Do you enjoy museums? The Boeing Museum of Flight is very good.
Take a hydroplane ferry ride to Victoria, British Columbia. Victoria is a charming city. $1 US = $1.57 Canadian.
Take the Washington State Ferry across Puget Sound, drive west. Visit the town of Sequim in our "banana belt," eat at the Three Crabs restaurant, visit the Olympic Game Farm, where "Gentle Ben" and other Disney animal actors have lived, Drive further west to Port Angeles, once a great "mill town." Visit Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Forest.
Continue to drive west, passing Lake Crescent, a deep clear lake in the Olympic National Park, 17 miles west of Port Angeles along Hwy 101. The lake is 8.5 miles long and plunges more than 1000 feet at its deepest. Nearby is Sol Duc Hot Springs, a secluded resort on the Olympic Peninsula. Outdoor pure mineral water hot pools, massage therapy, hiking, and cafe. This is the trailhead for the spectacular Sol Duc Falls and Seven Lakes Basin area of Olympic National Park.
Continue to drive west and visit Neah Bay and the confluence of Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean. You can't go further west from there, so head south toward Forks, another once great logging town. On the left edge of the state you'll see what a Pacific Northwest rain forest looks like.
This trip is LONG - Seattle to neah Bay is 165 miles according to mapquest (5 hours drive time), and it's another 50 miles (<2 hours drivetime), most of it backtracking, from Neah Bay to Forks.
You know, if you've gone this far you might as well continue south to Kalaloch and get to see more of the rainforest and the Pacific Ocean. It's only another 35 miles, about one hour drivetime. Pack a picnic basket full of goodies and take a road trip. On the other hand, maybe 8 hours of driving an old two-lane (four lane in some places, but it ain't no interstate) will have you pretty tired. Get a room at the Kalaloch Lodge for the night.
The logging trucks can be pretty intimidating... just like in the movies.
On second thought, this would be a much more fun trip in August/September when there is much less overcast and RAIN (!!) and the sun is up until after 9 PM.
OK, while you're in town, you can visit the Hiram Chittenden Locks that are our own mini version of the Panama Canal, but without those pesky foreign languages.
You haven't seen Seattle until you've seen it from a DUCK - the authentic WWII amphibious vehicle will show you Seattle from the land AND the water! I'm not kidding! See: http://www.ridetheducksofseattle.com/main.htm.
Seattle's most unusual architecture is at the Experience Music Project at Seattle Center.
Check at the IMAX theater at either the Seattle Center or the Seattle waterfront.
While you're on the waterfront check out the Seattle Aquarium.
"Climb the hill" from the waterfront and you can explore the Pike Place Farmer's Market.
If you want to take a SHORT roadtrip, drive down to Tacoma, witness(tm) "The Aroma of Tacoma!" (Smells like cabbage as a consequence of the paper mils, they say, but I think it's Karmic retribution of some sort.)
Drive past the notorious Tacoma Dome, home of the JW Tacoma Dome Scandal, and visit Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium - smaller than their Seattle neighbors, but special in their own way.
How's that for a start? What do you like to do?
Edited by - Nathan Natas on 4 January 2003 1:59:49