Enter the world of beauty and fun when you step through the door the Seattle Aquarium.  Here you will be able to see a orca whale and her it’s calls, be amazed by the glowing jellyfish and run your fingers along a sea anemone’s soft tentacles!  Have you ever had a chance to see a sea otter up close?  You can here. 

In the display called the Window on Washington Waters you will see salmon, colorful rockfish, vibrant sea anemones and other native Washington marine life. 

There are unusual animals to see too such as the Pinecone fish, Cowfish, Glying Gurnards, Potbelly Seahorses, short Dragon Fish and even more!  Make an effort to find the Flashlight Fish, you’ll get a kick out of seeing this unusual species.

The Northwest Shores exhibit shows you the habitats inherent to the coastal areas of the Northwest.  Here you will see how birds are able to use their unique features to live thrive in this inhospitable home!  The Alcids are fun to watch as they are the diving birds. The variety of birds and the story of how they survive is all available for you to see at the aquarium.

There are some truly unique things in the Puget Sound Fish display.  There are Grunt sculpins, Pacific spiny lumpsuckers, midshipmen fish, canary rockfish, wolf eels, and decorated warbonnets who are native to the waters of the Northwest.

The underwater Dome is one of the Aquarium’s largest  exhibits.  This is a fabulous way to see the fish in their elegance and beauty.  Here you can have a 360 degree view of the 400,000 gallon tank, how cool is that!

Watching the Marine Mammals in their exhibit is truly entertaining.  The sea otters and seal put on quite a show as they dive and lounge on the edge of the water.  You can get to know what the sea otters names are and learn of their individual habits that make them so charming.

Hours
9:30am to 5pm daily
Last entry at 5pm, exhibits close at 6pm

Holiday hours
Note: All exhibits close one hour after the last admission.
Thanksgiving Day 9:30am-3:00pm
Christmas Eve 9:30am-3:00pm
Christmas Day 12:00pm-5:00pm  (The Aquarium Store will be closed on Christmas Day)
New Year’s Day 9:30am-5:00pm
Open regular hours all other Holidays, including Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, and Veteran’s Day. 

Admission: Aquarium Only                                                    
Adult (ages 13 & over)        $15.00
Youth (ages 4-12)                $10.00
Child 3 and under                Free

Aquarium & Argosy Harbor Cruise
Adult (ages13 & over)          $28.00
Youth (ages 6-12)                 $17.00
Child (ages 4-5)                    $10.00
Child 3 and under                 Free

Location: The Seattle Aquarium is located on Pier 59 on the Waterfront at:
1483 Alaskan Way
Seattle, WA 98101

Phone: 206.386.4300
 

Seattle Aquarium – Seattle, Washington is a post from: Washington Tourism

The permenant collection at the museum consists of a wide range of fabulous items to see form the Episodes from Aeneid, ca 1470 which is an Egg tempera, oil, and gold on wood panel.  Paolo Uccello was the artist who lived in Florence, Italy from 1397 to 1475.  The Window: Peonies in the Wind, ca 1893.  This pice is leaded glass with copper foil.  Designer John La Farge who is American, 1835 – 1910 measuring 56 x 26.  There is also a Galukw’amhi (Mask of the Crooked Beak), ca 1940.  This red cedar, paint, red cedar bark, mahogany plywood, leather, cord piece was created by Willie Seaweed (Hilamas) Kwakwaka’wakw, Nak waxda’wx Blunder Harbour, 1873 – 1967.  The Plaque: Oba and attendants, ca 1550 – 1650.  This piece is cast bronze (cire perdue) with African ties to Nigerian, Benin.  The pice is 18 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 4 inches.  See the Herat Sutra from 2002 which is Punchong; stoneware with white slip, and gold.  Created by Yoon Kwang-cho who was born in Korea in 1946.  This piece is 20 1/2 x 19 5/8 x 9 inches.  These samples of the facinating things to see and learn about that are in the permenant collection will cetainly make you want to spend more and more time at the museum to see all the things that are there, not only the permenant collection but also those temporary displays.

Seattle Art Museum Downtown
1300 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101-2003
206.654.3100

Hours

Tuesday–Sunday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Thursday & Friday: 10 a.m.–9 p.m.
Monday: closed

Admission:     *  $13 adults
    * $10 seniors (62+)
    * $7 teens (13–17), students (with ID)
    * FREE for children 12 and under
    * FREE for SAM members
Free Days:
#  First Thursdays: Free to all
# First Friday: Free to seniors (age 62+)
# Second Fridays, 5–9 p.m.: Free to teens (ages 13–19) with ID

Closed on the following holidays:

    * Thanksgiving,
    * Christmas Eve
    * Christmas Day
    * New Year’s Eve
    * New Year’s Day
    * Labor Day, Monday

Another part of the SAM is the Seattle Asian Art Museum where you will be enthralled with the beauty of the Asian art on display.  You may see work from Korean such as the Inspired Simplicity, the Su-Mei tse: East Wind, or from the permanent collection Discovering Buddist Art – Seeking the Sublime or many displays of Chinese Art: A Seattle Perspective.

