Perennial Appeal of Seattle, Washington by Lee Foster A Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, a maturing Northwest Cuisine restaurant scene, and the green splendor of the Olympic National Park epitomize Seattle’s many perennial appeals for the traveler. Seattle is the major city in the Evergreen State, an appropriate nickname for a region that includes a bonafide rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula west of the city. Windshield wipers play more than a cosmetic role on area autos, although the sky tends to threaten constantly rather than saturate the city with monsoon deluges. Actually, only 37 inches of rain fall in the city each year, though the amount of overcast would suggest more. Water-oriented Seattle looks seaward both for its livelihood and its recreation. Salmon fishing and shipping vie with the region’s land-based producers of wealth, such as lumbering and agriculture. Boeing aircraft manufacture and computer software development, especially at Microsoft, add diversity to the area’s economy. Within the metropolis live over 2.5 million people, a comfortable number compared to other congested major urban centers, though traffic, even here, has become a major problem and mass transit investments have helped. The presence of trees and water provides visual relief everywhere from any oppressive sense of population density. Seattle lies in the cool, wet land west of the Cascade mountains that run in a nearly unbroken chain north-south through the center of the state. East of the Cascades the rainfall is much lower, the weather is warmer, and huge wheat fields or apple orchards are more typical than the forested terrain found west of the Cascades. When planning a visit here, be aware that there is measurable precipitation on 152 days of the year, but the rain is often soft, except for the major storms of winter. July and August are the sunniest months. The weather is temperate, seldom falling below freezing or above 90 degrees. Puget Sound, bordering on Seattle, is the boating playground of the state. Power boating and sail boating are popular pastimes. Sea-tac and Amtrak Most visitors arrive in Seattle either at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport (Sea-Tac, named also in honor of the late Senator, Henry Jackson) or on the rapid Interstate 5 Freeway north from Portland and Interstate 90 Freeway west from Spokane. Often overlooked by potential travelers is the convenient Amtrak service running trains north from San Francisco or west from Chicago, offering vista cars for scenery-watching and sleeping accommodations for overnight guests. Train service is also available north to Vancouver. Once situated in Seattle, you are within a day’s drive of attractions in the manageable 330×460 mile dimensions of Washington State. This is a state for the outdoor enthusiast who likes to admire scenery, hike, fish, camp, ski, and boat. Chief Sealth’s Heritage The first people to settle here crossed via the Bering Sea land bridge or by boat some 20,000 years ago. About 4,000 of their descendants lived here when the first European explorer, George Vancouver, arrived in the 18th century. These natives called themselves the Snohomish, Salish, and Duwamish, among other liquid musical names, which now designate some of the rivers of Washington. Seattle is a corruption of the Indian name “Sealth.” Sealth was chief of the Suquamish tribe at the time the first white settlers arrived in 1851. The Indians who populated the Seattle region were skillful salmon fishermen and clam gatherers, who supplemented their diet with berries and game in the summer season. They lived in sizable bark and plank houses. The Native Americans of Washington State maintain a cultural center that can advise you on Indian art, festivals, and museums. The United Indians of All Tribes office is at Discovery Park, 3801 West Government Way Extension. There are excellent displays of Northwest Indian artifacts at the Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus and at the Seattle Art Museum, located downtown. One major Indian culture experience readily available to travelers is a boat ride out to Tillicum Village on Blake Island, with a salmon bake and Indian dancing. A special part of the experience is a 1913 movie by Edward Curtis on the Indian life of the region. In this remarkable film, Curtis enlists a large cast of Indians to enact a drama of hope, love, discouragement, and war in the Indian context of the Northwest. The first European interest in the region came from fur gathering companies, such as the English Hudson Bay, or the Russian traders established in Sitka, Alaska, and at Fort Ross in California. With the discovery of gold in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon in the late 19th century, Seattle boomed as the gateway town to the gold