Take a Walk
Location: Coupeville, Whidbey Island.
Length: More than a mile.
Level of difficulty: Flat cobble beach and paved access road.
By Cathy McDonald | January 24, 2002
Whatcom County is a gold mine when it comes to state-of-the-art parks, but I think its masterpiece is the Tennant Lake Interpretive Center and Hovander Homestead Park near Ferndale.
The Tennant Lake Interpretive Center is jointly operated by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Whatcom County Parks. These two connected parks are just off Interstate 5 and offer easy hiking year round. Hikers can do an easy and interesting five-mile loop and experience both parks.
By Karen Sykes | January 24, 2002
The Columbia River Gorge: open for winter.
It's the season when travelers hopscotch between Washington and Oregon for ski vacations, wine tastings and golf.
Golf in winter?
"Of course," says Genevieve Scholl of the Hood River County Chamber of Commerce. "We don't hibernate here."
Two highways Washington's curvy Highway 14 and Oregon's speedy Interstate 84 straddle the Columbia River Gorge for 85 scenic miles. From Portland and Vancouver east to The Dalles, Ore.
Anchor points for winter travelers:
By Stanton H. Patty | January 24, 2002
CASCADE LOCKS, Ore. - A heavy rain is falling on this day in late December. Water is coming not just from the sky, it also is plunging over the 150-foot-high ancient rock walls in the form of ribbons of runoff that can be seen up and down the precipitous valley of Eagle Creek Canyon.
On a rough trail high above it all, my son and I are standing directly beneath one of these waterfalls. Above us, sprays of water leap off the lip of the canyon wall and hang for a moment in midair before plummeting over us and into the depths below.
By Terrence Petty | January 24, 2002
• Hood River County Chamber of Commerce: 800-366-3530 or www.hoodriver.org.
• Skamania County Chamber of Commerce: 800-989-9178 or www.skamania.org.
• Mount Hood Meadows Lodging Referral Service: 800-754-4663 or www.skihood.com.
• Skamania Lodge: 800-221-7117 or www.skamania.com/.
January 24, 2002
For $5, you can savor Seattle history and the kind of view that's normally the domain of corporate downtown types.
That's the cost of an elevator ride to the observation deck of the venerable Smith Tower, storied as the highest building west of the Mississippi in the era before boxy glass high-rises.
You can gawk at the ornately carved black ceiling in the Chinese Room and, if the weather cooperates, take in equal drafts of 35th-floor air and mountain views from the outside balcony.
By Gordon Black | January 24, 2002
