Visit Washington State: Free Travel Guide to the Evergreen State Discover the Space Needle, Coffee Culture, the Cascade Range and the Olympic Peninsula

Washington State is a destination with something for everyone. Known for outstanding outdoor attractions, visitors are spoiled for choice with majestic mountains, colorful valleys, dramatic coastline, pastoral islands, desert plains and even surreal rain forests to choose from.

History and culture are also on display, with ample First Peoples sites to explore, as well as museums, attractions and activities celebrating history, technology, industry and the outdoors.

Washington State is home to three National Parks, including mountain playgrounds Mount Rainier National Park and North Cascades National Park. Olympic National Park, with its diverse ecosystems, is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site.

No trip to Washington State would be complete without exploring local coffee culture or, for the industrial minded, a tour of the Boeing facility in Everett and a visit to the Tukwila based Museum of Flight.

The Washington State region was one of the earliest inhabited areas in North America, with mild weather and ample natural resources surely playing a role in making it an attractive place to settle. Any study of the state must include investigation of its native peoples and cultures.

European explorers arrived in the second half of the 18th century, staking claims for their respective crowns and establishing fur trading centers in the region. The 1805 Lewis and Clark Expedition brought greater interest in the area from the United States, leading to establishment of the Oregon Territory in 1848 and separation of the Washington Territory in 1853. On November 11, 1882, Washington entered the Union as its 42nd state.

Washington State Historical Timeline

1882 Nov 11 Washington becomes the 42nd state.

1980 May 18 Mount St. Helens eruption.

Washington State is located in the northwest corner of the lower 48 United States, bordered by Canada to the north, Oregon to the south, Idaho to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It has an area of 71,303 square miles, making it the 18 largest state.

The highest point in the state is the summit of Mount Rainier (14,410 ft). The lowest point is at sea level, where the the state meets the Pacific Ocean along its western border.

The geography of Washington State can be described in terms of six land areas:

1. The Olympic Mountains and Olympic Peninsula. The Olympic peninsula lies north and west of Seattle across Puget Sound. The peninsula is dominated by the Olympic mountains, whose western slopes are the wettest location in the 48 continuous states. The Hoh Rain Forest is a major geographic feature of the region. Olympic National Park is an International Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the lower 48, and Cape Flattery, the northwesternmost point, are both located on the Olympic Peninsula.
2. The Coast Range. The Wilappa Hills are a prominent feature in this southwest region of Washington State.
3. Puget Sound Lowlands. These low lying plains lie between the Olympic Mountains and the Northern Cascades. The largest cities, including Seattle, Tacoma and the state capital Olympia are found here.
4. The Cascade Mountains are some of the highest and most active volcanic mountains in the contiguous United States. Mount Rainier, the highest point in the state, and Mount Saint Helens, famous because of a violent 1980 eruption, are two of the well known Cascade Mountain peaks.
5. The Columbia Plateau, or Columbia basin, is part of the largest lava plateau in the world.
6. A small sliver of the Rocky Mountains passes through the northwest corner of the state.

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Washington State Travel Websites:

Experience WA The official state tourism portal. Lots of slick image building material showing off the best that Washington State has to offer.

Washington State Travel Guides

Washington State History and Culture

Washington State Fiction

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