Exploring Maritime Washington
0304, 2023

Exploring Maritime Washington

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I am proud to announce the publication of my new book, Exploring Maritime Washington—a History and Guide. Each of the places covered in its pages has a connection to Washington’s maritime history, whether a popular tourist destination or a hidden gem known only to longtime locals. Exploring Maritime Washington provides visitors with a fun and easy way to enjoy each community while learning about Washington’s nautical history. By visiting and

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Say WA! Part I: How to Pronounce Washington’s County Names
0209, 2019

Say WA! Part I: How to Pronounce Washington’s County Names

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Today, we’re beginning the creation of THE definitive pronunciation guide for Washington State. This will be part one of a three-part series looking at Washington’s notoriously difficult county, city and geographic names, so you’d better favorite these episodes if you want to sound like you’re from here. For this episode, we’ll stick to the tricky county names. Of course, we’ll also have our monthly trivia quiz, and we’ll pepper in

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Port Ludlow: From industry to opportunity
3110, 2014

Port Ludlow: From industry to opportunity

When most folks want to unplug for a weekend, they are often disappointed to find that their secret hideaway has suddenly become everyone else’s destination hot-spot. Many of Washington’s smaller beach communities can end up crawling with tourists during the busy season…good for their local economy, sure, but the bane of travelers looking for peace and quiet. However, a few places still remain where individuals, couples and families can find

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1004, 2012

What’s in a name? As it turns out, a lot

As I tweeted last week, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ Committee on Geographic Names is meeting to consider changing the names of a number of Washington State locations, the most prominent being Soap Lake in Grant County. Someone had the bright idea of renaming it “Lake Smokiam” despite the local community having spent th0usands of dollars marketing the lake’s alleged medicinal properties. Needless to say, Soap Lake residents

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