Washington State - Must See

Updated on May 11, 2012
C.S. asks from Saint Louis, MO
9 answers

I think I would like to plan a small vacation to Washington State this summer. I have never been there and just want something a little different.

I think I would like to do a Mt Rainier train ride because a train allows me a break from driving, I get the benefit of the scenic view like the rest of the family and the train usually provides scenes you can't see from the road. Any warnings with this?

I would also like to do a little whale watching. I guess the San Juan Islands will do. Is there a season for this? I looked online and see a lot of "guaranteed", which makes me a bit concerned.

Mt Vernon looks pretty interesting. A little history would be great for my 6 almost 7 year old.

What are your favorite must sees? I don't really have a rhyme or reason, just want something different. I must add, I need a hotel or at least a cabin. Camping out is not for me.

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So What Happened?

Thanks everyone...I am very excited. The train ride will not be a means of transportation, but more of a scenic route. I just like to take a break and everyone get the same opportunity. We have done a few of these elsewhere.

ETA...We went and it was fantastic! We stayed at the W, way overpriced and too elite for a six year old, but we didn't have much choice. Seattle is apparently a popular choice in August. So for anyone looking for places to stay in Seattle, The W was nice, but not the nicest hotel I have stayed at. They didn't offer any breakfast and parking was $48/night. If we didn't have the six year old, it would have been perfect. The lounge area is rather club style.

We enjoyed the beautiful patio meals, which we can't really do here in Vegas. We visited Pike Street Market, the Space Needle, the Science Museum, and just walking the streets of downtown Seattle. I didn't plan to take the ferry, but ended up doing so and it wasn't so bad. We went to Bainbridge and went whale watching. We did get to see a pod of about 30 whales, through Puget Sound. They took us to Friday Harbor and we stopped by the whale museum and learned a little more about the whales. We also took a walk in the Anderson rainforest and I came back with some nasty mosquito bites, but it was a beautiful hike.

We did take the train around the foothills of Mount Rainier and it was a beautiful ride. Even though I wanted this to be my opportunity to hang out of the window like everyone else, there was shortage of window seats and the girls won. I had to sit by the isle and didn't get my view. We tried to stop at this Japanese garden near the airport, but didn't have much time. It was absolutely gorgeous! And it was free!

Thank you for all of your suggestions! We had a great time and will have wonderful lasting memories.

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T.A.

answers from Seattle on

I love the space needle, and smith tower downtown. Mt rainier is pretty, and a lot of the other suggestions are great. Spud on Alki is fantastic, I worked there in high school! Mt Vernon isn't all that special, the San Juans are nice. I'd definitely ride the ferry somewhere, maybe to Kingston or Whidbey island to visit the fort. Port Townsend is cute, so is leavenworth. Lake chelan is beautiful too. Emp is cool, and the science center. The children's museum is at Seattle center too. Point defiance zoo and aquarium are awesome!

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J.S.

answers from Minneapolis on

I worked in WA State in the late 90's... and I loved the drive along the Columbia River out from Portland to the coast. It's beautiful... all kinds of waterfalls and cool places to get out and hike. We stayed in Astoria - which is a great little town on the coast. So beautiful.

Mt. Rainier is fantastic. We drove in for a day starting on the east side - drove up to the top, did short hikes along the way, and then drove down to Seattle on the way out.

Seattle is a great city as well... the market, aquarium, harbor are all interesting. The ferry out to Bainbridge Island is fun too.

We did a drive out along the Olympic Peninsula and stopped in a few fun towns, did a few short hikes, it's so beautiful.

Someday I'll bring my kids for sure (my BIL and his family live in Seattle so we are so excited to have family out there - all our kids are too little right now - but soon we'll be heading out for regular vacations!)

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E.B.

answers from Seattle on

Salmon Le Sac............Over by Cle Elum. It is the prettiest canvas of land....The river is just majestic.......We go Camping. Like off the beaten path camping at that.....It is the best weekend we have all summer.

Now for the area's West of the Mt.'s........Old Issaquah is fun!

Leavenworth is quaint.

Alki....EAT AT SPUDS!!!! Best Fish in the City.....Milk Shakes to die for:)And the view is amazing.

The Fremont Farmers market if you want to do an off beat Tourist thing.....Fremont in and of itself is worth wandering.

And last but not least the best Scenic View around........Fort Ni-squally......It is in Tacoma........Attached to the same area as the Point Defiance Zoo...(not the BEST wildlife Zoo....But the BEST kid friendly attractions)....Anyways....You loop around some through the Park......And then it hits you.......Now yes there will be a giant Fort that you can tour and that is awesome....But look out through the trees.....Breath taking view of the Narrows, Gig Harbor and the water..........I recommend catching it around sunset.....Bring a camera:)

And the Arboretum(Tower) at Volunteer Park.......Best View of Seattle...Do not waste money doing the Space Needle.....When this is a much cooler angle and you see just as much.......Hopefully it is still open to the Public....but well worth the wander...Go during the Day though.....Things come out at night........Not always things you want to see:)

After thought...and added.........Vashon Island...........One word.....Brilliant!

