and wind turbines.

In one of the last displays, a 1927 photo, two tribal elders, Chief Frank Seelatse and Chief Jimmy Noah Saluskin, scowled at the camera while standing in front of the U.S. Capitol. They looked like they wouldn’t be forgetting anything too soon.

Before leaving the cultural center, I stopped for a sandwich and coffee in the cafeteria, where I chatted with the waitress. “Who’s the most interesting person in town?” I asked. No one in Toppenish is more interesting than anyone else, she said. “They’re all interesting. And they all aren’t.”

Back in town, I was the only visitor at the Chamber of Commerce, where the sixtysomething woman behind the front desk, one of the few Caucasians I encountered in Toppenish, gabbed on the phone. Three minutes and 24 seconds expired—after I started counting—before she acknowledged me. Not that I wanted her to cut the call short. The gossip, a detailed thrashing of some local wretch, was juicy. “I went in and there were hot dogs and everything else all over the place,” she groaned. "She knows we’re having a reception in there.”

Finally she hung up and greeted me. I’m interested in hearing about the murals, I said. She pulled out a map and pointed. The newest mural, number 73, which depicts the fruit harvest, is a must-see, I learned. “It’s on Washington, between Elm and Alder.” She pronounced it “ Warsh ington.”

Image: Karen Gaudette

Ruth Babcock and her partner—both former Seattle software workers—traded city life for a 21-acre goat farm and creamery in Tieton.

I made my way to the center of town and, overheated, sat in front of City Hall. Alabama’s “Mountain Music” blared from the speaker and echoed around the block. Every once in a while the little city would come alive, as if someone had dropped a quarter in the slot of some unseen mechanism to animate the streets: Big-wheeled pickup trucks rumbled across the intersection and pedestrians darted in and out of the post office.

A cowboy-booted Native American in his late 50s, with dark braids spilling from the sides of a straw cowboy hat, walked bow-legged out of Gibbons Soda Fountain. He carried an ice cream cone. Ten minutes later I too walked out of Gibbons, rocky road in hand.

One thing rural Washington certainly has over Seattle: relaxed farming regulations. Sure, new ordinances allow city dwellers to raise chickens and goats, but Lori and Ruth Babcock tried that. The couple—both former employees of a small Seattle software company—lived in Columbia City and had kept chickens for years. In 2003 they graduated to raising goats—in Bellevue. The neighbors complained and county inspectors always seemed to find something wrong with the arrangement; either the chickens clucked too loudly or there were one too many goats.

Lori, 51, and Ruth, 52, heard murmurs about a farming community two and a half hours from Seattle and 15 miles northwest of Yakima. Tieton, once a flourishing agricultural city, had nearly closed up in 2005, before a group of Seattle-based artists and artisans, known collectively as Mighty Tieton, began buying up real estate and opening businesses.

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Image: Ed Marquand

Intent on creating a cheese company, Lori and Ruth bought a 21-acre spread overlooking the valley. (It reminded Ruth of her childhood farm in Wenatchee.) A year later, Tieton Farm and Creamery keeps dozens of goats, turkeys, chickens, and ducks, plus three cows and nine pigs. Ruth milks the grass-fed goats. Lori processes the milk in the creamery, the only permanent structure on the farm. The result: chevre, feta, and halloumi—cheeses so delicious that Lark on Capitol Hill serves them to discerning diners and PCC Markets stocks it at all locations.

“The Goat Goddesses.” That’s Ed Marquand’s term for the Babcocks. A Seattle book publisher and the force behind Tieton’s revival, Marquand originally came across the town while on a solo bike ride. He rolled over tiny thistles known as “goatheads” and punctured his tires, a mishap that forced him to pause long enough to see the potential in the town’s empty storefronts. Five years later Tieton, population 1,195, is still a sleepy village, just one town square comprised of Mexican restaurants, a diner, and Mighty Tieton’s enterprises—a bookstore, printing press, and art gallery. Marquand and his partner, Seattle lawyer Michael Longyear, converted an apple-distribution warehouse into a condo complex and another warehouse into artist studios, one of which they rent to Seattle sound-sculptor Trimpin.

