Seattle Style File
My favorite new shop opened Nov. 4, but because it's just for the holidays, the store's closing soon, too. Victoria Simons opened her gift shop Goody! just steps from Pearl, her popular clothing and gift boutique near Green Lake. Simons has filled the tiny, bright space with groovy gifts such as Piu Piu singing paper-clip holders to adorable knit animal backpacks for children.
By Kathy Schultz | November 11, 2004
After several years in the purgatory of a stagnant economy and less-than-bountiful snowfalls, Northwest ski resorts are again tossing money onto their mountains like a wealthy software company co-founder racing for space or trying to cure the ills of the world.
Well, OK, not exactly.
But the off-season improvements appear to reflect a healthy industry, and -- finally, finally, finally -- skiers and snowboarders have something to talk about as snow begins wrapping the mountains in cold.
Such as:
By Greg Johnston | November 11, 2004
MOUNT ST. HELENS Tourist season is long gone, so how come the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center eight miles from the smoking maw of Mount St. Helens can still pack them in on a clear autumn weekend?
"I want to see a big blast, " laughed Tracy Boeholt, 38, who a few weeks ago drove from Olympia with her family to set up lawn chairs in the center's parking lot, waiting for the show to start.
By Connie McDougall | November 11, 2004
Take a Walk
Location: Whidbey Island, Island County.
Length: 1.2 mile loop.
Level of difficulty: Level paved trail.
Setting: This path through beach dunes and wind-whipped forest offers an interesting walk just off West Beach in Deception Pass State Park. From this popular park's sand-and-cobble beach, you can look west through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with the Olympic Mountains looming to the southwest and the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station visible to the south.
By Cathy McDonald | November 11, 2004
Hike of the Week
The Rim Trail at Mud Mountain Dam is one of the most unusual winter hikes we've ever found. The two-mile trail is open to hikers and mountain bikers, but there's more. Beyond the two-mile mark, the trail comes to an access road for horse riders. Here the route continues as road and descends to the White River -- this stretch is known as the River Trail. Hikers, mountain bikers and horse riders can continue to Scatter Creek, about four miles from the start of the Rim Trail.
By Karen Sykes | November 11, 2004
Short Trips
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND -- As I reached in my pocket for the $10 bill to pay the ferry attendant at the Colman Dock, by old habit I barked out my side window that I was headed for Winslow.
"You mean Bainbridge Island?" the attendant asked rhetorically.
She was right, of course. The ferry-dock town of Winslow doesn't officially exist anymore except in the hearts and conversations of islanders. The town was renamed city of Bainbridge Island when an all-island annexation was approved in 1991 after a vote so close it required a recount. Guess I must have missed that.
By Jeff Larsen | November 11, 2004
