Also see Specific Destinations, Travel and Location Humor.

Page Toppers

• Hello, Seattle
• A Little Trip to the Extraordinary
• Meet Me in Seattle at the Fair
• Sleepless in Seattle
• Welcome to Washington
• Winter in Washington

Quotes

• As I emerge from the forested Cape Alava Trail into the open expanse of the magnificent Ozette wilderness coast, I am always struck with a sense of awe at the beauty of the soaring eagles overhead, the deer grazing in the grass by the edge of the beach, and the islands and seastacks silhouetted by clouds rolling across gray skies in the distance. (Kevin MacCartney)
• A day without sunshine is like a day in Seattle.
• Driving from Spokane toward the huge dam on the Columbia River, strangers often feel that they are traveling not ninety miles but a thousand. the world seems to change--to become broader, drier, lonelier. (Philip Hamburger)
• It's hard not to fall in love with Seattle on a beautiful summer's day. (Robert Spector)
• The month of June saw long, warm days, cloudless blue skies, and mountain peaks that stayed out of hiding--as if intentionally, just to instill more deeply the settlers' conviction that Elliot Bay was indeed the most beautiful and productive country anyone could live in. (Brenda Wilbee)
• My wife and I just prefer Seattle. It's a beautiful city. Great setting. You open your front door in the morning and the air smells like pine and the sea, as opposed to bus exhaust. (Ron Reagan)
• Of all the fire mountains which, like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest. (John Muir)
• The prairies are all right. The mountains are all right. The forests and the deserts and the clear clean air of the heights, they're all right. But what a bewitching thing is a city of the sea. It was good to be in Seattle--to hear the foghorns on the Sound, and the deep bellow of departing steamers; to feel the creeping fog all around you, the fog that softens things and makes a velvet trance out of nighttime. (Ernie Pyle)
• Seattle is a soft city, made up of soft light and hills and water and growing things an a sense that nature is truly accommodating...There is no day in the year when it is too hot or too cold to work or get around, and few days when one cannot be outside, in a boat, walking, playing golf or tennis or going fishing...Seattle's colors are gray and green. (Roger Sale)
• The thing that I still come away with is how close so many people feel to the mountain [Mt. Rainier] emotionally and psychically, and yet how far away the world is when you're on the mountain. (Bruce Barcot)
• Washington is nicknamed "The Evergreen State" because it sounds better than "The Incessant Nagging Drizzle State. (Dave Barry)
• Washingtonians don't tan, they rust.

Symbols

• Nicknames: The Evergreen State; The Green Tree State; The Chinook state
• Slogan: A Little Trip to the Extraordinary
• Motto: bye and bye
• Colors: green and gold
• Song: Washington, My Home
• Folk Song: Roll on Columbia, Roll On
• Dance: Square Dance
• Bird: American Goldfinch
• Fish: Steelhead Trout
• Insect: Green Darner Dragonfly
• Tree: Western Hemlock
• Flower: Coast Rhododendron
• Grass: Bluebunch Wheatgrass
• Fossil: Columbian Mammoth
• Gemstone: Petrified Wood
• Fruit: Apple
• Vegetable: Walla Walla Sweet Onion
• Pro Sports Teams: Seattle Mariners (baseball); Seattle Supersonics (basketball); Seattle Seahawks (football)

Facts About Washington

• Capital: Olympia
• Residents: Washingtonians
• State Name Origin: named to honor George Washington (the only state named after a president)
• Admitted to Statehood: 11 Nov 1889
• Order of Admission: 42nd state
• Coastline/Shoreline: 157/3,056 miles
• Length: 360 miles
• Width: 240 miles
• Area: 71,300 square miles
• Size Rank: 18
• Number of Counties: 39
• Streams and Rivers: 70,439 miles (Washington has over 1,000 dams)
• The Columbia River drops 1,290 feet in its swift, heavy, six hundred mile flow through the state of Washington, and drains an area as big as France. (John Gunther)
• Geographic Center: 10 miles WSW of Wenatchee in Chelan Co.
• Mean Elevation: 1,700 feet
• Highest Point: Mt. Rainier, 14,410 feet
• Lowest Point: Pacific coast, sea level
• Agricultural Products: apples (produces more apples than any other state), lentils, dry peas, hops, pears, red raspberries, spearmint oil, sweet cherries, processed fruits and vegetables
• Commercial Products: lumber and plywood, pulp and paper, aircraft (Boeing is the world's largest aircraft maker), hydroelectric energy, machinery, electronics, computer software (Microsoft Corporation is in Redmond), aluminum
• Average Winter High Temperature: 20 degrees
• Record Low Temperature: -48 degrees (30 Dec 1968 Mazama and Winthrop)
• Average Summer High Temperature: 84 degrees
• Record High Temperature: 118 degrees (5 Aug 1961 Ice Harbor Dam)
• Official Language: English
• More information about Washington

Washington, My Home

(words by Helen Davis, arranged by Stuart Churchill)

This is my country; God gave it to me;
I will protect it, ever keep it free.
Small towns and cities rest here in the sun,
Filled with our laughter, "Thy will be done."

