One of the most enthralling aspects of Washington state – besides its snow-capped mountain vistas, panoramic ocean views, arid desert plains, and ancient lakes, rivers and forests – is the fact that there is a unique and wonderful history attached to each one. Nowhere is that arguably more evident than in the southwestern foothills of Mount Rainier. On the surface, an affordable train ride through the woods (with or without
Between June 15th and 21st, the U.S. Open (the golf one, not the tennis one) took place at our very own Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. Thanks to my employer, I had the unique opportunity to attend the Open as a member of the media. Tasked with uncovering local and behind-the-scenes stories, I did my best – along with the international army of reporters, photographers, bloggers, anchors, writers, producers,
The ability to entice visitors to your corner of Washington may lie in your area’s unique local history. Statistics show that more and more people are citing historical—whether it be natural, cultural or heritage tourism as the reason for their travel. You need to stay on the forefront of this emerging trend…but how? What is heritage tourism? The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines heritage tourism as “traveling to experience
In honor of the Seattle flagship’s 93rd birthday, the Steamship Virginia V Foundation is offering the public a limited number of tickets to join them for the birthday cruise on Sunday, June 7th. They’re celebrating 93 years of “Keeping The Steam Up!” around the Puget Sound with the annual celebratory cruise. Proud to continue the tradition of steaming in the northwest, the foundation says it’s looking forward to welcoming you aboard. The cruise is presented
There are very few places in Washington where you can hike through the woods, trip over a 200-year-old cannonball and land amongst an assortment of arrowheads and prehistoric bison fossils. In fact, there’s likely only one place where that amazing scenario could potentially play out, and that is on Orcas Island in the San Juans. As the largest island in San Juan County, Orcas is surprisingly not named after the
And why wouldn’t they? It’s a wonderful place to visit on the way from Aberdeen to Long Beach, especially if you’re looking for historical tourism opportunities. The City of Raymond is a community sometimes overlooked in the story of Washington. Like so many other towns scattered across the state, Raymond saw its beginnings as a central point of the lumber industry in the mid- to late-1800s. Raymond’s name comes from
On the morning of Friday, March 13, 2015, the bones of Washington’s most well-known ferry were picked clean. Kalakala supporters who desperately searched for years for a way to save the prodigious icon could finally relegate their desire to restore the grand ship to the what-could-have-been. And history buffs longing to claim a piece of her for their own could finally do so, for as little as ten bucks. I
This time-lapse video documents the final voyage of the Kalakala. The former Washington state ferry was moved Thursday from the Hylebos Waterway, where it’s languished for more than a decade, to the Blair Waterway, where it will be dismantled for scrap.
In southwestern Washington where the mighty Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean are a string of sites that no historical tourist or lifelong resident of our state should leave unvisited. Between Hungry Harbor and the Long Beach Peninsula are three places that hold not only state but national significance. They are the three places that Captain Meriwether Lewis, Lieutenant William Clark and the entire Corps of Discovery expedition met with
In December of 1966, the City of Lacey was celebrating its incorporation. The small settlements of Woodland and Chambers Prairie had united to form what was then a bedroom community to nearby Olympia. But just a few months earlier that year, Lacey residents got a chance to attend another celebration, as one of the Northwest’s first modern indoor shopping malls opened for business at South Sound Center. When it opened,