Day Trips from Seattle to King and Snohomish counties - suggestions? (Bellevue: houses, neighborhood)

[UrbanCountryGirl]

Heading up this summer for a wedding in Leavenworth and will then spend 4 nights in Seattle. (We will have already spent two days in Seattle on the front end of the vacation and thus won't need to stay in the city.)

So, we're thinking one day we'd like to ferry somewhere...at this point I'm thinking Victoria.

Then, we'd like to spend the three remaining days exploring King and Snohomish counties (with our 3 year old daughter in tow.) Why those counties, you ask? Well, with some family in Snohomish County and a best friend who just moved to the Seattle area we're actually going to ponder what life would be like living in Washington...so, to explore the area will give us something to go off of when doing more research on moving up. (By the way I LOVE the fog and rain...temps over 68 get me cranky so no one has to prepare me for what winters might be like as so often happens on this forum!)

what we are looking for in a town:
--historic area
--good restaurants to choose from, quaint feeling town with at least one coffee shop , book store, family owned stores.... farmers markets...
--regional park or areas for hiking / riding a horse
--kid friendly...well, I guess friendly to adults too.
--a body of water...lake, river..
--not too "out in the country", would like there to be things for young people to DO within 15 minute drive...gymnastics program, swimming, XC skiing, horseback riding, bowling, ice-skating, movie theater
--not too densely wooded in every neighborhood, I love the feeling of agricultural areas with pastures and rolling hills.
--oh, and views of the beautiful mountains Washington has to offer!
--If we do end up moving, the housing price range for us would be somewhere in the 700K-900+K with 5-20 acres (although my husband will say 2 acres is the ma he wants...I'm still working on him with that....)

We just really want to get to know the area...where should we visit and why?

Thank you so much!
LEA

[Wakyco]

I would suggest Port Townsend would be a great place to visit for what you are looking for but, to move to...it's not really "kid-friendly".

[Ira500]

Here's a few towns maybe worth a visit, with houses on acreage, in quaint towns with history, coffee shops, bookstores, etc:

Black Diamond: It's not a big town, but it's got a 100 year old bakery that makes the best pies. It also has a book store.

Issaquah: Closer to Seattle and Bellevue and somewhat suburby, it also has a charming old downtown.

Snohomish: A cool old agricultural town east of Everett on the river. Lots of antique shops, restaurants, etc.

[UrbanCountryGirl]

Thank you -- we'll put those on our list! Snohomish was a definite but hadn't thought about the others.