Category Archives: Towns

Individual towns and places in Washington State

In Cashmere: Mission Square is a Must-Stop

Tucked in between the tourist Mecca of Bavarian-themed Leavenworth and Wenatchee, which boasts a myriad of outdoor recreational opportunities, Cashmere has long been known as the home of the jellied candies, Aplets and Cotlets. Lots of folks frequently stopped at Liberty Orchards to take a tour and buy candy to take home, but then returned to their cars and raced down the freeway leaving the rest of Cashmere unexplored.

Now a variety of tourist-friendly businesses have taken up residence in Mission Square, an old pear packing warehouse in the Mission District.

It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere is an artisan craft distillery with a tasting room in Mission Square. They produce 30 gallons of spirits a day. Their spirits are all made by hand using fruits and grains grown in Washington. Their offerings include Moonshine, Sunshine, Wheat Whiskey, Grappa and Brandy. But their most renowned product has got to be their Northwest Dry Gin with a range of botanicals not found in any other gin — star anise, juniper, orange, lemon, coriander and others.

Wine Design showcases and sells clocks and tables all made from old wine barrels. Owner and craftsman, Brian Ropp will build anything you like from signs to tables to chairs and more to your specifications.

Besides wine barrels, four wine tasting rooms grace the Square so there are plenty of opportunities to try local wines.

Snapdragon Coffee Café should not be missed whether you stop at the beginning or the end of your visit to the Square. They serve coffee drinks to warm you up and really good, authentic Italian gelato that can be consumed in any weather.

The day I was there, the flavors on tap for both gelato and sorbet included chocolate, chocolate cabernet, blackberry cider, white chocolate raspberry, mango, raspberry cider, lavender, old world cider with Aplets and Cotlets and salted caramel. The cider in the frozen confections is made by the owners of the café who also own the Cashmere Cider Mill. The Greens also have lodging available at the Cider Mill property.

Time it just right in the afternoon and you can imbibe in Snappy Hour at the Snapdragon Café and savor an exotic drink (alcoholic-free) with either a juice base or a coffee base. I highly recommend the piña colada. Very refreshing on a hot day and I’m sure it’s just as tasty on a cool one.

I love it when first-rate businesses band together in one structure.

Do you have a place like this that you love?

Heather Larson writes about the Pacific Northwest from her office in Tacoma, Washington hoping she can entice you to visit or share your own memories of the region. You can reach her at writemix@harbornet.com.

Envy, A Thriller for Young Adults

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Several renowned thriller authors have taken their first step into the young adult genre recently. One of those lives right here in Washington and is one of my favorite writers, Gregg Olsen.

Gregg signed my copy of Envy in Maple Valley. Check his web site for other places he is signing books.

The time this New York Times best selling author spent writing true crime has paid off in his fiction work because you realize that the plots could have happened. Olsen’s first YA Envy is the first in a series of “Empty Coffin” novels. Since working with children in a school setting, I’ve always said that you have to keep kids attention with every paragraph of a book. They won’t settle for long descriptions, careless plots or flawed character profiles. When their interest wanes, they put the book down and never pick it up again. In my opinion, an author has to be the best kind of writer to appeal to the YA readers.

Olsen does this superbly in Envy. It’s the story of what can happen when cyberbullying goes way too far. It’s about twin girls with unusual powers. Coincidentally, Olsen has twin girls. It’s set in the very lovely town of Port Gamble, Washington. Maybe the town will hold “Empty Coffin” tours like Forks does “Twilight” tours. Coincidentally, Olsen lives in a small rural town in Washington, just not Port Gamble.

I love reading good YA’s because I have the attention span of a gnat. And this one, kept me turning pages well after midnight, but also checking to make sure the doors were securely locked.

Good for reluctant teen and tween readers and also great for adults who won’t tolerated slow-moving plots.

Do you read young adult novels?

Heather Larson writes about the Pacific Northwest from her office in Tacoma, Washington hoping she can entice you to visit or share your own memories of the region and read books by Washington authors, who are some of the very best.

LeMay — America’s Car Museum

Two Restaurants You Should Try

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There’s nothing I enjoy more than good food and this week I had two outstanding meals at two different restaurants.

Tuesday I had the chance to dine on some tasty crab dishes at Duke’s on the Tacoma waterfront. Seven Slanted High Balls and Seven Savory Sliders make their Happy Hour happy. The drinks are served in slanted, slightly off-kilter glasses. I’m not sure whether the glasses straighten out after you’ve had a few high balls or not, but I highly recommend the crab slider appetizer served during Happy Hour. It’s a little taste of heaven and goes well with Lulu’s Margarita. Happy hour runs 3 p.m.-6 p.m. and 9 p.m.-close everyday, weekends included.

