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Washington Curiosities, a Book Review

© Jerri Brooker

One of the pleasures of writing about Washington State is to not only to visit places I know, but find new places that I can share with you, my readers. I not only travel around the state, but read about Washington in every pertinent book I can find, or I scan the Internet. Imagine my surprise when I picked up this book at the local Barnes and Noble in early January and discovered a January, 2004, publication date. Hot off the press!

The title, Washington Curiosities, caught my eye. I'm a curious soul, always looking for new and interesting things to do in Washington State. When I opened the cover I was surprised to see the author is not a Washington native, but her tone is one of "fitting in." She could have fooled me. She got the lingo right and has discovered places in her research I didn't know about! I have to laugh reading the Introduction where she talks about the banana slugs in our state. She's a good sport.

Opening the book willey-nilly after I look at the cover and see sights familiar, I find:

Dillon Works

This firm in Mukilteo specializes in creative designs they fabricate for other businesses. The book-accompanied photo shows a huge folded-up 26-foot airplane on their business roof with a person in it - like we used to make of paper as kids. Reading further I learn the plane's real construction materials and find a link to learn more about the company: http://www.dillonworks.com . Caught my eye.

Scott Petersen, the Reptile Man

Yep, I read it right. He likes creepy-crawlies and things that go bump in the night. Catch the Washington Serpentarium at Monroe and see some of Petersen's caught creatures. If you can't read the book or make it to Monroe then visit http://www.reptileman.com and see what this is all about.

The operation has moved from Gold Bar, location noted in the book, to Monroe since the book was researched, but it's still there. It's billed "as one of the most comprehensive collections of reptiles on the West Coast."

Okay, the book wasn't up-to-date on the museum site, but it got me there. I'd heard about the reptile man in the state; this book took me to him. By the way, I'm an arm's length looker when it comes to these kinds of critters; these finds will never get close to me!

My Thoughts

These are just a couple of entries, and there are well over 250 pages of more go-there-and-see-it sites to visit or just plain read about and surf on the Internet when a site's listed. I'm pretty amazed at how thorough the entries are. Many are very familiar, but it's fun to pick up a book that has an author that does her research and finds lots of fun and educational experiences for the Washington State visitor.

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