Northwest Illiterate

This past winter I was making the routine trip from my house in Vancouver, WA, to my parents' home in Kent. My husband George and I moved south from the Seattle-Tacoma area to Vancouver about four years ago. Since then, my family and I have taken many turns visiting each other via I-5. On this recent drive I was struck by my lack of hometown knowledge. I was passing a digital highway sign that read "Chinook Pass closed". Chinook? Chinook? Where is Chinook Pass? For that matter, where is Blewett or Snoqualmie or even Stevens? What highways are paired with which passes?

Here, I had lived in the Greater Puget Sound area all my life and I didn't know my Passes? I also had never been salmon fishing or crabbing. I hadn't skied or harvested apples; I couldn't recall a Tulip festival or lavender field; I'd never hiked one of our mountains. It all seemed so sad. I had grown up in this coastal wonderland that brings up images of whales, cabins, timber and Native Tribes and I still feel like a tourist.

As I continued on through Olympia, Tacoma, Federal Way and into Kent, I made it a goal to thoroughly experience the NW. I would clad myself in plaid and adorn my feet with rain boots and Birkenstocks. I would drink my Starbucks and FullSail. And I would paddle, hike, snowshoe and cycle my way to becoming a True Northwesterner.

Welcome to my journey.