At the Cabin
I grew up in the Midwest. Illinois, to be precise. In Illinois, we had cornfields and soybeans. To the north up in Wisconsin and Minnesota, though, were big trees, lakes and… cabins. On occasion, I’d know someone whose cousin’s girlfriend’s grandparents owned one of those lakefront cabins, and up we’d go to relax a little, […]
Earthbox Inn is an Oasis on San Juan Island
I’ll happily pitch a tent almost anywhere when I am sleeping outside. But when it comes to indoor accommodations, I can be a hard person to please. Too many bed and breakfasts go crazy with floral prints, or cabin themes, or what have you. Go corporate and you can get stuck under a terrible watercolor […]
Chasing Summer on San Juan Island
Psst…. get our premier guide to fall travel – Autumn Escapes in the Pacific Northwest. Get inspired to spend your fall weekends combing rocky beaches, savoring the harvest, and hiking scenic mountain trails of Washington and Oregon. Get it here. I can hardly believe that summer is over. Wait a minute– did I really just type that? I’m […]
North Cascades Institute’s BASE CAMP
My sweet son Isaac is almost two, and already his curiosity about nature is blooming. He can pick out a doug fir among cedars. He can identify four varieties of native ferns, and “waterfall” is one of his favorite words. And so last week, we decided it was time to introduce him to our North […]
Bellingham, a City by the Sea
Last week we found ourselves weighing our intense need for a weekend getaway against taking a tantrum-throwing, teething toddler away from his home and routine. We drew curly straws, the weekend getaway won, and I was soon searching for a destination that was relatively close to Seattle with lots of fun things to do and […]
Why Tourism Matters
In my state of Washington, the economic recession has hit state budgets extremely hard. Our state legislature is currently grappling with fixes to fill a $2.6 billion budget gap; this is on top of a $7 billion budget shortfall they dealt with last year. These are big numbers, and they’re resulting in big, deep cuts […]
Eagles and Buffalo in the North Cascades
The upper Skagit River Valley in northwestern Washington is home to the western half of the North Cascades Highway, possibly the most scenic drive in the Northwest. It transects the rugged, craggy North Cascades mountain range as it climbs and dips its way east, and then drops and opens into the Methow Valley on the […]
Geotourism Arrives in the Central Cascades
Have you heard of “geotourism?” I first heard the term directly from Sheila Buckmaster, senior editor at National Geographic Traveler magazine, when I served on a panel alongside her in 2007. I remember scribbling the term in my notebook and thinking – that’s what we need in Washington! Geotourism is defined as a form of […]
The Parents Escape to Downtown
If you have kids, you might just relate to this: even though I love my son more than life itself, a little time away from him every once in awhile is the stuff dreams are made of. Let’s just say I am eternally grateful that my parents live a short ferry ride away from our […]
A Weekend Among Eagles on Whidbey Island
Eagle Aerie, a self-described “occasional lodging,” is a continental breakfast B&B that sits perched atop the western cliffs of central Whidbey Island.