Washington my home;
Where ever I may roam;
This is my land, my native land,
Washington, my home.
Our verdant forest green,
Caressed by silvery stream;
From mountain peak to fields of wheat.
Washington, my home.

There's peace you feel and understand
In this, our own beloved land.
We greet the day with head held high,
And forward ever is our cry.
We'll happy ever be
As people always free.
For you and me a destiny;
Washington my home.

Items of Interest

• Governor Gary Locke is the first Chinese-American governor in U.S. history.
• Washington state has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined.
• Everett is the site of the world's largest building, Boeing's final assembly plant
• The Northwestern most point in the contiguous U.S. is Cape Flattery on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.
• The Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge at Evergreen Point is the longest floating bridge in the world. The bridge connects Seattle and Medina across Lake Washington.
• The oldest operating gas station in the United States is in Zillah.
• The world's first soft-serve ice cream machine was located in an Olympia Dairy Queen.
• Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world, was founded in Seattle.
• Seattle is home to the first revolving restaurant, 1961.

Notable Natives

some of these were born here, others just lived a while in the state.

• Douglas Dorland Anderson - archaeologist (Olympia)
• Earl Anthony - bowler (Kent)
• Bob Barker (1923- ) - television game show host (Darrington)
• William Boeing - founded the Boeing Aircraft company (lived in Seattle)
• Dyan Cannon - actress (Tacoma)
• Chester F. Carlson - inventor (Seattle)
• Carol Channing - actress (Seattle)
• William Clark (1770-1838) and Merriwether Lewis (1774-1809) - explorers who led an expedition to the Pacific ocean
• Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) - rock star (Aberdeen)
• Judy Collins - singer (Seattle)
• Fred Couples (1959- ) - professional golfer (Seattle)
• Bing Crosby (1903-1977) - singer, actor (Tacoma)
• Bob Crosby - musician (Spokane)
• Merce Cunningham - choreographer (Centralia)
• Howard Duff - actor (Bremerton)
• Francis Farmer - actress (Seattle)
• Bill Gates - co-founder of Microsoft, philanthropist (grew up in Seattle, now lives in Medina)
• Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) - rock and roll guitarist (Seattle)
• Robert Joffrey - choreographer (Seattle)
• John Walker Kendall - scientist (Bellingham)
• Hank Ketcham - cartoonist (Seattle)
• John Knowles - author (Faumont)
• Gypsy Rose Lee - entertainer (Seattle)
• Kenny Loggins (1948- ) - singer, songwriter (Everett)
• Phil Mahre (1957- ) - Olympic skier (lives in Yakima)
• May McCarthy - author (Seattle)
• John McIntire - actor (Spokane)
• Robert Motherwell - artist (Aberdeen)
• Patrice Munsel - soprano (Spokane)
• Jimmy Rogers - singer (Camas)
• Francis Scobee (1939-1986) - astronaut (Cle Elum)
• Seattle - Suquamish leader
• Smohalla - native American prophet, leader
• Hilary Swank (1974- ) - actress (Bellingham)
• Adam West (1928- ) - actor, played the original Batman (Walla Walla)
• Martha Wright - singer (Seattle)
• Audrey Wurdemann (1911-1960) - Pulitzer prize-winning poet (Seattle)

The Washington State Flag
The flag was adopted in 1923. The background is dark green--the only state flag of that color. It is also the only state flag with a picture of a president. The state seal is in the center. It has a yellow outer border with the words "The seal of the state of Washington, 1889" (year state was admitted to the union). In the center is a portrait of George Washington (who the state was named for) on a blue background.

Ways to Tell Someone is From Seattle

• Considers it a sunny day if the sun is visible at some point of the day.
• Designer wardrobe comes from REI, Eddie Bauer, Lands End, and Birkenstock.
• Feels guilty throwing an aluminum can in the trash, instead of a recycle bin.
• Groans when Seattle gets listed as one of the best places to live. At all costs, Seattleites do NOT want to encourage ANY MORE people to move to Seattle.
• Have been "snow" skiing in the RAIN more than in the snow.
• Knows at least three Microsoft burnouts, of which two are millionaires.
• Stands on a deserted street corner in the rain, waiting for the light to say walk. Seattle police issue over 2500 citations a year for jaywalking in downtown Seattle. Once, while I was crossing the street, the "Don't Walk" light started flashing just as I reached the middle of the intersection. The pedestrian beside me turned around, and walked back to the corner we started from!
• Takes an umbrella wherever they go!
• Uses more than five words to order a cup of coffee. "I want to order an unleaded, double, short, skinny, wet cappuccino with a shot of Amaretto please."
• When discussing rain forests and volcanoes, they are NOT talking about Hawaii.

Songs about Washington

• My Beautiful Washington Rose - Arkie Shibley (1951)
• Spokane Motel Blues - Tom T. Hall (1973)
• Washington Rain - The Chymes of Freedom (2008)
• Washington State - James Whetzel (2008)
• Winter in Washington - Bill Wright (2009)

Songs about Seattle

• Hello, Seattle - Owl City (2009)
• It's Raining in Seattle - Wynn Stewart (1973)
• Moving to Seattle - The Material (2006)
• Seattle - Public Image Ltd (1987)