The Babcocks have big plans, too. The goatherds recently put their three-bedroom Columbia City home on the market and plan to break ground for a bed-and-breakfast right on the farm. But for now life revolves around the cheese—and what to feed the goats. “Most people spend their time talking about the plots of TV shows,” Lori said. “Ruth and I talk all day long about the ways to grow the best grass.”

Stephen Stout also fled the city for small-town life. But it was stars, not livestock, that drew him in. Stout, a physicist, lived in the Seattle suburb of Mountlake Terrace in the 1970s and worked for an electronics company that manufactured boating equipment. On weekends he drove the three and a half hours to Goldendale to lose himself in the galaxy. He felt at home staring into the eyepiece of the 24.5-inch telescope, constructed in the mid-1960s by four amateur astronomers from Vancouver, Washington, who donated it to Goldendale.

In late 1980 the telescope builders called Stout. They needed a manager at the observatory. Weeks later, after the interview, Stout fidgeted in the observatory hallway, awaiting the verdict. Finally, one of the men, a Dutchman with a strong accent, poked his head out of the meeting room and said, “Mr. Stout, come in and be happy.” The date: January 20, 1981—the day the U.S. hostages were released from Iran, Stout likes to point out—the day he escaped city life forever.

Thirty years on, Stout, 63, serves as the observatory’s only full-time employee and the state park system’s only paid stargazer.

It’s easy to see why he never left Goldendale. Sure, Main Street is a lonely stretch of blacktop flanked by a scattering of restaurants, bars, and shops. But, as I found at the county fair, the people welcome strangers. Deer pick through the overgrowth on the edge of town. Wind turbines dot the horizon, capturing one of Goldendale’s greatest resources. The constant breeze is one of two things Stout will admit to not liking about his adopted home. The other: light pollution. The observatory sits only a mile and a half from town and the lights negatively impact star visibility. “Unless there’s a power outage!” Stout exclaims. Then, crestfallen, “But Goldendale’s public utilities department is very quick and efficient.”

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Image: RogerMullis / www.RogerMullis.com

The Goldendale Observatory State Park, manned by Seattle expat Stephen Stout since 1981, wows stargazers from all over the state.

After I’d had my fill of the county fair, I corkscrewed back up the mountain, where the observatory dome rose above a copse of gnarled pine trees. I counted nine cars in the parking lot and creaked open the observatory door.

Stout greeted me just as his aide, Noble, a temporary summer employee, led 25 people out of the small theater. (I had seen Noble’s presentation earlier in the day—a witty script Stout wrote about the history of the facility and which includes a self-deprecating disquisition about how long Stout’s held the job of observatory keeper.)

Small Towns

GOLDENDALE
Population 3,760
Drive time 3 hours, 30 minutes
Sleep The Celilo Inn, 3550 E Second St, The Dalles, 541-769-0001; celiloinn.com
Eat The Glass Onion, 604 S Columbus Ave, Goldendale, 509-773-4928;theglassonionrestaurant.com

TIETON
Population 1,195
Drive time 2 hours, 30 minutes
Sleep Rosedell Bed and Breakfast, 1811 W Yakima Ave, Yakima, 509-961-2964;rosedellbb.com
Eat Vickie’s Tieton Café, 802 Wisconsin Ave, Tieton, 509-673-2881

TOPPENISH
Population 9,080
Drive time 2 hours, 30 minutes
Sleep Cherry Wood Bed Breakfast and Barn, 3271 Roza Dr, Zillah, 509-829-3500;cherrywoodbbandb.com
Eat Gibbons Soda Fountain, 113 S Toppenish Ave, Toppenish, 509-865-4688

In the round observation room, the telescope, big as a VW bug, poked out of the dome and toward the sky. Kids, parents, grandparents, teenagers on dates, middle-agers on dates—we all formed a line around the scope and one by one mounted a set of stairs to look through the eyepiece at the moon.

