Since joining Seattle Met in 2011, Allison Williams has overseen the magazine’s travel and outdoor coverage, including deep dives into Olympic National Park, the Columbia River, and a Burger King drive-thru in Canada. She edits the travel-focused blog Tripster and contributes service, news, interview, and narrative pieces to the magazine, including long-form features about mountain mysteries and puppies in prison. She’s earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and been nominated for a City and Regional Magazine award. 

Allison was raised here in Olympia and studied writing at Duke University, Oxford University, Columbia Journalism School, and University of Alaska. She began her career in New York City in the newsrooms of Metro newspaper and Time Out New York, then hightailed it back to her native habitat so she could write guidebooks and climb mountains.

Healthy Kids

Network Interference

Obamacare is finally in full swing, but Washington state insurance plans don’t cover Seattle Children’s hospital. Won’t someone think of the kids?

04/01/2014 By Allison Williams

City Trails

Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park

A forest maze from Issaquah trailheads and back again.

04/01/2014 By Allison Williams

City Trails

Sammamish River Trail

Pastoral Picnics from Bothell to Redmond.

04/01/2014 By Allison Williams

City Trails

Cedar River Trail

Salmon and 737's from downtown Renton to Landsburg.

04/01/2014 By Allison Williams

Best of the City

Best City Trails

25 best places to run, walk, skate, hike, and bike, plus Seattle-born gear, and a yearlong calendar of trails to try outside the city limits.

04/01/2014 By Allison Williams

City Trails

Helmet Cam: Our Favorite Seattle Biking Videos

It’s like you’re there…only someone else is peddling.

03/21/2014 By Allison Williams

Transportation

The Waterfront Gondola is Really Happening (Probably)

The guy who built the Great Wheel is serious: He's putting a skyway through Union Street.

03/04/2014 By Allison Williams

The City Moves

The Waterfront Gondola is Really Happening (Probably)

The guy who built the Great Wheel is serious: He's putting a skyway through Union Street.

03/04/2014 By Allison Williams

NW Travel Dispatch

Spring 2014 Travel News

Where you'll want to go this spring, and what's happening there.

03/01/2014 By Allison Williams

Travel Shopping

Sub Pop Opening a Store in Sea-Tac Airport

We were into Concourse C way before anyone else had heard of it.

02/26/2014 By Allison Williams

Love Trip

Romantic Valentine's Day Travel: Where To Go For Every Relationship

Dating? Married? In a fight? We picked the best Northwest weekend trips for every kind of love.

02/10/2014 By Allison Williams

Seattleites Guide to PDX

Portland v. Seattle: Stuff Seattleites Envy...and Stuff We Don't

We'll pump our own gas, thanks anyway.

02/01/2014 Edited by Allison Williams

Seattleites Guide to PDX

The Most Portlandy Hotel Rooms in Portland

Yes, you can even sleep in a caravan.

02/01/2014 Edited by Allison Williams

Scene in Seattle

Look Who’s Playing Bingo Karaoke at Greenwood Senior Center

The coolest generation mixer in town.

02/01/2014 By Allison Williams

Seattleites Guide to PDX

Portland Checklist: 10 Things to Do in Portland Parks

Hike, bike, and commune with nature in Portland's lush parklands.

02/01/2014 Edited by Allison Williams

Seattleites Guide to PDX

Instagrammable Portland

Where to find Portland's iconic signs, views, and artworks.

02/01/2014 Edited by Allison Williams

Seattleites Guide to PDX

Portland Checklist: Top 10 Sights in Portland

The Rose City's can't miss destinations, plus: the city's nicknames explained.

02/01/2014 Edited by Allison Williams

Seattleites Guide to PDX

Fact-Checking Portland Stereotypes

Do they really put a bird on it? Yep—check out any boutique in town. But what about the other things Portlandia taught us? And how does it compare to the Emerald City?

02/01/2014 Edited by Allison Williams

Northwest Travel

Seattleites Guide to PDX

How to visit, enjoy, explore—and understand—Portland.

02/01/2014 Edited by Allison Williams

Feature

The Truth About Cons and Dogs

Washington state was the first to give pets to prisoners. Now an inmate at Cedar Creek Corrections Center is training canines to serve veterans—and turning around his own life.

02/01/2014 By Allison Williams