Seattle Asian Art Museum
1400 East Prospect Street
Volunteer Park
Seattle, WA 98112–3303
206.654.3100

Tickets

Suggested Fees

    * $5 adults
    * $3 students with ID, seniors 62 and over and youth 13–17
    * Free for children 12 and under
    * Free for SAM members

Winter Hours

Wednesday–Sunday: 10 a.m.– 5 p.m.
Thursday: 10 a.m.–9 p.m.
Monday & Tuesday: closed

Free Days

First Thursday
Admission to the Seattle Asian Art Museum is free on the first Thursday of each month for everyone.

First Fridays for Seniors
Admission to the Seattle Asian Art Museum is free on the first Friday of each month for seniors 62 and over.
First Saturdays for Families

Admission to the Seattle Asian Art Museum is free on the first Saturday of each month for families.

Closed on the following holidays:

    * Thanksgiving,
    * Christmas Eve
    * Christmas Day
    * New Year’s Eve
    * New Year’s Day
    * Labor Day, Monday

The third part of the museum is the Olympic Sculpture Park which has 9 acres of vibrant green space with sculptures for you to wander through and enjoy.  The creativity shown in this fabulous park wil well worth the time to take and see it.  A 2,200 foot Z-shaped path links three land parcels and leads from a steel-and-glass pavilion through four ecological environments to Elliot Bay. 

Olympic Sculpture Park
2901 Western Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
206.654.3100

 Hours

The Olympic Sculpture Park is open and free to the public 365 days a year!
Park Hours–Open Daily

Opens 30 minutes prior to sunrise
Closes 30 minutes after sunset
PACCAR Pavilion Hours
Day after Labor Day–April 30

Tuesday–Sunday: 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Monday: closed
May 1–Labor Day

Tuesday–Sunday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Monday: closed

Closed on the following holidays:

    * Thanksgiving,
    * Christmas Eve
    * Christmas Day
    * New Year’s Eve
    * New Year’s Day
    * Labor Day, Monday

Seattle Art Museum – Seattle, Washington is a post from: Washington Tourism

Seattle has a wide array of different places to visit, but this is truly a Mecca of Victorian Romanesque architecture for you to enjoy.  Here you will find unique shops, fine art galleries and it is the epicenter of Seattle’s entertainment nightlife.

You can visit this area in a number of different ways.  You might want to take the buggy ride throughout the area or take a guided walking tour or see it from the deck of a ferry.  If you want you can certainly wonder on your own and find the wonders that are waiting for you.

At Pioneer Square Park and Pergola you will be able to see a totem pole from the Tlingit American Indian Village (1890) and the Pergola, built in 1905, to shelter passengers waiting for the cable car that used to travel along Yesler Way.

Stop and see Smith Tower which, when it was built in 1914, was the tallest building outside of Manhattan.  Visit Waterfall Garden where you can take a break from the walking and perhaps have a picnic lunch.  This is the mark of where The United Parcel Service began.

Occidental Park is the home to a number of shops, a Gold Rush era hotel and other charming places to visit.  You will be able to see the Fallen Firefighter’s Memorial here.  The Memorial was created by the University of Washington graduate Hai Ying Wu, to pay homage to fallen firefighters, immortalizing them as heroes.

Klondike Gold Rush National Park tells the story of Seattle’s role in the Gold Rush.  It features exhibits and artifacts, gold panning demonstrations, film shows, and interpretive talks to your pleasure.  Klondike is open from 9 am to 5 pm daily and admission is free.

Take the Waterfront Streetcar for a ride from the International District through Pioneer Square along the waterfront.  The vintage streetcars allow riders to travel in a delightful manner to different locations in and near Pioneer Square.

The Triangle Building is truly something to see.  Built in 1909 with just eight rooms, the Triangle Hotel was said to be the smallest hotel on the West Coast. Today it houses residents and a pub, just across from Seahawks Stadium.
 

Pioneer Square – Seattle, Washington is a post from: Washington Tourism

The beauty of this area of Washington is still a secret to many that would enjoy the wild, rugged beauty of the area filled with jagged peaks, cascading waterfalls giving an eyeful of outstanding splendor.  The 318 glaciers are just waiting for your discovery.  The mountainous region included in the National Park consists of four different parks all managed by the National Park Service as one unit.