After the Sun, Jupiter ranks as the largest body in the solar system, Stout explained. Its gravitational pull is so strong that it has rescued life on Earth by diverting asteroids and comets headed our way. “Just about everything ends up on Jupiter—the solar system’s vacuum cleaner.” The crowd laughed.

“Let’s look at it,” he said. Noble adjusted the scope. We would be treated to a glimpse of the big planet along with four of its 63 known moons. I watched my fellow stargazers scale the steps and look. Their faces went slack in awe. The visitors had pilgrimed from all over the state, mostly from other small towns—Monroe, Mount Vernon, Cle Elum. They vote differently than Seattleites, yes. It didn’t matter. Not at the moment.

It was my turn. I climbed up to the telescope. Jupiter. A dime-size circle surrounded by four brilliant points of light, the moons—three on one side, one on the other.

Outside the observatory, at the bottom of the hill, Goldendale celebrated its biggest weekend of the year—visitors from around the county, rodeo queens, prize pigs. Fifty miles north lay Toppenish, with its murals and its hushed streets and Native Americans never forgetting. Farther north, in Tieton, the bleating of goats grew silent as two women dreamed of building a bed-and-breakfast. And much farther: big bright Seattle.

I stood at the telescope longer than I should have. It was greedy, I know. The people behind me fidgeted impatiently. In a few seconds I would descend the stairs, search my pockets in the dark parking lot for the keys, and point my car north. But for now I stared at those five celestial bodies. Especially the big one.

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WINTHROP

Population: 440

Image: cascadeloop.com

Wood-plank sidewalks, weatherworn buildings, false storefronts—if you didn’t know better you’d mistake Winthrop, in the Methow Valley, for an exquisitely preserved Old West outpost. But hold your horses, pardner, nearly all was erected within the past four decades, an attempt by city leaders in the early 1970s to—like Bavarian-themed Leavenworth a hundred miles to the south—attract tourists and rescue the erstwhile logging town from ruin. Not everything is faux Wild West, though. While we suspect the swinging doors inside Three Fingered Jack’s Saloon were added to make city slickers feel like Wyatt Earp, the bar happens to be the oldest legal saloon in the state. The staff serves up heaping helpings of jalapeño poppers (“Cowboy Breath Mints”) and meatloaf. Also, it makes us feel like Wyatt Earp.

Drive time 4 hours Sleep Sun Mountain Lodge, 604 Patterson Lake Rd, Winthrop, 800-572-0493; sunmountainlodge.com Eat Twisp River Pub, 201 N Methow Valley Hwy, Twisp, 888-220-3360; twispriverpub.com

Image: Stefanie Myr

FORKS

Population: 3,175

You know the story by now. Woman writes vampire novel set in ubercloudy Forks, the book sells a bazillion copies, and, fast as a teenage werewolf de-shirts, the town gets famous. But what really makes this burg worth the trip is just how much it has embraced the Twilight lore. The Chamber of Commerce slakes tourists’ Twilight trilogy thirst with maps indicating where events in the books occur. Restaurant menus feature Stephenie Meyer–inspired fare (“Werewolf Burger”). And the hospital reserves a parking space for one of the fictional characters. But even if you don’t know your Team Edward from your A Team, Forks makes the perfect hub from which to launch recreational reconnaissance into the Olympic rain forest.

