LEAVENWORTH This town in north-central Washington is always a fun destination, no matter what time of year. But for a Bavarian-theme town like Leavenworth, Oktoberfest takes on special significance. This year's beer festival, which begins Oct. 3, is set to be bigger and better than ever.
Last year in Munich, Germany, 5.8 million people showed up for the annual Oktoberfest celebration and gulped down 5.7 million liters of beer during the two-week celebration. Apparently that's why Munich calls its Oktoberfest the world's largest beer festival.
By Jeff Larsen | October 2, 2003
RESORT SEMIAHMOO Picture yourself on the spit at Semiahmoo a century ago.
At sunset the shadow of a three-masted ship laden with salmon spreads over the Alaska Packers Association dock. Seamen disgorge thousands of fish from the bowels of the large ship for processing at a state-of-the-art cannery. Seagulls hoping to score a stray morsel swarm over the cannery as the fish are unloaded.
By Jeff Larsen | March 6, 2003
VANCOUVER, B.C. — Hairdresser Paul Scott jokingly told me he takes personal responsibility for starting Yaletown, a trendy, upscale section of downtown, when he opened his shop on Hamilton Street in 1985.
For familiarity reasons, he decided to name his shop Scott Hamilton, after the well-known street, not the professional ice skater.
By Jeff Larsen | February 5, 2004
SOOKE, B.C. Fall is definitely in the air on the southwest shore of Vancouver Island.
As the early evening sun angled sharply through the towering trees near the entrance to the Country Cupboard Cafe just west of Sooke, owner Jennie Vivian stopped our conversation about her cute chaletlike building and gestured toward the window behind me. The sunlight, she said, looked different somehow. To her the change in the light was the first sign of fall, regardless if the calendar indicated it was only late August.
By Jeff Larsen | September 11, 2003
PACIFIC BEACH -- The average traveler might think a town with businesses called Zany Zebra and Wacky Warehouse should look more like an amusement park than a cozy little resort community on the Washington coast called Pacific Beach.
Actually the Zany Zebra is a small drive-in diner, and the Wacky Warehouse is like a cross between a junk store and a hardware store -- a fitting description is hard to pin down.
By Jeff Larsen | September 18, 2003
WENATCHEE That loud crunch you heard last week was me at the Stemilt Fresh Fruit store in downtown Wenatchee biting into one of the first Golden Delicious apples to be harvested this year in the Wenatchee Valley. That first bite was worth the yearlong wait.
The valley came alive in earnest at the beginning of the month as orchardists fired up their tractors, and migrant workers fanned out through the more than 57,000 acres to begin the apple and pear harvest that usually runs through the end of October or the first week in November.
By Jeff Larsen | September 25, 2003
VICTORIA, B.C. -- This city is one of those versatile destinations in the Pacific Northwest, with something for just about everyone. The cosmopolitan capital of slightly more than 325,000 people has well over 3.5 million visitors a year who spend more than a billion dollars on everything from whale-watching tours to high tea at the historic Fairmont Empress Hotel.
By Jeff Larsen | March 11, 2004
OCEAN SHORES - It's often wet - soaking might be more descriptive - usually windy and sometimes wild as Pacific Ocean storms assault the 6,000-acre, relatively unprotected peninsula called Ocean Shores on the state's central coast. But the weather elements seem to add a special allure to one of the area's most popular year-round destinations.
By Jeff Larsen | January 8, 2004
BRACKENDALE, B.C. -- From a distance, their white heads made the mature bald eagles look like Christmas ornaments liberally sprinkled among the trees along the Squamish River.
Thousands of the mighty raptors migrate to the area during the winter from all over British Columbia and even Washington, Oregon, Montana and Alaska -- to feed on the Squamish River chum salmon run.
The bald eagle migration attracts tourists from all over the world to the wild region about halfway between Vancouver and Whistler on the Sea-to-Sky coastal highway.
By Jeff Larsen | January 22, 2004
BEND, Ore. -- Oregonians often refer to Central Oregon as the sunny area of the state because the Cascade Mountains protect the region from much of the nasty, rainy weather so predominant on the coast.
Bend, the area's largest city and urban center, is almost smack-dab in the center of the state. The town gets lots of sun and very little rain -- less than 12 inches per year.
By Jeff Larsen | May 20, 2004
