74 Best Sights in Washington Cascade Mountains and Valleys, Washington

During the town's early years, Gig Harbor's waterfront was lined with wooden structures set on pilings over the water; fishermen used these netsheds to store gear and tackle. Today just 17 of these structures remain, with the town's still active commercial fishing fleet still using some of them. This 3-acre park preserves the historic home and netshed once owned by the Skansie Brothers, lifelong fishermen and boat builders. Festivals and a summer farmers' market are held on the grassy lawn, which includes a pavilion, picnic tables, and a platform overlooking the harbor.

At this quirky downtown museum, rooms filled with some of the world's earliest electrical appliances—light bulbs, phones, batteries, motors, radios, TVs—along with photos, news clippings, and interactive exhibits tell the story of how electricity transformed our world. A particularly interesting exhibit sparked by the film The Current War traces the competitive battle for technological supremacy among Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla. On weekends at 2:30, docents present a wildly entertaining electric light show, complete with 12-foot lightening bolts, in the museum theater.

This leafy 314-acre tract, called Priest Point Park until 2022, is a beautiful section of protected shoreline and wetlands. Thick swaths of forest and glistening bay views are the main attractions, with picnic areas and playgrounds filling in the open spaces. The 3-mile Ellis Cove Trail, with interpretive stations, bridges, and nature settings, runs through the Squaxin Park area and around the Olympia coast.

Comprising 71 acres of marshland, evergreen forest, and a shallow lake that break up the urban sprawl of west Tacoma, the center shelters 20 species of mammals and more than 100 species of birds. The lake has nesting pairs of wood ducks, rare elsewhere in western Washington, and the interpretive center is a fun place for kids to look at small creatures, take walks and nature quizzes, and dress up in animal costumes.

A 15-minute drive north of Bremerton (not far from Poulsbo), this museum is fronted by a can't-miss sight: the 88-ton Trieste II submarine, which dove to the deepest spot in the ocean (the Marianas Trench) in 1960. The main building presents rotating shows and contains excellent permanent exhibits on oceanography, torpedo technology, submarine rescues, mine warfare, and the navy's strategic war deterrence initiative. 

This imposing structure dates from 1911, when Tacoma was the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Built by Reed and Stem, architects of New York City's Grand Central Terminal, the copper-domed, beaux arts–style depot shows the influence of the Roman Pantheon and Italian baroque style. The station houses federal district courts, but its rotunda contains a gorgeous exhibit of glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly. Because it's a government facility, be prepared to walk through a metal detector and show photo ID.

This 1958 Navy destroyer, berthed along the marina near the ferry docks, is open for self-guided tours. Allow between one and two hours to walk through the narrow passages to view the cafeteria, medical office, barbershop, prison cell, cramped bunk rooms, and captain's quarters. Navy veterans are often on hand to answer questions and talk about what it would have been like to sail aboard this impressive ship.

The chief attraction in historic, 28-acre Wright Park is the 1908 glass-dome W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory, a Victorian-style greenhouse (one of only three such structures on the West Coast) filled with exotic flora.

Located just northeast of downtown Woodinville and comprising the largest concentration of the town's wineries and tasting rooms, the Warehouse District lacks curb appeal—it's mostly a warren crisscrossed by rows of single-story industrial buildings with garage-door facades and, occasionally, outdoor seating areas. Still, this is where many of the smaller and most innovative vintners in Washington are creating outstanding wines, many with very limited releases. Some standouts are Adrice Wines, Damsel Cellars, Efeste, Obelisco, Patterson Cellars, Quiddity Wines, and Tinte.

These attractive grounds, sprawling around the buildings perched above the Capitol Lake bluffs, contain memorials, monuments, rose gardens, and Japanese cherry trees. Free 45-minute tours (weekdays 10–3, weekends 11–3) from the visitor center take you around the area. If you want to see state government in action, the legislature is in session for 30 or 60 days from the second Monday in January, depending on whether it's an even- or odd-numbered year.

On upper Whatcom Creek, Whatcom Falls Park (reached via Lakeway, east from I–5) features a creek with a number of pretty waterfalls; one has a popular local swimming hole, although the water is very cold. Trails lead down creek and up the creek to Scudder Pond and Bloedel Donovan Park.

Guided tours of this 80-acre wolf sanctuary are given every hour on the hour and run about 50 minutes, during which docents explain the recovery programs and visitors can view the wolves. It's worth taking a look at the website before visiting—tours are mandatory, and the sanctuary has a few rules regarding conduct. Most importantly, parents should know that although the sanctuary can be a wonderful place for kids, it does not provide as much stimulation as a typical zoo and may bore kids with short attention spans.

This local repository of history focuses on life centuries ago, with Native American tools, crafts, and attire as well as pioneer artifacts. The timber industry is another focus.

A mile-wide waterway is the boundary between the Tacoma hills and the rugged bluffs of the Kitsap Peninsula. From the twin bridges that span it, the view plunges hundreds of feet down to roiling green waters, which are often busy with barge traffic or obscured by fog. The original bridge, "Galloping Gertie," famously twisted itself to death and broke in half during a storm in 1940—it's now the world's largest man-made reef, and is a popular dive site. Its mint-green replacement and a sister bridge opened in 2007. Note: the $6 toll is for eastbound cars only; westbound it's free from Tacoma into Gig Harbor.