Drive time 3 hours, 30 minutes Sleep Miller Tree Inn Bed and Breakfast, 654 E Division St, 360-374-6806; millertreeinn.com Eat Pacific Pizza, 870 S Forks Ave, 360-374-2626

PATEROS

Population: 620

So named when a Spanish-American War veteran bought a chunk of real estate on the banks of the Columbia River in 1900 and christened it after his favorite city in the Philippines, Pateros is a haven for jet skiers who zigzag the lake. But you don’t have to be a Sea-Doo pilot to enjoy this lush spot on the otherwise sun-baked plains of Central Washington. It helps, however, if you have a sweet tooth. A top attraction is Sweet River Bakery—ironically, in a former dentist’s office—which, in addition to warm breads made from local ingredients, traffics in tooth-enamel-fighting biscotti. And Pateros hosts the annual Apple Pie Jamboree (the third weekend of July) with a parade around the town’s tiny blocks and a celebration of (what else?) apple pie. What could be more small-town America than that?

Drive time 3 hours, 30 minutes Sleep Lake Pateros Motor Inn, 115 S Lakeshore Dr, Pateros, 509-923-2203; lakepaterosmotorinn.com Eat Sweet River Bakery, 203 Pateros Mall, Pateros, 509-923-2151; sweetriverbakery.com

ROSLYN

Population: 1,020

In Roslyn, you can have it both ways. The former coal-mining village in the Cascades—so frontier-looking that it doubled as fictional Cicely, Alaska, on the 1990s TV show Northern Exposure —claims small-town status in all the right ways: century-old buildings still in use, early-model pickup trucks, and no-nonsense locals who like to tie one on at the Brick, the longest continuously open tavern in the state. Unlike in so many bucolic burgs, however, you can take all that in and enjoy luxurious accommodations, thanks to Suncadia Resort, two miles away. Rest your dogs in a suite that rivals the Four Seasons, tuck into a steak at Swiftwater Cellars, or putt around on one of three golf courses, and you’ll forget that you’re in a city with a population barely larger than a Starbucks line. Then roll back to “Cicely” and get rural. Moose moseying down Main Street not guaranteed. But possible.

Drive time 1 hour, 30 minutes Sleep Suncadia Resort, 3600 Suncadia Trail, Cle Elum, 509-649-6400; suncadiaresort.com Eat The Brick, 100 W Pennsylvania Ave, Roslyn, 509-649-2643

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COUPEVILLE

Population: 1,888

Image: whidbeypanoramas.com

This Victorian-era port village on Whidbey Island is frozen in time—by order of Congress. Part of the Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, the hamlet comprises more than 50 preserved buildings. Pad along the creaky wooden sidewalks and study the oldest house in town—indeed, one of the oldest houses in the state—the home of Captain Thomas Coupe, built in 1854. Or spy the Sedge Building, 1871, whose owner, a mortician, is rumored to have found the grim reaper’s visits to the island so infrequent that he tossed his embalming gear and opened a furniture shop instead. Too bad for the undertaker that the Oystercatcher restaurant’s chocolate and caramel gateau (so delicious you’ll want thirds!) had yet to hit the isle. But before flirting with death by cake, be sure to gobble some Penn Cove mussels, the restaurant’s specialty, and the bounty upon which Coupeville’s early fortunes—and all those awesomely preserved buildings—were built.

Drive time 1 hour, 30 minutes Sleep Compass Rose Bed and Breakfast, 508 S Main St, 360-678-5318; compassrosebandb.com Eat The Oystercatcher, 901 Grace St NW, 360-678-0683; oystercatcherwhidbey.com

SNOQUALMIE

Population: 9,851

Snoqualmie Falls, the 268-foot waterfall so stunning it practically brings highway traffic to a halt, may be the money shot, but the real payoff in this onetime sawmill town resides on Railroad Avenue, a mile away. That’s where you’ll find Isadora’s Cafe—a local crafts purveyor, cafe, and gossip hub all rolled into one. Across the street sits the former train depot (built in 1890) turned train treasury, the Northwest Railway Museum. The steam engines on display are fun to look at, but for the whole Casey Jones experience opt for the museum’s four-mile rail ride to the town of North Bend and back. The view out the train window will look familiar. David Lynch filmed his creepy Twin Peaks TV series in the area, which included, of course, that cascading money shot.

