The state capital of Washington is a sleepy city called Olympia. It was known as Cheetwood to the indigenous peoples before being renamed by the Europeans. Washington became American territory in 1853 and a wood capitol was built. The current legislative building wasn’t completed until 1928. The Capitol Building has Read more
Admission to the OMSI in Portland is pretty steep at $13 excluding special exhibitions. The main level has a gift shop, auditorium, and a kid-friendly science hall with interactive exhibits in a former power station. The natural sciences gallery upstairs has an excellent display of preserved human embryos from one Read more
The historical society in Portland runs the state’s history museum. Of the three levels, only the top floor is a permanent exhibition on the state’s natural and human history, everything else changes seasonally to keep exhibits fresh. There’s only street parking, so turn up early to grab a good spot. Read more
Salem may be Oregon’s state capital but Portland is the city everyone knows. It’s got that fresh forest air mixed in with salty sea winds. Gulls squawk over progressive neighbourhoods with slogans that wouldn’t be out of place in Southern California. I visited the Oregon Historical Society and the Oregon Read more
The museum in Boise interprets the path and impact Basque people have had in the US, mostly in Mexico and California. The museum building was built in 1912 for Juan Cruz Anduiza for Basque shepherds who spent winter in Boise. Large numbers of Basque moved to California in the nineteenth Read more
Boise wasn’t the first state capital, that honor went to Lewiston in the north with the border of Washington. Back then, Idaho was grouped together in a territory with Wyoming and Montana, but the southern part of the state grew rapidly with the Oregon Trail, logging, and mining. When people Read more
The state museum is aptly located in the state capital of Boise. It’s a natural history museum on the main level of the state’s varied landscape that includes gorgeous gorges, majestic mountains, curvy canyons, and desolate deserts. Travellers driving north towards Boise on the I-84 would’ve seen the Snake River Read more
Bruneau is about an hour southeast of Boise and it has two natural sites: sand dunes in the middle of a mountain range and the Bruneau Canyon. Three conditions made the sand dunes possible: sand, wind, and a geographical trap for the sand. Hills surround the dunes on three sides Read more
Bruneau is about an hour southeast of Boise and it has two natural sites: sand dunes in the middle of a mountain range and the Bruneau Canyon. The canyon cradles the Bruneau River, named after Canadian trapper Pierre Bruneau. In the 1940s, the Mountain Home Air Force Base opened to Read more
The Promontory Mountains just an hour north of Salt Lake City are scarred by the remnants of old railroad infrastructure. Cuts, fills, and culverts were used to bring trains up and down steep grades. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were racing to connect the country from coast to Read more