The book, by Ulysses Press, is full of great information not only for Washington State, but also Oregon and Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It begins with excellent, sturdy color maps of the area and progresses with logical drives through cities and countryside until you’ve pretty well covered a lot of interesting places. It’s not as thorough as a book on Seattle might be, of course, but it does a fine job.
I like it because of the “out-of-the-way” places for the traveler to enjoy, like the bed and breakfast Turtleback Farm Inn on Orcas Island the writers describe as “like stepping into the much-loved story The Wind in the Willows, surrounded as it is by acres of forests and farm tracts of animals as far as the eye can see.” The Outdoor Adventure Symbols and black-and-white maps interspersed in the book are great helps.
A lot of folks coming across the Bainbridge Island Ferry towards the Olympic Peninsula wouldn’t know to backtrack a bit to the Naval Undersea Museum near Keyport, Washington, where you’ll see exhibits from the Revolutionary War to the present. I know about a lot of places even locals don’t know about; this book helps those less traveled. It succinctly defines a place and its attributes with great direction and distinction.
Whitman Museum National Historic Site seven miles west of Walla Walla is where a terrible tragedy occurred because an American missionary, Marcus Whitman, didn’t understand Indian values and converted the Cayuse to Christianity. When half the tribe died of a measles epidemic, the Cayuses blamed the Whitman’s religion and killed them and others because their religion didn’t protect the tribe. This book tells of the plight and how to get there to see the mission.
The visited places are set up with subtitles: Sights, Hidden, Lodging, Dining, Shopping, Nightlife, Parks, etc. (Hidden is actually a trademark of Bookpack, Inc.) The restaurants are defined in detail, though only a few through each area in order to keep the size of the book down.
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