Drive time 30 minutes Sleep Salish Lodge, 6501 Railroad Ave SE, 425-888-2556; salishlodge.com Eat Woodman Lodge Steakhouse and Saloon, 38601 SE King St, 425-888-4441; woodmanlodge.com

WAITSBURG

Image: Lynn Suckow

Population: 1,254

Waitsburg looks like the set of a 1950s movie about rural life—red barns, lush barley fields, farmers in overalls steering John Deeres along Highway 12. But the village 20 miles north of Walla Walla is no act. Wheat still reigns in this community, as it has for the past century. It’s just that out-of-towners—particularly of the foodie persuasion—have tweaked the small-town script. Five years ago a trio of Seattle restaurateurs opened the Cajun-inspired Whoopemup Hollow Café. Across the street another Seattle expat set up a high-end cocktail bar, Jimgermanbar. Vintners followed with tasting rooms. The blend of agrarian culture and fine dining has attracted second-home buyers from the city—and hotels and art galleries are on the way—yet Waitsburg, for now, has dodged the dreaded G-word. It’s not gentrified when tractors still roll down the main street.

Drive time 4 hours Sleep Nothing New Lodging, 214 Main St, 509-337-6393; nothingnewlodging.net Eat Whoopemup Hollow Café, 120 Main St, 509-337-9000; whoopemuphollowcafe.com

10 Top Winery Visits

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Kevin Cruff

Take in a Show at the Chateau

Chateau Ste Michelle, Woodinville
Like a Disneyish pentagon, the sprawling mansion at Chateau Ste Michelle serves as an imposing architectural reminder that this is Washington’s largest and most powerful winery. In summertime the chateau’s perfectly pruned lawns are dotted with picnickers, who come to take in concerts by Lyle Lovett, Elvis Costello, or Crosby, Stills and Nash as they sip on CSM bottles sold on the premises.

Harry Connick Jr wraps up the 2010 series on September 26 but if you can’t secure tickets, you can still enjoy a plein aire repast at the enchanted castle. Just show up any day between 10am and 6pm, snag a bottle and some snacks at the shop inside, spread out your blanket, and enjoy. 14111 NE 145th St, Woodinville; 425-415-3300; ste-michelle.com

WHEN TO GO The summer concert series runs from June to September.

WHILE YOU’RE THERE Woodinville’s oldest winery has a lot of new neighbors; winemakers from across the state  are setting up tasting rooms there. Just up the road in the Schoolhouse District, check out new pour spots from Alexandria Nicole, Mark Ryan, and Dusted Valley, among others.

Get to Know Homegrown Merlot

Image: Kevin Cruff

Northstar Winery, Walla Walla
In 1994, Ste Michelle Wine Estates-owned Northstar Winery set out to show that the world’s best merlot—a black grape traditional to France’s Bordeaux region—could be grown and blended in Washington state. Consider that point proven: In a blind tasting at the Food Network’s 2009 South Beach Wine and Food Festival, Northstar’s 2005 Walla Walla Merlot defeated five wines from France’s famed Right Bank region, securing our place in the merlot-making hall of fame.

A short drive from the Washington-Oregon border, Northstar Winery is perched on a large patch of lawn surrounded by 14 acres of vineyard and backdropped by the shadow-scarred Blue Mountains. Inside the tasting room, stacked stone and wood accents create a contemporary country-lodge atmosphere, and the tasting bar serves up wine flights and picnic platters featuring Mediterranean bites. If you have any merlot doubters in your midst order up the Northstar Experience flight, comprised of recent vintages and blending wines. They’ll convert before your eyes. 1736 JB George Rd, Walla Walla, 866-486-7828; northstarwinery.com

BE SURE TO SIP Don’t miss the 2006 Walla Walla Merlot, number 33 on our Top 100 list.

WHEN TO GO The tasting room pours from 10am to 4pm Monday through Saturday, and 11am to 4pm on Sunday.