mines. Writers such as Jack London recorded these tumultuous days. The premier site to visit, explaining Seattle’s role in the gold mining heyday, is the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, 117 South Main Street. The museum recalls the auspicious day, July 17, 1897, when the ship Portland arrived in Seattle from Alaska with more than two tons of Klondike gold aboard. The gold discovery set off a worldwide stampede for the Yukon, by way of Seattle. Genial rangers at the museum can tell you the complete story. The profiteers were the merchants of Seattle. Of those who set out for the Yukon, about 60 percent never made it. Of the 40,000 who reached the gold fields, about 4,000 found some gold, some 300 got rich, and only 50 remained rich five years later. At the museum you’ll see the supplies carried into the Yukon, plus the chilling portrait of thousands of men inching their way up the snowy Chilkoot Pass, with visions of gold dust dancing in their heads. The gold of the Canadian Yukon was a placer gold, which the small-time entrepreneur could dig up in the gravel. The Klondike era brought instant prosperity to Seattle. One aspect of the prosperity was that the streets in the downtown were raised to the second level of the buildings, creating an underground world that can be visited today in the zany Underground Tour, first organized by Bill Speidel, leaving from Pioneer Square. This tongue-in-cheek tour through the dank underground gives witty guides an opportunity to poke fun at Seattle politics and at Tacomans, the rivals of Seattlites. More enduring wealth has been created by the lumbering industry, the salmon fishing fleets (aided first by the technological advance of canning and then of freezing fish), and by the pioneering aviators who built the Boeing empire in this rather remote region. The celebration of the aviation heritage is a Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, 9404 East Marginal Way South. The museum focuses on the wonder of flight, from the Wright Brothers to the Jupiter program that put an American spaceman on the moon. Exhibits remind a traveler that a mere 60 years passed between the flight at Kitty Hawk and landing a human on the moon. As narrator Walter Cronkite put it in an introductory video, “So much has been accomplished in so little time.” Over 35 historic aircraft, from a barnstorming Curtiss Jenny to a Boeing B-47 Bomber, are on display in the Great Gallery. A thorough interpretive program assesses the impact of Aviation on American life. Boeing adds a huge component to the regional employment. For example, in Renton, Boeing employed thousands in high-paying jobs to manufacture the most popular jet of all time, the Boeing 737. Slightly inland, in Redmond, Bill Gates set up his Microsoft software empire, complete with a host of camp followers. As with California’s Silicon Valley, however, the secrecy of these enterprises makes it difficult for the traveling public to interact with the industry. Space Needle to Chittenden Locks: A Seattle Tour Start a Seattle visit with a look at Seattle Center, legacy of the 1962 Expo. The 74- acre landscaped site includes the Space Needle, with its 500-foot-high revolving restaurant and observation deck. There is also a more casual restaurant at a lower deck. From the Space Needle you can view the layout of the city and its lovely, watery perimeters. Notable also is the Pacific Science Center, with its intriguing hands-on aerospace exhibits. A brisk walk or Monorail ride from the Seattle Center toward downtown takes you near the Pike Place Market, a classic stop. Originally an open farmer’s market, started in 1907, the area now combines fish markets, produce markets, craft-sellers, and restaurants. As local suppliers of Northwest produce have become more numerous, Pike Place has evolved from a market selling imported California vegetables and fruits to a showcase for the best of the Northwest. Thousands of buyers and sellers interact daily in this egalitarian setting, known for its inexpensive, available spaces and its entrepreneurial, small-scale operations. The Pike Place area merits plenty of time to browse and enjoy, with many discoveries resulting. You might stumble upon the Phoenix Rising Gallery, which shows innovative glass blowing, or the Ring of Fire Gallery, which carries imports mainly from Kenya. Near the market entrance, DeLaurenti is a classic Italian grocery with rows of fine mustards and olive oils. A good restaurant from which to observe the Pike Place scene is the elevated Copacabana, across the street and between the main market entrances. Some of the original impetus for a Northwest Cuisine came from B. Fuller’s Mortar and Pestle, downtown, in the Sheraton. At Fuller’s try their Wild Greens Salad, which may contain up to thirty ingredients, including edible flowers.