NWsource | Terry Tazioli

Wine, dine and save time to recline

Terry Tazioli — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800

The name says lodge. Right there on the sign: Willows Lodge.

The location, er, doesn't.

Woodinville? Right-over-there-from-Seattle Woodinville? Strip-mall-wineries-and-Molbak's- and-what-else-is-there Woodinville? Oh, come on.

But, yes, there is Willows Lodge, on five acres up against the tiny Sammamish River just south of the center of the small city.

New jaunts for long-timers

Terry Tazioli — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:00:00 -0700

You've lived here all your life, as have your ancestors.

You are, thus, a native.

Or you've lived here for 16 years and finally stopped complaining about the weather.

You're a ... well, not a native, but perhaps a legitimate long-timer, given the current state of the population influx.

Under the viaduct: Shop till it drops!

Terry Tazioli — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0800

The outing: It's about a two-mile round trip, give or take, from the bottom of the stairs at the Pike Place Market, south under the viaduct, to Pioneer Square and then back north to the Market along Western Avenue.

Poulsbo: No mistaking where you are -- Ja!

Terry Tazioli — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700

The outing: Do not say to a person who lives in Poulsbo the following:

"Well, Liberty Bay doesn't look like any fjord I've ever seen."

OK, sheer mountain slopes don't cascade into the water below, the narrow inlet doesn't necessarily pour into the Norwegian Sea. And, granted, it might be kind of hard to find an Azteca Mexican restaurant in Norway.

But why risk the instant frown you'll get when you point out these facts about modern Poulsbo?

Do say instead:

Point Defiance Park: Oasis in city has it all

Terry Tazioli — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0700

The outing: If 702 acres of in-city wilderness doesn't excite your Northwest genes, nothing will. If you've never visited Tacoma's Point Defiance Park, home to these 702 acres, then it's time to excite your genes.

Taking a trip back to nature on the railroad in Snoqualmie

Terry Tazioli — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 00:00:00 -0700

The outing : Make sure to drive the back way to Snoqualmie. Eschew the speedy 30 miles between Seattle and the Cascades foothill town via Interstate 90 and take the circuitous 30 that takes up real interest outside of Redmond on the Redmond-Fall City Road (Highway 202). At Fall City, the highway turns east after it crosses the Snoqualmie River and then winds up the hill and into town.

You will be much calmer and at one with the countryside you've just entered.

Rain or shine, get a quick hit of salt and sand at Ocean Shores in winter

Terry Tazioli — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 00:00:00 -0800

There used to be Burma Shave signs along the old two-lane highway that snaked its way through the forests between Olympia and Aberdeen. Offering tips for good living (as well as what became a brilliant marketing reminder for sartorial splendor), the signs also were signals for beach-bound kids jammed into backseats of cars, along with luggage, snacks and clam guns, to start chanting:

"Don't try passing on a slope, unless you have a periscope! Burma Shave"

Nursery hopping: Green thumbs in the dead of winter

Terry Tazioli — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:00:00 -0800

The outing: It should not come as a shock to anyone's system — anyone, that is, who has lived for any number of years in Western Washington — that there are plants that don't lose their leaves in winter.

Or that the Yuletide Camellia sends forth gorgeous, dark-red, flat-pedaled flowers with starry-gold centers in December. Or that there are pansies that defy the pejorative meaning of the word and rage against the dying of the light we call winter. But it does — come as a shock.

Bainbridge Island: Wandering through Winslow on a late-summer day

Terry Tazioli — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 00:00:00 -0700

The walk: Every walk should begin this way with a 35-minute boat ride across Puget Sound on a brilliant late-summer Saturday morning. Chalk it up to life in the Pacific Northwest and a visit to the farmers market in Winslow on Bainbridge Island.

The market is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday, April through October, and besides giving islanders a chance to do a little shopping, the market provides mainlanders with the opportunity to experience a bit of the idyllic life on this big Puget Sound rock.

Here's what you do.

Edmonds: Smalltown feel of mom and pop

Terry Tazioli — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0700

The walk: Here's the problem with Edmonds. You start off in one direction, then your head swivels, and then your feet follow and pretty soon your entire body has lurched off in a completely different direction from that which you'd intended because "it looks really neat over there!"

And then, so launched, it happens again. And again.

This waterfront city on Puget Sound about 15 miles north of Seattle is like that, a compact, mom-and-pop-store, ferryboat-landing, quintessential beachfront town. With a gorgeous view.