Escape to the Gorge

Cave B Estate Winery, Quincy
The last Dave Matthews Band CD you bought may predate iTunes, but the group still sells out a set of shows every summer at the Gorge Amphitheater in Quincy, Washington. And every summer the DMB entourage buys out Cave B—110 acres of vineyard surrounding a Tom Kundig -designed inn, its sloping half-moon roof mimicked in a smattering of private guest houses perched on the edge of a 900-foot basalt cliff overlooking the Columbia River Gorge.

You can see why they like it. It’s just a few hours from Seattle, but the sun shines 300 days a year in Quincy, and all there is to do at Cave B is have fun. When not kayaking the river, mountain biking, or hiking through the sage, guests bring a bottle down to the cliffside swimming pool; slip into the spa for a hot stone massage; or stroll up to the airy tasting room to drink through winemaker Freddy Arredondo’s reds and whites. (Arredondo is son-in-law to owners Vince and Carol Bryan but sometimes nepotism pays off—Cave B’s wines have never been better.)

There’s more wine during dinner at Tendrils restaurant where chef Joe Ritchie serves up delicate nests of homemade pasta topped with seared scallop, pork loin braised in cider, and citrusy salads anchored by greens grown in the onsite chef’s garden. 348 Silica Rd NW, Quincy, 509-785-3500; sagecliffe.com

WHEN TO GO Daytrippers should check the website for tasting room hours, which change with the season. When planning an overnight getaway, do like Dave Matthews and book well in advance.

WHILE YOU’RE THERE Consider “roughing it” in one of Cave B’s brand-new luxury yurts—complete with WiFi and iPod docking station.

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Image: Col Solare

Taste the Terroir on Red Mountain

Col Solare, Benton City
More than 10,000 years ago the Missoula Floods swept through the rocky landscape of Red Mountain, leaving behind nutrient-rich top-soil deposits and forging gently rolling slopes that tend to be warmer and receive more sunlight than other parts of the Columbia Valley. Italy’s famed winemaker Piero Antinori was so impressed with the unique terroir, he joined forces with Ste Michelle Wine Estates to create Col Solare, Italian for “shining hill.”

“We’re focused on creating wines with concentrated flavors, aromatics, and supple tannins,” says resident winemaker Marcus Notaro. “In Italy, that’s achieved by not overmanipulating the grapes. That’s an approach we’ve adopted.”

Through the end of September Col Solare is hosting Saturday Sole, where, sans appointment, you can sip recent and cellared “library” vintages by the glass or flight. After that tastings are arranged by appointment only, but it’s worth planning ahead to sample these gorgeous wines while watching the sun slip behind the horizon. 50207 Antinori Rd, Benton City, 509-588-6806; colsolare.com

BE SURE TO SIP The Wine Advocate consistently bestows an impressive 90 points upon the cabernet sauvignon.

WHEN TO GO Through September, stop by the winery on Saturdays from noon to 9pm.

Sip Through Storytime

Image: Matthew Collins

Portteus Vineyards and Winery, Zillah
Belly up to the bar at Portteus, in the dense vineyards of Rattlesnake Hills, and owner Paul Portteus will ply you with samples of his acclaimed wines while he explains, not for the first time, why he snubbed California to set up shop in Yakima Valley.

The year was 1978 and Portteus had just sold his small Puget Sound music store chain Penny Lane Records. Already an amateur winemaker, he headed off to Napa to scout vineyard land. But the buzz about Washington’s budding wine industry drew him to Yakima instead. He ended up planting eight acres of wine grapes in 1981, a few years before the state’s first wine appellation received federal recognition, and Portteus Winery became Washington’s fourteenth vino maker. Red-wine lovers have been making the long and dusty drive ever since. 5201 Highland Drive, Zillah, 509-829-6970; portteus.com

BE SURE TO SIP The 2006 Old Vine cabernet sauvignon, produced from Portteus’s oldest vineyard block, recently won top honors in both the Seattle Wine Awards and Northwest Wine Summit.

