Around Seattle's Sister Cities

Fairly well known cities and areas around the Puget Sound include Tacoma, Bremerton, and the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton houses the Naval Museum while Tacoma shows off its Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. Also contained in the Tacoma area are the Washington State History Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum. Over on the Kitsap Peninsula is the Suquamish Museum & Tribal Center.

The snow-topped mountains in this area of the country generally see a lot of snow. Mount Baker, for example, gets an average annual snowfall of 595 inches. For those who enjoy a dryer type of snow to snowboard on will find plenty of it at places like Mission Ridge and Mount Spokane over on the east side of the state. If an overnight excursion is what is desired, one can ski at Crystal mountain and lodge in their accommodating resort with a capacity of 700. The best place to go snowboarding in the United States was proclaimed to be Stevens Pass by the people at GORP. It lies between Seattle and Wenatchee and is right near Mount Baker and Wenatchee National Forest. Skiers and snowboarders who wish to ride late are attracted to its equipment for night riding.

Washington State enjoys a fairly large number of both hunters and anglers. In 1990 there were over five hundred licensed charter boats off the coast and in the Puget Sound. Some of the various ports attuned to the recreational aspect of fishing in Washington and Oregon include Neah Bay, Newport, Charleston, and Winchester Bay. The most popular catch of fish is of the salmon family, specifically chinook and the small coho salmon. In Washington State in 1991 there were 301, 900 people who hunted with the east central region being the largest contributor and the Puget Sound region was the highest in the number of sport fishermen throughout the state.

Many historic sites and parks pepper the Washington landscape including Whitman Mission National Historic Site near Walla Walla, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, San Juan Island National Historical Park, and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park in Seattle. The Makah museum in Neah Bay makes its mark by displaying many recovered items from the mudslide that buried an ancient Makah village 500 years ago. Many designated recreation areas that include lakes were established by the National Park Service including Lake Roosevelt, Ross Lake, and Lake Chelan national recreation areas where many campers come to experience the outdoors.

The picturesque beauty of the Gorge at George is the perfect backdrop to the ongoing concerts that plague that town. Elsewhere in the central Washington region one can find within Okanogan County the controversial Omak Stampede and Suicide Race that happens ever year in August. Western Washington's Puyallup Fair has become a tradition with many people and is easily the largest in the state.

Seattle is home to three major sports teams including the Mariners, the Seahawks, and the Supersonics. Considered one of the most beautiful baseball fields in the major leagues, the Mariner's Safeco field sports a retractable roof for baseball enjoyment in any weather condition. Seahawks Stadium is brand new with a completion date of 2002. One of Seattle's most popular day trips is the quick ferry ride over to Victoria, British Columbia where one can spend the day taking in the English atmosphere and just 13 miles north of there is the Butchart Gardens. It maintains 50 acres of formal gardens and hosts firework shows and concerts. There are places for outdoor recreation even within the city of Seattle including hiking, kayaking, biking, and windsurfing. One of the largest outdoor recreation outfitters in the nation, REI, resides in Seattle. Recreational biking can be achieved through, among other places, the use of the Burke-Gilman Trail that winds from Ballard to Log Boom Park in Kenmore on Seattle's Eastside for a length of 16.5 miles. The trail extends another eleven miles to Redmond's Marymoor Park but under a different name.

Another long trail through the Seattle area is the combined 19-mile trail of the Alki Trail and the Duwamish Trail. If independent biking is not desired there are cycling clubs including the Nation's largest called the Cascade Bicycle Club with its 5500 members. Several miles of trail exist within the city for hiking in Seward Park and the 534-acre Discovery Park offers an extensive network of trails. One tour that people seem to enjoy is of the University of Washington and its gothic-style Suzzallo library and the beautiful area behind the library called The Quad. Another fantastic aspect of the campus is its Rainier Vista looking down past Drumheller Fountain (Frosh Pond) onto the picturesque Mount Rainier across Lake Washington.

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