Washington

Happiness is a slippery thing to measure, but apparently one small Washington town has done a pretty good job of figuring it out. Medina may sit close to a major…

Rattlesnakes are not usually the first thing that comes to mind when people picture Washington, which is exactly why spotting one can be such a surprise. Most encounters happen in…

Family getaways sound relaxing until somebody asks where the pool is five minutes after check-in. Luckily, this Washington resort understands that keeping everyone entertained is part of the assignment. Between…

Some roadside attractions are strange enough to make you pull over, and this one absolutely earns that reaction. Along a quiet stretch of Washington, an enormous concrete oyster shell rises…

There is a very specific kind of panic that sets in when a room has approximately a million gorgeous fabric prints staring right into my soul. Finding myself completely lost…

My jeans still smell faintly of saltwater and cedar smoke, and honestly, I refuse to wash them just yet. Last weekend, I went on a mission to find the absolute…

By the time September rolls around, my summer tan has officially faded into a stubborn coffee addiction. That’s why, every single year, I pack up my trusty sedan and chase…

Raise your hand if you’ve ever lost an entire afternoon in the craft store aisle, wondering how you ended up with five tubes of neon feathers and a hot glue…

Let’s be honest for a second, how many times have you driven past a tiny roadside attraction and thought, “Nah, that can’t be anything special”? I’m totally guilty of it….

Some museums begin with a collection. This one begins with a building that already has a story worth telling. I love that. Long before visitors came here to learn about…

My favorite bakery discoveries usually begin with somebody saying, “You probably haven’t heard of this place.” That sentence is basically a challenge, especially when pastries are involved. Bellevue, Washington has…

I have learned that the best pizza places rarely need fancy signs or giant dining rooms. Sometimes all you need is a hot pie, a paper plate, and a table…

My spouse calls it “junk,” I call it “future museum pieces with character.” Honestly, I lose all sense of time whenever I step inside that legendary antique mall in Washington….

I pulled into Clarkston on a warm October afternoon with the windows down, and the first thing I noticed was the smell of ripe melons at a roadside stand and…

Dietary rules officially cease to exist the second you cross the threshold of this Washington treasure. Picture a bustling Italian market where the air smells perpetually of garlic, cheese, and…

The first thing I saw was a 17-foot purple flamingo staring down at my car like it owned the parking lot. That bird is named Filly-Mingo, and she guards a…

Surviving a meal at this iconic Washington seafood wonderland requires a strategic game plan, stretchy pants, and zero regrets. Picture walking up to a counter and being handed a platter…

People usually look at me like I’ve lost my mind when I tell them I drive out of state just for a cookie, but honestly, have they ever tasted disappointment…

I have never needed much convincing when warm scones are involved. Add clotted cream, a proper pot of tea, and a little British charm, and I am basically already looking…

Some meals are good enough to justify a little extra mileage. In Washington, that can mean trading familiar city restaurants for a buffet waiting at the end of a long…

Pottery looks wonderfully simple until you realize how many supplies hide behind one finished bowl. Clay, trimming tools, glazes, brushes, wheels, and kilns all have a role, and suddenly that…

My sewing machine and I have a complicated relationship. Sometimes we make beautiful garments, and sometimes we scream expletives at midnight while wrestling with a stubborn tension dial. But you…

I thought playgrounds had pretty much shown me everything by now. Then Washington came along with one that looks like somebody turned a childhood board game into a place you…

There’s something magical about watching a movie under the open sky, especially when it doesn’t cost a week’s pay. Growing up, I thought drive-in movies were just relics from my…

Raise your hand if the thought of funding your golden years gives you mild heart palpitations. Yeah, me too. Until recently, I thought “affordable retirement” meant moving into a cardboard…

There are few things I love more in this world than stretchy pants and a challenge. So, when I heard about a legendary spot right here in Washington serving up…

I didn’t expect to fall in love with a bunch of mud, but here we are. On a whim, I decided to check out a stunning, wildlife-filled boardwalk trail tucked…

I’ve made a lot of questionable life choices in my day, but standing knee-deep in freezing surf with a gardening shovel has got to be a personal best. My obsession…

My friends always joke that my car has a mind of its own, and honestly, they aren’t wrong. Most weekends, it just points itself away from the city lights and…

Look, I’m a simple person. Tell me there’s a buttery, golden, freshly baked pastry waiting behind a modest glass counter, and I will walk across fire to get to it….

There are road trips for sightseeing, and then there are road trips fueled entirely by raw, unadulterated gluttony. Guess which kind I just took? I recently pointed my car toward…

I still remember the first time I drove onto a Washington State Ferry and watched the Seattle skyline slowly shrink behind me. The salty wind picked up almost immediately, and…

I did not expect to find 400-year-old English bricks sitting quietly beside a lake in Washington, but there they were, holding up a 27,000-square-foot Tudor manor with medieval stained glass…

Tucked below the streets of Seattle, there is a little Italian gem that feels like a secret worth sharing. Casa Gabriele makes pasta by hand and imports ingredients straight from…

My original plan was to spend the day wandering shops, eating something warm, and pretending I had somehow landed in a little European village. Then someone mentioned reindeer nearby, and…

The first time I heard Washington had a building big enough to hold entire airplanes under one roof, I assumed someone was exaggerating. Then I saw the scale of the…

I went in looking for one harmless little hobby and somehow left convinced I was ready to become a soap carver, candle maker, scrapbook artist, and part-time crochet prodigy. That…

Adulting is exhausting. Sometimes, instead of meditating or drinking herbal tea, you just need to launch your body off an 80-foot platform at terminal velocity. That was my exact logic…

I like to think I’m a responsible adult, but put me in front of a wall of squishy, vibrantly colored yarn when the sun is setting, and my brain instantly…

There are very few things in this life that will make me drive past five miles of gorgeous scenery just to stare lovingly at a piece of ham. But then…

My husband says I have a sixth sense for finding the exact spot in any town where I will spend all my money on things I don’t need. He wasn’t…

My doctor has explicitly told me that my blood type is now approximately 40% mayonnaise and 60% cold cuts, and honestly? I regret nothing. Last Tuesday, driven by a profound…

The best diners rarely announce themselves with fancy signs or trendy menus. They just keep the griddle hot, the coffee moving, and the regulars coming back. Washington has plenty of…

Look, I love my air fryer as much as the next exhausted millennial, but sometimes you just need a plate of pasta that tastes like it was made by someone…

My friends know better than to let me loose in plant shops unsupervised. I always go in for “just a little ivy” and emerge hours later acting like a certified…

If you had told me last Tuesday that I’d be standing in the middle of Washington, completely convinced I’d just teleported to my Babcia’s kitchen in Kraków, I would have…

My jeans always fit a little tighter by the time September rolls around, and honestly, I refuse to take the blame. It’s entirely the fault of a certain off-the-grid destination…

If your idea of stargazing usually involves squinting at three sad, blurry dots through suburban light pollution and calling it a constellation, we need to talk. Last August, I decided…

My four-year-old thinks every body of water on earth is either a personal bathtub or a monster trying to swallow him whole. There is zero in-between. So, planning a family…

My relationship with grocery shopping is usually pretty transactional: get in, grab the snacks, get out. But that all changed the afternoon I wandered into a certain magical Washington Italian…