WHILE YOU’RE THERE Don’t miss quirky Paradisos del Sol winery, or its giant wall of recycled wine bottles, just up the road on Highland Drive.

Slow Down in Walla Walla

Abeja Winery, Walla Walla
The scene outside the window of your room at the Inn at Abeja Winery plays like a shot from a Terrence Malick film. Wheat whips the air. The sky goes golden in the abating sunlight. A deer picks its way through the gardens as a bird lights on a grape vine. You reach for the field guide and binoculars, provided by the inn. You identify the feathered wayfarer—a yellow-breasted chat, say—then telescope your gaze out across the winery’s 35 acres. Fully-restored, century-old buildings—barn, carriage house, chicken coop—wed agrarian romance with twenty-first-century wine tourism.

Converted from an old wheat and dairy farm and opened in 2000, Abeja (Spanish for “bee”) is an eight-minute drive from Walla Walla. To visit the winery, you have to sign up as an overnight guest of the inn; the staff will greet you with a glass of cabernet sauvignon upon check-in. Your room may be the chicken coop—fully redesigned and refurbished, of course, with a wide-screen TV, WiFi, and a plush queen-size bed—or the bunk house, where, decades ago, farm hands slept off the harvest’s assault on their muscles.

Breakfast is in the former dairy barn, where the servers orbit the guests—up to 14 at a time—with plates of eggs. It’s also the site of the wine tastings, open to inn guests only. There Molly Galt (her title is marketing and public relations but she seems to do a little of everything) will ask you about you. How else will she know whether to pour the 2007 syrah or the 2008 voignier? “It’s not the kind of tasting room where you pop in and try some wine,” Galt says. “There’s so much you can talk about based on guests’ interests.”

So talk. Listen. Taste. 2014 Mill Creek Rd, Walla Walla, 509-522-1234; abeja.net

BE SURE TO SIP Abeja’s viognier has the acid to help it hold up against all kinds of food, making it a great pairing wine.

WHEN TO GO November 5 and 6 is the Abeja Autumn Celebration, a party to celebrate the release of its renowned cabernet sauvignon. Mailing-list members and guests of the inn are invited.

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Image: Benjamin Benschneider

Expose Yourself in Woodinville

Novelty Hill-Januik Winery, Woodinville
Woodsy Woodinville reveals its modern side at the gray cube of concrete fabulousness that is the Novelty Hill-Januik building.

The two wineries operate independently from each other but share a winemaker—Mike Januik—along with the facility. On weekends, Microsoftee crowds flock to the 360-degree bar, where $5 buys them a choice of four pours from 10 varietals available for tasting. Four flatbread pizzas are available for Saturday and Sunday lunch; they all pair excellently with Novelty Hill’s fruity 2007 Stillwater Creek sangiovese. 14710 Woodinville-Redmond Rd NE, Woodinville, 425-481-5502; noveltyhilljanuik.com

BE SURE TO SIP We love Mike Januik’s way with the white wines, especially his 2007 Stillwater Creek roussanne and chardonnay.

WHILE YOU’RE THERE Consider opting in  to Cellar Circle (there are three membership tiers) to gain access to limited releases, waived tasting fees, and invitation-only parties and events.

Live the Dream in Lake Chelan

Nefarious Cellars, Lake Chelan
If you’ve ever daydreamed your way out of a staff meeting and into a sun-drenched afternoon in wine country, the image in your head probably looked a lot like Nefarious Cellars. Topping a vine-bedecked hill overlooking sparkling Lake Chelan, the tasting room buzzes with hotspot energy but is unadorned with the tourist-trap bric-a-brac you’ll find at neighboring wineries—lest homemade jam and souvenir stemware distract from the wine itself.

