Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Thank you for asking! I LOVE to talk about the great places I go around here! Lessseee ---
Vancouver, B.C. for the beauty, the best Japanese food outside of Japan, the Sea Otters at the Vancouver Aquarium, and the scenic drive.
(Folks who ski go to Whistler.)
Skagit Valley for its rustic scenery and gaggles of Bald Eagles.
The North Cascades. I had a rather mystical encounter with a mountain lion there once...
The islands -- Orcas Island and Shaw Island are my favorites for the breathtakingly beautiful ferry rides and the rural peacefulness.
Fidalgo Island -- getting to the 9 AM sailing of the whale-watching boat, spending the day out in, sometimes, Canadian waters trying to find the local pods of Orcas, and then spending the night at a B&B in a more southern part of the island where you wake up to the morning calls of Eagles.
Whidbey Island. Take your picks of interesting places: Coupeville (gimme them Penn Cove mussels!!), Langley, Clinton, Possession Bay, and so on. I know an apricot-colored cat who lives at a B&B in the forest and has a nutty sense of humor. And finding Mastadon bones at very low tide at Double Bluff is kind of breathtaking. As is being just south of Deception Pass in the mid-late-afternoon when dozens of different U.S. Navy planes come in to the base, landing one right after the other, on an approach that's always so close to the ground the the cows in the field look up and shake their tails at the pilots. (OK, maybe I'm extrapolating a bit... But when I lean against my car munching raspberries or ice cream from the Dugualla Bay farm store, I wave. For some reason the pilots don't wave back...)
The Olympic Peninsula. You need to get a really early start to get there, because anyplace on the west side -- the side I love -- is almost inaccessible. But the east side has magical forests, Elk herds, deer, and lots of other friendly folk.
Snoqualmie Pass, Stevens Pass, Blewitt Pass -- wonderful drives through different weather, natural scenery, and serendipitous B&B and restaurant finds.
There's also the town of Snohomish, where you can spend all day gorging on antiques and good food, stay in a B&B overnight, and then start all over again on Sunday!
The last one I'll cite for now is Portland, with its fabulous zoo and Penguinarium! Plus all that great food at Jake's Crawfish Restaurant or the Andina Peruvian restaurant YUM!
You would want to consider the cost of gas living out there though, esp. if you are driving back into the city to work. I think there is a bus that comes in but if you have a child it is challenging to rely on the bus if you have to get back to them.
Thank you for asking! I LOVE to talk about the great places I go around here! Lessseee ---
Vancouver, B.C. for the beauty, the best Japanese food outside of Japan, the Sea Otters at the Vancouver Aquarium, and the scenic drive.
(Folks who ski go to Whistler.)
Skagit Valley for its rustic scenery and gaggles of Bald Eagles.
The North Cascades. I had a rather mystical encounter with a mountain lion there once...
The islands -- Orcas Island and Shaw Island are my favorites for the breathtakingly beautiful ferry rides and the rural peacefulness.
Fidalgo Island -- getting to the 9 AM sailing of the whale-watching boat, spending the day out in, sometimes, Canadian waters trying to find the local pods of Orcas, and then spending the night at a B&B in a more southern part of the island where you wake up to the morning calls of Eagles.
Whidbey Island. Take your picks of interesting places: Coupeville (gimme them Penn Cove mussels!!), Langley, Clinton, Possession Bay, and so on. I know an apricot-colored cat who lives at a B&B in the forest and has a nutty sense of humor. And finding Mastadon bones at very low tide at Double Bluff is kind of breathtaking. As is being just south of Deception Pass in the mid-late-afternoon when dozens of different U.S. Navy planes come in to the base, landing one right after the other, on an approach that's always so close to the ground the the cows in the field look up and shake their tails at the pilots. (OK, maybe I'm extrapolating a bit... But when I lean against my car munching raspberries or ice cream from the Dugualla Bay farm store, I wave. For some reason the pilots don't wave back...)
The Olympic Peninsula. You need to get a really early start to get there, because anyplace on the west side -- the side I love -- is almost inaccessible. But the east side has magical forests, Elk herds, deer, and lots of other friendly folk.
Snoqualmie Pass, Stevens Pass, Blewitt Pass -- wonderful drives through different weather, natural scenery, and serendipitous B&B and restaurant finds.