There is a restaurant there that literally is farm to table when you order it.....or nearly....You can go out and help if you find it fancy.......

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M.G.

answers from Seattle on

My only warning about traveling by train is it is an extremely time consuming mode of travel.

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B.R.

answers from Madison on

We lived their for 4.5 years and it was the best long term vacation we could have.

Some great places, We loved Mt. Rainer and Mt. St. Helens we would do both in one trip...Helens in more of a one time type of a trip. Depending on the time of the year you go it can be tricky to get around especially with flooding etc.

Snoqualmie fall is a great place to go, beautiful, nice drive, there is also the Rock slides close to I90 where you get off for the falls. My kids loved going there.

Lake Chelan is a wonderful place to visit.

The chittenden locks are neat, the needle we did once, fror me it is kinda a once and your good type of thing.

We never did wale watching...not much gaurantee there, The kitsap peninsula is nice... I loved driving through Whidby Island, lots of fun places to stop especially if you like a little historic stuff. plus you get a ferry ride out of the deal, we would drive on to the ferry and then drive up through the island and then take land across up north (cheaper).

We didn't do much north of whidby island but from what we heard their is a lot of nice stuff around Bellingham.

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K.W.

answers from Seattle on

Washington is fabulous in the summer. Summer typically runs from July 12th through mid to end of September.

I had no idea there was a scenic train ride around Mt. Rainier. I would recommend driving up to the lodge and hiking around, though. It's beautiful.

Riding the ferries is a must. You would need to ride a car ferry when you visit the San Juan Islands for whale watching (summer months is when the whales are around), or you could catch a ferry to Bainbridge Island from downtown Seattle. Or you could take the ferry to Whidbey Island, drive up the island and over Deception Pass to get back to the "mainland." Deception Pass is pretty cool. If going to the San Juan Islands, you could pop up to Anacortes and catch the ferry.

Something on the Olympic Peninsula coast would be fun. (Forks or Claloch maybe?)

I love Seattle. We have a great zoo, aquarium, downtown area for history, children's museum, the Space Needle, etc. The Chittenden Locks (recommended in another post) are a couple of blocks away from my house and pretty cool. They have salmon ladders and a salmon-viewing room.) But Tad...Amuse also had great suggestions for Tacoma.

I'm not as familiar with the eastern part of the state. I love the Cle Elum area, though.

Mt. Vernon is okay. But I bet you could find some farms/ranches up that way that you could visit that would be even more fun. Look up skagit county farms and see if any allow visitors. Find some u-pick berry farm up that way.

If you're from Vegas, I'd also suggest a "public transportation day" in Seattle. Some combination of the bus, streetcar, lightrail, or monorail would be extra fun for a 6 and 7 year old. (If you pass through Portland, it's even better down there.) I know Vegas has a monorail, but it's difficult to knit together various modes of public transit in that city.

Get ready to keep saying to yourself "It's so green up here..."

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P.F.

answers from Las Vegas on

Lived in Seattle 20 years, Mt. Vernon one year, now Arizona nearly 8 years, but spend our summers in WA...soon to be up there for nearly four months...its so beautiful up there in the summer!!! You're in for a real TREAT :) Everyone has given you wonderful advice so won't be redundant, however, just wanted to ADD that in Mt. Vernon, there is a neat Bed and Breakfast we have stayed at called "Whispering Firs Bed and Breakfast" overlooking the Skagit Valley...just beautiful...don't really know the prices because when we go there we stay with them and when they come here to AZ they stay with us so we TRADE...(it's a great trade), we're planning to go again in August :) Their number in case you're interested is: ###-###-####. Her name is Linda.

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M.Q.

answers from Los Angeles on

We just drove up to Seattle from southern California last month (26 hr drive) and we stayed 5 days in Puyallup at the Fairfield Inn off the 161/meridian and I just wanted to recommend it 100%!!!! It opened on Jan 1,2012 so it's practically brand new. It is super modern (this was very important to me) xtra clean and you have complimentary breakfast plus cookies/hot chocolate throughout the day. It has an indoor heated pool/jacuzzi and little gym. There's tons of shops/stores around. My husband's aunt works for the Marriot and she got us a discount letter, the double queen rooms that were originally $129/night we got for $69 w/the letter!!! So if you have anyone that can get you a letter then you've hit jackpot!!

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L.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

Seattle has a wonderful Science Museum. The kids will love it!

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