My Favorite Places in Washington

Thirteen days til I head north for a month. A few weeks back I blogged about my favorite places in Texas. Someone asked me if I had any favorite places in Washington.

Well, that photo on the left is me laying on top of Hidden Peak, looking down at Hidden Lake, deep in the heart of the North Cascades. Anywhere on a mountain in Washington is one of my favorite places.

Below is La Conner. La Conner is in the Skagit Valley, north of Seattle about 55 miles. La Conner is a scenic tourist town. I've always liked La Conner.

Leavenworth is on the east side of the Cascades, the eastern end of Stevens Pass. Stevens Pass is one of the three major passes over Washington's Cascades. All three of them have their own charms, but Stevens Pass having Leavenworth on the other side makes it my favorite of the passes. I'm hoping Lulu and I get to go to Leavenworth while I'm up there, because that would mean I'm doing one of my other favorite things, that being going to Eastern Washington and getting fresh fruit. As in apricots, peaches, maybe cherries, apples won't be ready yet. On the west side I should be able to get fresh corn, all the blackberries I wanna eat. For free. And all sorts of other fresh veggies, fruits and seafood. This makes the fresh produce of Washington one of my favorite things up there.

Well, another hiking photo, which shows how much I like the mountains of Washington. This is my favorite Washington mountain, the volcano known as Mount Baker. The Mount Baker zone has another of my favorite Washington places, Baker Hot Springs. I doubt I'll get to the Baker zone when I'm up north.

That's my mom and dad. I'm expecting to see them for the first time in over 2 years by the end of this month. I think this photo was taken in 2001, right before 9/11. I'd made a surprise trip up north for mom and dad's anniversary. They drove me out to Ocean Shores, which is where we are in this photo. Ocean Shores is one of my favorite places. Lulu and I drove out there summer of 2004 and had great razor clam chowder, fish and chips and blackberry milkshakes.

That bear is sitting on the stair rail at Stehekin Lodge. Stehekin is one of my favorite Washinton places. I like everything about it. The long boat ride you have to take to get there, the bears, the bakery, the bike riding. And dinners at Courtney Ranch.

Seattle is one of my favorite Washington places. Along with Tacoma. In this photo you actually see 3 of my favorite Washington things. Seattle, Pike Place Market and a Washington State Ferry. Which brings up another Washington favorite place. The San Juan Islands and the ferry ride to get there.

Other Washington favorite places of mine are Olympic National Park with the rain forests and rugged beaches.

Fort Casey on Whidbey Island. It's an abandoned fort from the Spanish-American War era. Great, scary tunnels and passageways and ladders taking you into darkness. As a kid I always had fun at Fort Casey. As an uncle it was a fun place to take my nephews. A weenie roast on Washington beach would be a good thing when I'm up there.

From Fort Casey you can hop an often, due to extreme tides, wild ride, ferry to the cool tourist town of Port Townsend. I've done that ferry as a walk-on, drive-on and walk-on. It's a very good thing.

Also on Whidbey Island is Deception Pass State Park. Biggest in Washington. The Pass between Fidalgo Island and Whidbey can make for incredibly wild water works when the tide differential is huge. I know I've got a lot of Deception Pass photos, somewhere. It's is near where I lived, so I went there a lot.

Beacon Rock, in the Columbia Gorge, is a fun hike to the top of the Gibraltar like rock.

Sun Lakes State Park in Eastern Washington. It's in a Coulee. That's Washington-speak for canyon. Sun Lakes is right below Dry Falls, the biggest waterfall the world has ever seen. Grand Coulee Dam is about 50 miles away, if I remember right. I've always liked Eastern Washington. It's so different than the west side, tan brown rolling hills, canyons, the only green being all the orchards and corn and hops and grapes.

I can't think of any other favorite Washington places right now, that and I've tired of the subject.