There's also the town of Snohomish, where you can spend all day gorging on antiques and good food, stay in a B&B overnight, and then start all over again on Sunday!
The last one I'll cite for now is Portland, with its fabulous zoo and Penguinarium! Plus all that great food at Jake's Crawfish Restaurant or the Andina Peruvian restaurant YUM!
Mmmmmm it's so lovely living here ...
Yay - that was an awesome post!
We're new to the area and one of the things we look forward to the most is exploring everything we possibly can during the indefinite time we live here. But it's so overwhelming - there are just so many amazing things to do and places to see.
Sure, we can find list after list of random places people go, but I want to know the insider details, the reasons they go there, the best parts of each place they go - the details that get you excited about the destination rather than just overwhelmed with unfamiliar names.
I'm definitely saving your post for inspiration when we look for our next little adventure!
Yay - that was an awesome post!
I'm definitely saving your post for inspiration when we look for our next little adventure!
Tatania199, your kindness and honesty nourish the world!
Here's a series of tricks I use.
- Open a road map of Washington.
- Pick something, anything, any place, where you've never been.
- Get a town name, or a state park name, or a mountain name, etc. from the map.
- Google that, like "Cats n Kittens State Park WA B&B". That will give you results for both sightseeing (and sports, outdoor activities, etc.) and places to stay.
- For more narrowed-down info, search in tripadvisor.
I've planned dozens? hundreds? of meanderings this way.
BTW, in WA you can find a B&B almost everywhere. B&Bs are little gems:
- the owers treat you like friends, not customers;
- often there's a cat or dog in the family, which is a lovely added friend;
- if you and the family animal do become friends, the owners will treat you like family;
- they feed you a decent, often delicious, breakfast which is included;
- and they know the secrets of the area, like where to find freshly-picked strawberries or carving pumpkins, or where an exquisite waterfall is or a bird sanctuary, and which road to take for the sweetest scenery.
Do investigate Grayline (they do a really comfy and interesting day tour to Mt. Rainier from downtown Seattle), and Argosy cruises which do day-hops to various islands. Leave the driving to someone else, eh?
And never to be missed: just a plain ol' ferry ride to somewhere. Simple, really inexpensive, horizon-changing. And while you're on the ferry, be sure to watch the water below you for fat jellyfish!
I get the annual Discover Pass to Washington State Parks and regularly visit:
Deception Pass - 1:30 hrs away
Lake Chelan - 3:30 hrs away
Palouse Falls - 4:00 hrs away
I also like to spend long weekends at Ocean shores - 2:30 hrs away
I get the annual Discover Pass to Washington State Parks
. . .
also like to spend long weekends at Ocean shores . . .
What great ideas!!
Just a personal note about Ocean Shores:
You can drive up onto the beach there -- as long as you carefully and patiently negotiate with the small groups of Seagulls scattered here and there on the beach. They own the beach, so do drive carefully there.
When you stand on the beach and look out over the ocean, you can see forever . . .
You can go horseback riding on the beach, and fly a kite whever you want to or enjoy the Kiteannual Festival on the first weekend of Jue.
Status:
"Big cities and bright lights short days and long nights."
(set 17 days ago)
Location: M I N N E S O T A
5,192 posts, read 2,058,632 times
Reputation: 2948
Awesome! Thanks everyone for your response
You all are lucky to live in such a great location!
Twin Cities also have great vacation spots just outside of town, Seems like pretty much everyone owns a cabin up north and we all escape up to the lake during a weekend in the summer.
Its not rare on a Sunday night in the summer on 94 and 35 going into The Cities for traffic to be jammed because of everyone coming home from the cabin
Alot of people take a family vacation over to Wisconsin Dells (3 hour drive) The "Waterpark Capital of the World." However its not so peaceful because everyone from Twin Cities and Chicagoland all take a little weekend escape to the Dells lol
Just a personal note about Ocean Shores:
You can drive up onto the beach there -- as long as you carefully and patiently negotiate with the small groups of Seagulls scattered here and there on the beach. They own the beach, so do drive carefully there.
Related fun fact: the beach between Ocean Shores and Ocean City is legal state highway.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