Another palate pleaser has to be the Dungeness Crab “Un” Cakes served with lime aioli, organic field greens and a citrus vinaigrette. The powers that be at Duke’s searched the Northwest for the best crab cakes they could find and after two full days of eating nothing but crab cakes determined that the worst part was the “cake” so they left it out. The “Un” Cake is an outstanding dish.

Today I wound up at a YMCA orientation in Seattle right next to the Lunchbox Laboratory, a restaurant I’ve wanted to try for months. So, even though we’d just eaten, I insisted we at least try one menu item and since I was the oldest in the group, the rest relented. And they were happy they did.

The Mexican Cokes on the beverage list turned out to be a big hit as was the Chips and Dip Classique appetizer of handmade potato chips dusted with a rosemary-romano sea salt and served with a chunky mixture of garlic, onion and bacon for dipping.

Since I don’t know when I might return to this area of Seattle, I opted to share a Native New Yorker Burger with my grandson. Burgers are the specialty at this restaurant.

Their beef patties come from American Kobe-style beef, which tastes so much better than ground beef from the grocery store. The New Yorker lived up to its name complete with Monterrey Jack cheese, thinly sliced onions and sides of ranch and buffalo ketchup. Handcrafted smoked salts are delivered to your table and you’re told they can be added to the sides, like the skinny fries. I put bacon salt on my burger and it added just the right touch of flavor enhancement.

For a treat you can dine outside around a fire pit, which you’ll most likely need to keep warm about eleven months out of the year.

What’s your favorite restaurant in Seattle or Tacoma?

Heather Larson writes about the Pacific Northwest from her office in Tacoma, Washington, hoping she can entice you to visit and/or share your own memories of the region.

Port Ludlow’s Fireside Restaurant Does the Kid’s Menu Right

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What do you do when the kid’s menu at your restaurant just isn’t cutting it with the children you’re serving?

You could change the offerings to what you think kids would like, but how accurate will that be? Or you could create an event where children actually choose what they want on the menu. That’s precisely what happened at The Fireside at The Resort at Port Ludlow in Port Ludlow, Wash.

A plea was sent out to find children interested in taking part in a “Tasting Event” just for them. The judging panel was made up of five children representing ages 5-10. Each judge donned an authentic chef jacket, which they were allowed to keep, before embarking on their tastings.

Rose Peterson showing off the new kid's menu she helped create.

Rose Peterson, who was seven years old when she participated, and the other judges tasted and critiqued a variety of menu items and voted for their favorites. Each child then selected one menu item that would be named after him or her.

Liza’s house noodles with garlic bread, Taylor’s tenderloin steak, Journey’s banana split, Megan’s chocolate mousse and Rose’s sliders became permanent menu items. But the judge’s responsibilities didn’t end there. They also had a week to create art that illustrated their chosen menu item.

Now when a child receives their own menu at The Fireside, it is illustrated with authentic children’s art and the items listed have a real kid’s seal of approval.

Rose enjoyed her judging and never orders anything but her sliders when dining at The Fireside. She also helps out by watering the herbs whenever she’s in the neighborhood.

Bellevue’s KidsQuest Children’s Museum Fun for Adults

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When I visited KidsQuest, I had to wear a sticker that said, “Unaccompanied Adult…and wishing I were a kid again!

How true. I just wanted to dig right in and play alongside the kids.

Kids Quest Children's Museum

The first area you come to contains “Waterways.” Our guide reminded us, “There is no wrong way to play with water.” The kids there at the time seemed to agree as they splashed and guided boats through the channels. Then I was distracted by a staff member playing with green slime.

Water play is fun at any age

The museum staff makes their own slime, which takes on some very elastic properties.

So many play areas, so little time. I ventured into the Hard Hats Area without a hard hat, where I became mesmerized by this special green sand called Moon Sand that stuck together so you could make balls out of it. On to fiddling with nuts and bolts.

Unfortunately I couldn’t drive the semi-truck in the Large Science area as the driver’s seat was occupied. But I heard the driver turn the key and the sound the truck made.

When you go, don’t forget to try the scarf shooter. The scarf wends its way through all kinds of tubes and comes back to you, usually behind where you’re standing.

Currently the museum is located in the Factoria Square Mall, but it has outgrown the space and will soon be moving to downtown Bellevue.

