Nearby Destinations to Seattle: Driving

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Just getting out and driving around the area with no destination in mind can be a great experience, as the Seattle area, like most of the Pacific Northwest, is very scenic. If you'd like more specific destinations, try some of these:

• The Mountains to Sound Greenway, Mountains to Sound Greenway via I-90 is the quickest "escape" from the city into the nearby Cascade mountains. Snoqualmie Pass is just an hour away, offering great views, summer hiking and winter skiing.
• Two mountain passes, Snoqualmie Pass (follow I-90 east) and Stevens Pass (take I-405 to Hwy 522 east, then take Hwy 2 east) provide fantastic views. Of the two, Stevens is arguably the more scenic.

• Snoqualmie Falls, www.snoqualmiefalls.com (Snoqualmie, east of Seattle on I-90). The falls are scenic, and if you want to stay longer than it takes to just gawk, the Salish Lodge www.salishlodge.com is pricey but incredibly romantic, with in-room Sanijet spa baths and fireplaces. The lodge offers two restaurants with views overlooking the falls. Trivia tidbit: Snoqualmie Falls is nearly 300 ft (91 m) in height, compared to Niagara's 180 ft (55 m).

• Leavenworth, www.leavenworth.org (2 1/2-hr drive east of Seattle via I-90 or Hwy 2). Leavenworth is a Bavarian-style town surrounded by the Cascade mountains. Every building has to be built in traditional Bavarian architecture, and there are many German-esque restaurants and shops. There are many festivals throughout the year, including Maifest (May), the Autumn Leaf Festival (September), Christmas Lighting Festival (December), and most notably the German beer festival Oktoberfest (October). A beautiful charming little town, worth the extra time if you are already heading east (i.e. Snoqualmie, Spokane) although it is slightly out of the way. There is also an Amtrak train service from Seattle that makes a stop in Leavenworth.

• Grove of the Patriarchs, in the Ohanapecosh River valley in the southeast part of Mount Rainier National Park, takes you on the short hiking trail through groves of thousand year-old cedars.

• North Bend (also out I-90) is the town where parts of the 1990 David Lynch TV series Twin Peaks www.twinpeaksgazette.com/tp/seriesfwwm/visiting.php were filmed. West of North Bend on SR 202 near the town of Snoqualmie there are displays of historic railroad cars, locomotives and other railroad equipment located at the Northwest Railway Museum www.trainmuseum.org. Train rides are offered Apr-Oct, as well as a "Santa Train" in late November and early December, plus several other special events offered during the year.

• Roslyn is also out I-90 (not far past Snoqualmie Pass) and is where the TV series Northern Exposure was filmed. It holds many festivals including The Manly Man Festival, Pioneer Days, and Moose Days -- the latter is an annual Northern Exposure gathering held in late July. Might be worth a stop if you're out that way, or if you're a fan of the show, but it's a very small, quiet town without much to do most days. However, there is a great small museum in the downtown core right next to the Oasis Cafe. It is worth a browse as it profiles the city's coal mining past. Roslyn is worth the stop if you have the time!

• The North Cascade Loop www.cascadeloop.com consists of a two-day minimum round trip over Stevens Pass and the North Cross-state Highway (US 2 and SR 20). It's a long drive, and SR20 is closed usually from November to April/May, but you'll see the most spectacular scenery in the state, visit towns made to look like the old west and a Bavarian Village, see the Columbia River and apple orchards on the east and deep rain-forest on the west side. www.cascadeloop.com
• The Olympic Peninsula features beaches on the Pacific Ocean, Cape Flattery (the extreme northwestern point of the contiguous U.S.), and the only temperate rain forests in the lower 48 states: the well-known and easily accessible Hoh Rainforest, the Quinalt Rainforest and the Queets Rainforest. Other notable scenic areas on the Olympic Peninsula are Crescent Lake and Hurricane Ridge. You can take the Kingston ferry over from Edmonds and follow Hwy 104 west until it meets up with Hwy 101 (head north), or head south on I-5 to Olympia and catch Hwy 101 West there. Doing the complete loop is a nearly day-long drive, and you could easily spend several days there, but you'll see a lot of fantastic scenery even if you never stop the car.
• Mount Rainier National Park Just 2.5 hours south and east from Seattle, this magnificent mountain offers a mosaic of beautiful scenery such as blooming wildflowers, glaciers, crashing waterfalls and the mountain itself.
• Mount St. Helens 2.5 hours south from Seattle
• Vancouver, British Columbia is 140 mi (225 km) north of Seattle on I-5, and is another great Pacific Northwest city. Vancouver will host the 2010 Olympics www.vancouver2010.com.