Walkable. Local. Free. Even if the area’s ferry-side art center didn’t have a bold mission to show off the arts and crafts of the Kitsap Peninsula, it would be an exciting addition to the cultural landscape. The very eco-friendly building uses geothermal energy and has a solar-paneled roof, a roof garden, and an indoor stage made of bamboo. Once done, there’s the whole rest of Bainbridge to enjoy.

A boy leaves for World War I, tethering his bicycle to a tree; after he’s lost on Europe’s battlefields, the tree grows to engulf the bike and raise it seven feet into the air. What a story! Too bad it’s totally untrue. Yes, there’s a tree on Vashon where the bark has grown around a now-rusty cycle, but the wheels were carelessly forgotten by a local boy in 1954. The odd sight was the subject of the children’s book Red Ranger Came Calling by Berkeley Breathed, and has become a popular stop for island cyclists. These days it’s barely visible, but the island remains a bike haven with myriad routes—and a Thomas Dambo troll, installed in 2023, that’s much more fun to discover by bike.

The Sammamish Valley has one thing that Eastern Washington’s sprawling vineyards will never be able to challenge: supreme walkability. Our wine guide recommends 11 different wineries in the Hollywood District, the part of town farthest from big highways and most full of luxurious patios and tasting rooms. The valley’s poplar trees explode with bright yellows in fall, and the summer crowds die down; plus, it’s time to select bottles for holiday meals. It’s the ideal time for tasting.

Mark Twain may not have actually called golf “a good walk spoiled,” but the maxim isn't always true anyway. A par-three course is a short stroll made awesome. This mini course falls somewhere between proper PGA-level links (Battle Creek has that too) and a putt-putt place, set in a wooded area just north of Everett. The nine holes range from 75 to 200 yards, and golfers can rent a full set of clubs from the pros at the clubhouse ($10); a short five-hole round on the championship course is also available. 

Though Whidbey Island’s 72-acre park was born out of Chuck Pettis’s Buddhist studies, its monuments represent a number of traditions; there’s a white stupa, a curved monument that represents Buddha’s enlightened mind, as well as Native American medicine wheels, an ancient labyrinth based on a design from 2500 BCE, and a giant stone table called a dolmen. The structures are scattered in the wooded lot near Langley (entrance fee $7) and connected by two miles of trails. Meditate among the nesting osprey and 80 other bird species that live in the park.

The zookeepers at Point Defiance know what we really want. No, it’s not only to hang out with the muskoxen. It’s to see what zoo life is like beyond the exhibits, and even meet the animals up close. An underwater shark dive at the South Pacific Aquarium is back after a hold for renovations, plus the zoo offers pre-opening tours, a jellyfish experience, and a baby goats encounter.

Call it a ski season pre-game. In the past decade, Snoqualmie Pass has seen several new spots that celebrate the area’s signature sport, none more than the Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum. Small but free, the galleries tell the story of local hotshots and long lost ski hills, all next door to brewery Dru Bru and its outdoor firepits. Down the road, Laconia Market brings gourmet flavor to the pass, and the Evo shop next door has a small selection of outdoor gear (it’s mostly for rentals).

You’re gonna earn this soak. The drive—up I-90 and then a rough forest road—to a remote trailhead can take more than two hours. And that’s just where you leave your car; your hike into the natural geothermic hot spring is another four and a half miles by foot or mountain bike. But oh, the reward: rock stairways, steaming pools, and a cabana that looks like it was built by forest elves. Make a reservation for one of 20 daily soaking spots; it’s BYO potable water, but a swimsuit is optional.

Pitmaster Amy Anderson was competing in barbecue world championships and being featured on the Food Network before she even opened this meaty outpost between Olympia and Elma. The ribs and chicken sit in a smoker for six hours—“low and slow” is the motto here—flavored by apple- and cherrywood from Anderson’s own family farm. Beer-battered onion rings are sold by the half or full pound. Wait times can approach an hour in summer, but the crowds lessen to a dull roar in autumn.

“Something out of nothing.” That’s what Ex Nihilo, the motto of this Elbe-area sculpture park, means in Latin, more or less. But the sculptures crafted by Dan Klennert are made out of something—salvaged somethings. Klennert scrounges iron and other metals, sometimes even driftwood, from junkyards and scrap heaps, then works the materials into giant figures. Horses are a favorite subject; he even made a seahorse out of horseshoes. His sculpture yard sits on the highway just outside the entrance to Mount Rainier National Park.