KidsQuest is free the first Friday of the month between 5 p.m.-8 p.m.

I can’t wait to take my granddaughter there so I don’t have to wear the “unaccompanied adult” sticker and can play to my heart’s content.

Bellevue Hilton Highly Recommended

The Tree Bike: Fact or Fiction

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There’s currently a story circulating on Facebook about the bicycle in the tree on Vashon Island. It’s a made-up story of a boy who left his bike by the tree, went off to war in 1914 and never came back.

I intend to set the record straight. In actuality there is a bicycle that a tree grew around on Vashon Island. But the true story of how it got there is quite different.

In 1954 Helen Puz (who is now 99 years old) moved to Center with her five children. At that time she had been recently widowed.

“People were very sympathetic and generous,” writes Puz in a document on display at the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Museum. “We were given a girl’s bike and my 8-year-old son, Don, seemed the natural one to ride it.”

Don was none too happy having a girls bike, said Puz, but it was better than none.

The neighborhood boys, including Don, liked to play behind a local restaurant called, “The Den.” (This restaurant is now called Sound Food.)

One day Don told his mother that he had lost his bike and he wasn’t sure where he’d left it. They both let it go because Don was a little embarrassed to be riding a girl’s bike anyway.

Forty years later Puz read in the Beachcomber, Vashon’s newspaper, that someone had discovered a bike up in a tree near Sound Food. The bike was five feet off the ground and the tree had grown around it. News of the tree bike even carried to Japan where they made a film about it.

The mystery of where Don Puz left his bike had finally been solved.

If you’d like to see the bike in the tree, directions on how to get there can be found at roadsideamerica.com.

A Peak at Pacific City, Oregon

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Every so often I stray from my home state. Most recently, I visited the Oregon Coast, which I must admit has some appealing qualities that our coast does not, including more accessible beaches and gigantic rock formations in the water (you’ve probably heard of Haystack Rock). This time I stayed overnight in Pacific City, a tiny coastal town, so I’d like to share the possibilities it offers with you.

Beach at Pacific City, Oregon.

I stayed at the Inn at Cape Kiwanda, which is directly across from the beach and a few steps from a very good eatery, the award-winning Pelican Pub & Brewery. My husband and I had been to Pacific City before, but never stayed overnight because the accommodations looked expensive from the exterior. As it turns out, they are not. Rooms at the Inn start at $139. All of the guest rooms have ocean views from a private, covered balcony, gas fireplaces, microwaves, small refrigerators and high speed wireless Internet. Really, what else do you need? If you want to bring your “best friend,” dogs love the beaches on the Coast and the Inn is pet-friendly.

What to do

As the iconic single’s ad says, “you can take a long walk on the beach,” watch sunrises and sunsets, look for glass balls and watch the waves crash.

Pelican Pub & Brewery and another Haystack Rock.

If you’ve come to storm watch, you might also want to read a good book and create a scrapbook of memories.

Kids can search for agates in the sand, feed bread to the seagulls, go horseback riding and eat s’mores on the beach.

And then you can get a good night’s sleep, slumbering with ocean noises in the background and find even more activities for the next day.

A good breakfast spot is The Grateful Bread, which is a full-service restaurant and a bakery.

Cinnamon roll french toast at The Grateful Bread.

Tip: In Oregon, an employee always pumps your gas for you. There are no self-serve gas stations.

What is your favorite coast and why?

Fascinated by Fascination

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I have a new favorite game. It’s not as accessible as Words with Friends but it is equally addicting and even more fun plus it’s a little physical.

I just returned from a trip the northern Oregon Coast and in Seaside at the Funland Arcade I had the opportunity to play Fascination.

Invented in the 1920’s, it’s a game similar to Skeeball or Rollerball. You roll a ball under a Plexiglas screen and when it falls through one of the 25 holes provided, a light lights up on the backboard. Your goal is to get a “bingo” either across, down or diagonally with the lights. An auctioneer-type emcee lets everyone know how many lights they need for a bingo to keep the challenge going.

Sometimes he gave us two balls, which really confuses non-multitaskers like myself or sometimes we played black out. In the end I finally won a Frisbee. Others walked away with Seaside coffee mugs, six packs of soda made in Seaside and saltwater taffy.

I highly recommend it as a delightful family activity free of video games and screens. Fascination is operated by relays like our telephones used to be.

The Fascination Room is open seven days a week in the summer and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the rest of the year.

DiscoverWashingtonState.com

Discover Washington State