Chace's Pancake Corral in Bellevue celebrates 50 years of business.
August 27, 2008
When it's hot enough to get wet, many families prefer the area's warmer lakes to the chilly waters of Puget Sound.
For kids, the best lake beaches share common features: plenty of sand, a wide shallow area, a nearby playground and maybe a swimming dock or diving board. (Parents would probably add showers and ample parking to their list.)
We hit local beaches to check out their family appeal.
August 11, 2007
Get wet
Southeast King County offers some of the region's best places to make a splash without going to the beach. The area's coolest free water playground, with water cannons, a spray arch and overhead fountains, is the Rotary Spray Park at Les Gove Park in Auburn.
"If (we want) to get wet, we come here," said Joyce Corpuz, an Auburn mother of two toddlers. "It's the best place for little ones."
July 29, 2007
CONCRETE, Skagit County — The Skagit River offers a twofer to wintertime visitors.
Come for the area's famed gathering of eagles, and get a dose of the Northwest's iconic fish as well.
"Eagles and salmon go together," explained Christie Fairchild, who leads guided hikes for the seasonal Skagit River Bald Eagle Interpretive Center. "Like peas and carrots, as Forrest Gump said."
January 12, 2006
Catching four waterfalls in 20 miles sounded pretty impressive, even with three of them stashed right off the highway. Usually, getting around to that amount of dropping water would require a longer hike than our kids, 4 and 11, would tolerate. But here were a series of four stunning waterfalls, all on different rivers and streams but conveniently located along a 20-mile stretch of Highway 2 around the small town of Index.
June 16, 2005
If you've been at a Seattle beach on a breezy day, you've probably seen kiteboarders out skimming the waves with their enormous, bright kites, jumping 20, 30, 40 feet in the air and just ... hanging there.
Robin Ogaard, owner of Urban Surf and a 5-year kiteboarder (which makes him a "pioneer" in this new extreme sport), launched his kite off Richmond Beach on a recent weekend and immediately jumped into the sky.
July 1, 2004
There aren't too many museums with exhibits inspired by animated cartoons.
But the Hands On Children's Museum in Olympia, which doubled its space in a recent expansion, features a magnetic wall with moveable metal tubes, tunnels and chutes that designers thought resembled the pie-making machine in "Chicken Run."
The maze wall is part of the museum's new "Build It! Gallery," one of the best exhibits found at a Northwest children's museum.
March 28, 2002
WHITE PASS On a clear day, views from the summit at White Pass Ski Area sweep out over Mount Rainier and the Cascades.
Zipping up the high-speed quad, visitors can reflect briefly on the better-known, more accessible resorts, where fellow skiers forked out more dough for longer lines and probably not-that-great snow.
By the time they reach the top at 6,000 feet, though, who has time to feel smug when there are a dozen tree-lined runs of nice, dry powder to choose from?
February 7, 2002
LANGLEY, Island County One would think cyclists who get up early on a Saturday to catch a ferry to Whidbey Island and puff up and down the island's hills would be health nuts, favoring energy bars or bagels.
These cyclists, however, ride with visions of pastries spinning in their heads.
"This makes it all worthwhile," said Dave Schindele, a ride leader with Cascade Bicycle Club, as he bit into a fresh, gooey cinnamon roll during a halfway stop at the Langley Village Bakery.
October 18, 2001
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