Of course, no picture-perfect winery experience is complete without a backstory: Nefarious is run by a cute young couple—she (Heather Neff) is in charge of white wines, he (Dean Neff) makes the reds—who returned to their native Chelan after learning the way of the vine in Oregon. When you go, start by tasting Heather’s whites—her off-dry riesling (made with fruit from the Stone’s Throw Vineyard) her crisp, drinkable viognier. Then move on to Dean’s reds—an estate-grown syrah, a tasty cab made with fruit from Riverbend Vineyard in the Wahluke Slope. Before you leave, wander out to the deck to take in the lake and offer up a pet or two to Lucy, the golden retriever who greets guests sweetly as they enter and leave this little plot of paradise. 495 South Lakeshore Rd, Chelan, 509-682-9505; nefariouscellars.com

WHEN TO GO Visit the tasting room from April through October, hours vary depending on the season.

WHILE YOU’RE THERE If you’re looking for lunch, head to the opposite shore of Lake Chelan. The bistro at Vin du Lac winery has panini, pureed soups, and salads, plus more jaw-dropping views of the water.

FIND IT

Go Green in the Tri-Cities

Badger Mountain Vineyard and Powers Winery, Kennewick
Badger Mountain Vineyard, the first certified organic vineyard in Washington State, sits behind a quiet subdivision populated with identical houses. But its origins are anything but cookie-cutter.

Back in 1982, Bill Powers, an Oklahoma cattle rancher who moved to the Tri-Cities area in 1957, saw the potential in Washington’s burgeoning wine industry. He sold his family orchard and planted a 73-acre vineyard on the southern slope of Badger Mountain in the Rattlesnake Hills. But Powers grew increasingly concerned about the health of vineyard workers and nearby residents. So he switched to organic farming methods.

Over the years, the winery’s commitment to the environment has extended beyond producing organic vino. Tractors are fueled with homebrewed biodiesel made from restaurant cooking oil, and sunshine powers the winery’s cozy 900-square-foot tasting room. “Eventually, the winery, barrel room, and entire operation will be solar-powered,” says Powers’s son and winemaker Greg.

At the tasting room, pick from a staggering 20 varietals under the Badger Mountain and Powers labels. 1106 North Jurupa St, Kennewick, 800-643-9463; badgermtnvineyard.com

BE SURE TO SIP On our last visit, we couldn’t seem to stop drinking the 2007 syrah.

WHEN TO GO Consider arranging a trip during the annual Tri-Cities Wine Festival, held this year November 5-6.

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Image: Kirk Hirota

Go Old School in Frenchtown

L'Ecole No 41, Walla Walla
You know the schoolhouse that’s on the labels of L’Ecole No 41 wines? The winery is actually inside that schoolhouse, which was built in 1915 in historic Frenchtown just west of Walla Walla. In fact, l’ecole means “school” in French, and if you’re serious about Washington wine, a field trip there is pretty much mandatory.

Founded in 1983 by Jean and Baker Ferguson, L’Ecole is now run by Megan and Martin Clubb, the couple’s daughter and son-in-law. “I like to say I learned in the cellar with glass in hand,” jokes Martin, who holds degrees in chemical engineering and management. “But actually the winemaking part came pretty easily because of my background in chemistry.”

The academic theme is played up to great effect inside the tasting room—once fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade classrooms—where available wines are chalked on a blackboard. Visiting students line up at the slate-covered bar, eager to get schooled by the friendly staff as they sip through this Walla Walla Valley winery’s well-loved lineup. 41 Lowden School Rd, Lowden, 509-525-0940; lecole.com

BE SURE TO SIP Critics consistently give high marks to the Bordeaux-style red blends Perigee and Apogee and the refreshing blend of semillon and sauvignon blanc called Luminesce.

WHILE YOU’RE THERE Do not miss the chance to try wines at Rick Small’s renowned Woodward Canyon Winery just up the road. Remember, when visiting small wineries with a group of four or more, it’s best to call ahead and let them know you’re coming.

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