Plan for Northwest convention/vacation.SEATTLE IS DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS, a great restaurant town, a city with an acoustic marvel of a symphony hail, a new baseball stadium with a retractable roof, and nightly swing dancing all over the place. Not to mention very enticing shopping and dozens of great places to walk, run, and meditate. But when NCEW NCEW National Conference of Editorial Writers holds its 2000 convention in this coffeed burg on Puget Sound, plan week -- or at minimum, an extra day or two -- to experience the Pacific Northwest. The conference is September 13-16, which happens to be smack in the middle "Smack in the Middle" is a first-season episode of Batman. It first aired on ABC January 13, 1966 as the second episode of the series, and was repeated on August 25, 1966 and April 6, 1967. of the season when it's sometimes sunny. The places Northwesterners like to vacation are two hours' to a day's drive away from the site of your next convention: Mount Rainier This Northwest icon is 98 miles southeast of Seattle, its 14,411-foot peak perpetually topped with snow. Mount Rainier is a magnet for climbers, hikers, and campers. (And people who savor meadows of wildflowers, deer and chipmunks, gigantic red cedars, and Douglas firs.) Rainier also is Waterfall Heaven. It's possible to tour Mount Rainier in a long day from Seattle. (Commercial vans takes tourists up the mountain from Seattle and from SeaTac Airport.) The National Park Service operates two lodges on Rainier: the National Park Inn and Paradise Inn. (For reservations at either: 360/569-2275 or www.guestservices.com/rainier.) The national park Web site is www.nps.gov/mora. The Mt. Rainier Business Association has the low-down on private lodging, galleries, stores, and such, at www.mashell.com/mrba.html. Mount St. Helens The Northwest's most famous volcano blew up in 1980. The remodeled mountain -- a favorite of hikers -- is a two-hour drive south of Seattle on Interstate 5. A long day is enough to get there and back, drive as far as the roads go in this dynamic and remarkable place, take a hike, and see the landscape from dozens of viewpoints. A sight-seeing helicopter ride begins at one of five visitor centers. The mountain is formally Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is a U.S. National Monument that includes the area around Mount St. Helens in Washington. It was established on August 27, 1982 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan following the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. : 360/247-3900 and www.gorp gorp - /gorp/ (CMU, perhaps from the canonical hiker's food, Good Old Raisins and Peanuts) Another metasyntactic variable, like foo and bar. .com/gorp/resource/us_nm/wa_mount.htm. Overnighters can find lodging in nearby Castle Rock, Kelso, and Longview. Olympic National Park Olympic National Park National park, northwestern Washington, U.S. Established in 1938 to preserve the Olympic Mountains and their forests and wildlife, it covers 1,442 sq mi (3,735 sq km); it includes a strip of Pacific Northwest shoreline geographically separated from the Olympic National Park is three ecosystems: old-growth and temperate rain forest Noun 1. temperate rain forest - a rain forest in a temperate area rain forest, rainforest - a forest with heavy annual rainfall , 63 miles of wild Pacific coast, and the glacier-topped Olympic Mountains. Nearly all of its one million acres is classified as wilderness. Taking a ferry from Seattle (or from Victoria, B.C.) or driving south around Puget Sound, it's about three hours to the park headquarters in Port Angeles. One long day will get you the essence. Real exploration needs two to three days. The Hoh Rain Forest The Hoh Rain Forest is one of the few temperate rain forests in the world, and is also the largest. It is located on the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington state, USA. Within Olympic National Park, the forest is protected from commercial exploitation. is magnificent: ancient trees, luscious moss and greenery, silence. Salmon, steelhead, and rafting can be had in the rivers. The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is located near the town of Sequim in Clallam County, Washington state, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The refuge is composed of 631 acres which include Dungeness Spit, Graveyard Spit and portions of Dungeness Bay and Harbor. is for bird-watchers, and the rugged wilderness beaches (particularly Rialto or Ruby) are Nature in the Raw. Olympic National Park can be reached at 360/452-0330 or www.nps.gov/olym. The North Olympic Peninsula Visitor and Convention Bureau, at 800/942-4042, knows what's nearby. Victoria, British Columbia You'll think you're in Great Britain. Maybe it's the hanging flower baskets, the 50-acre Butchart Gardens, the bone china, the kilts, the double-decker buses. Probably, it's high tea in the Empress Hotel. Victoria is an elegant day or two, easily accomplished without a car. Get there by Victoria Clipper passenger ferry in two to three hours from Seattle, or Victoria's own Princess Marguerite III in 4 1/2 hours. Other ferries run between Port Angeles and Victoria. Clipper Navigation is at 800/888-2535, or www.victoriaclipper.com. Tourism Victoria can be reached at 800/663-3883. Vancouver, British Columbia Drive north on I-5 from Seattle through three hours of very pretty scenery and you'll be in another favorite destination, Vancouver, B.C. (Stop at customs to cross the Canadian border; Tourism British Columbia Tourism BC is a government-owned Crown Corporation of the province of British Columbia, Canada. Established as a crown corporation in 1997, its mandate is to promote tourism in the province. Organizationally, it reports to the Ministry of Tourism, Sports and the Arts. at 800/633-6000 can report what you need in the way of ID.) In Vancouver, check out the restaurants (particularly in Chinatown and Gastown), galleries and theater, the skyline and the waterfront, Stanley Park, and Queen Elizabeth Park. San Juan Islands San Juan Islands (săn wän), archipelago of 172 islands constituting San Juan co., NW Wash., E of Vancouver Island. The islands were visited and named c.1790 by Spanish explorers. You can take in this chain of islands in one day on a Washington State ferry, a Clipper Navigation excursion boat, or San Juan Island San Juan Island is the second-largest and most populous of the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington, United States. It has a land area of 142.59 km² (55.053 sq mi) and a population of 6,822 as of the 2000 census. Shuttle Express in Bellingham, 90 minutes north of Seattle. But you'll wish you'd scheduled several days (or a lifetime). Bicyclists prefer Lopez Island because it's flat. Watching whales is the attraction in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Orcas Island is the site of Rosario Resort and Spa and Roche Harbor Resort, both famous and elegant resorts (suitbale for a wedding, if you are so inclined). The archipelago is home to quiet beaches, many of Washington's best-known artists and craftspeople crafts·people pl.n. People who practice a craft; artisans. , and more than 100 pair of bald eagles. The San Juan Islands Visitor Information Center is at 360/468-3663. A vacation in the Pacific Northwest also could include visits to Portland, Ore., and the Columbia River Gorge. A day's drive from Seattle, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The festival annually produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to October. will be in full swing in Ashland, Ore. (www.orshakes.org). and that's not far from Crater Lake National Park Crater Lake National Park, 183,224 acres (74,206 hectares), SW Oreg., in the Cascade Range; est. 1902. Crater Lake, 20 sq mi (52 sq km), lies in a huge pit that was created when the top of a prehistoric volcano was blown off by a violent eruption. (www.nps.gov/crla/) And the guaranteed cure for whatever ails you is a week (or two) exploring the Oregon Coast. NCEW member Joann Byrd is editorial page editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Her e-mail address is JoannByrd@seattle-pi.com |
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