The park had 318 glaciers with an area of 117 km² (Post et al., 1971), which is the most of any park in the lower 48 states. All the glaciers in the park have retreated significantly from 1980-2005 and the rate is increasing. The recent warmer climate has led to more summer melting and more winter melting events, reducing winter snowpack. Several glaciers in the range have melted away in the last decade.[1] The Boston Glacier, on the north slope of Boston Peak, is the largest glacier in the park with an area of 7 km². The other large glaciers (with areas greater than 2.5 km²) are:

    * Redoubt (Mount Redoubt)
    * Nooksack (Mount Shuksan)
    * Sulphide (Mount Shuksan)
    * Challenger (Mount Challenger)
    * Inspiration (Eldorado Peak)
    * McAllister (Eldorado Peak)
    * Neve (Snowfield Peak)
The park is also home to a number of animals that will be a thrill to see as you hike in the area.  Just make sure you take caution, both for yourself and for them while in their area.  There are wolves, grizzlies, lynx, moose, wolverines, and many other rare species.

There is the North Cascades National Park North Unit, North Cascades National Park South Unit, Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas.  This area has a long history of being the homeland to many Native American tribes with trade done between the Plateau tribes to the east and the Coast Salish tribes to the west.

With a history of over 8000 years in the mountains the Native Americans are sill an important part of the present as well as the history of the area.  The park complex consists of 684,000 acres (1,069 sq mi) of the Cascade Range in four separate, yet adjoined, units.

The area is popular with both hikers and mountain climbers.  Cascade Park is popular since it was the travel route of Native Americans and can be accessed by a four-mile trail at the end of the gravel road.  South Picket Rangers and Eldorado Peak and the mountains surrounding them are popular with climbers because of the combination of glaciations and technical rock.  These climbs are not for the beginner, they are challenging and take honed skills but it is someplace that you will want to get to as you become more accomplished in your climbing skills and knowledge.

Mount Skuksan which is located in the northwest corner of the park is a popular spot for photographs of the mountains.  This is the second highest peak in the park standing 9,127 ft.

You can also go exploring in the park by boat up Lake Chelan and Stehekin.  You can take your pick of canoeing or kayaking as well as going out in a fishing boat.  Ross Lake is a popular spot for camping.

If you choose to visit Baker Hot Spring you will find an easily accessible soaking pool surrounded by Douglas fir, maple and cedar.  This 15 foot diameter soaking pool will rest both your body and your mind. 

In the winter you can enjoy the cross-country skiing in the area where you will enjoy the peace and beauty found in few other places to equal this.  In the summer you will want to take the nature trails but in the winter you may use them for showshoeing, backcountry skiing and snowboarding.

The area also offers you the opportunity of off highway drives, flatwater paddling and canoeing, birding, fishing, mountain biking, road biking, sea kayaking and so much more.

Discover this wonderful are of Washington.  You will return time and again.

Directions: Primary access to the North Cascades and Ross Lake National Recreation Area is off of State Route (SR) 20, which connects to I-5 at Burlington. Branch routes lead to Baker Lake (Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest) and the Cascade River. In winter SR 20 is closed at Washington Pass beyond Ross Lake. There is no car access to the Stehekin Valley and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. Take Highway 2 to the town of Chelan where passenger ferry and plane access is available. There is also trail access off of SR 20. The only road access to the shore of Ross Lake is via the Silver-Skagit Road (gravel) from near Hope, British Columbia.

North Cascades NP
Visitor Center, Newhalem, WA  Open daily 9:00am – 5:00pm Closed for season November 3, 2008 – April 30, 2009
Open daily during summer

North Cascades NP
Headquarters,
Sedro-Woolley, WA  Open Monday – Friday (excluding federal holidays) 8:00am – 4:30pm  Open daily Memorial Day to Columbus Day

Open Monday – Friday (excluding federal holidays) during rest of year

Wilderness Information
Center
Marblemount, WA  Open Friday – Sunday 8:00am – 4:30pm  Closed for season October 27, 2008 – May 2009

During summer, open daily with extended hours

Golden West
Visitor Center
Stehekin, WA  October 16 – 31: Open Monday, Wednesday, Friday – Sunday 12:30pm – 2:00pm

After November 1, 2008: Open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Open during ferry times only in winter and spring

Open daily during summer

Chelan Ranger Station
Chelan, WA  Mon. – Fri.:
7:45am – 4:30pm  Open Monday – Friday year-round

Glacier Public
Service Center
Glacier, WA  Open some weekends in fall for USFS tree permits

Open daily during summer

North Cascades has no entrance fee. 
Northwest Forest Pass has a $5 a day fee or $30 annual; Lake Chelan Dock Fee Pass has a $5 Day and $40 annual.

North Cascades National Park – Marblemount, Washington is a post from: Washington Tourism