Travel
Best Sports Team: Seattle Seahawks
Seattle loves a winner, so it’s no surprise that our two-time Super Bowl champions snagged this award. After the February 2026 win, nearly 1 million fans turned out to cheer on the Hawks along the 2-mile victory parade route—many people skipped work, school, and other obligations, treating the event much like a national holiday. Runner…
Best Financial Advisor/Broker: Chad Mortenson
Planning for the future can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to your finances. Rather than go it alone, hiring a financial advisor can ease the stress of thinking about big life decisions. With nearly a decade of industry experience, Chad Mortenson excels at helping Northwesterners with financial planning, retirement goals, estate planning, college savings,…
Best Real Estate Agent: Chris Cooley
Real estate agents are local celebrities in their own way—their faces turn up on signs, mailers, shopping carts, and billboards. But when it’s your house and your money on the line, a good one is worth knowing. Edmonds-based Windermere broker and condo specialist Chris Cooley has spent more than 25 years in the business. His…
Best Resort/Hotel: Populus Seattle
Once again, Populus Seattle has taken the gold for Best Hotel. A gem in Pioneer Square, this 120-room property—part of the neighborhood’s Railspur micro-district—is an adaptive reuse project that converted the century-old Westland Building into an inviting, art-forward space with a beloved rooftop bar, Firn. (It’s the only rooftop bar in the neighborhood.) The rooms…
Best Event Space: Snoqualmie Casino & Hotel
A wedding for 100 or a conference for 2,000? Snoqualmie Casino & Hotel has room for both, with Cascade Mountain views and the forests of the Snoqualmie Valley as a backdrop. The property’s 12 event spaces range from smaller meeting rooms to a new 22,100-square-foot ballroom, part of its major 2025 expansion. The hotel makes…
Best Casino: Snoqualmie Casino & Hotel
Snoqualmie Casino & Hotel debuted its $400 million expansion last year, adding a hotel, spa and fitness facility, a larger convention center, and expanded gambling space. Now, visitors can play and stay with ease: the hotel features more than 200 rooms, and six on-property dining options vary from a classic steakhouse to a coffee-forward café….
Best Road Trip: Seabrook
Why not take the long way to the beach? Seabrook is about 145 miles (that’s just under three hours) from Seattle, with no mountain pass or ferry reservation required. Stop for coffee in Olympia, bounce through Elma, Montesano, and Aberdeen, then get a dose of Grays Harbor history at Hoquiam’s Polson Museum before turning north…
How Art Stays Afloat in Iceland
Public funding, creative freedom, and a landscape that refuses to stay in the background have made this Nordic nation an extraordinary place for crafting culture.
“If you don’t have art and theaters—and free speech—it’s no good to live there.” The man telling me this, Guðmundur Kristjánsson, isn’t a curator or painter. He’s the CEO of a seafood company, Brim, and our conversation occurred at Reykjavík’s harbor on Fisherman’s Day. I had just toured one of Brim’s vessels, where framed art…
Creative Collections: Destination Museums Worth the Trip
Seeing art in person isn’t just visual; it’s visceral.
Museums will always be destinations, but you don’t need to go to the Met or the Louvre to enjoy the ride. And the thrill isn’t limited to paintings—a fighter jet, a historic cipher machine, or a field full of vintage neon also delivers an emotional impact that can only be experienced with the intimacy of…
A New Perspective on the Oregon Coast
Beyond the usual suspects like Astoria and Cannon Beach lie 300 miles of open road.
The Oregon Coast is a beguiling drive year-round, but autumn is when it feels most vital. The colors deepen, whales loiter in the shallows, and kites swoop against gray skies dappled with bursts of sunlight. At Tillamook Bay, Highway 101 veers inland through fifty miles of old-growth forest before re-emerging along the water. On this…
Inn at Langley: Where the Shore Meets the Sky
After a property-wide redesign, the Whidbey Island retreat reopens with a locally inspired take on vacationing in the Pacific Northwest.
Michelin-star chef Johnny Spero never planned to end up in the Pacific Northwest. A lifelong East Coaster born and raised in Baltimore, he began his culinary career at 16, working for a series of big-name chefs and restaurants before opening his own establishments in Washington, D.C., including Reverie, which earned him his Michelin star in…
All Aboard! Amtrak’s New Airo Trains Arrive This Fall
The long-awaited fleet makes its Pacific Northwest debut Sept. 30 on the Amtrak Cascades route.
A date that Pacific Northwest train riders and advocates have long awaited is finally nigh. Amtrak’s sleek, amenity-packed new trains will debut on the Cascades intercity route on Sept. 30. Amtrak leaders previewed the launch of commercial service of the “Airo” fleet in an event streamed live on YouTube Thursday. “This is one of the…
Washington Has Incredible Oysters. Have You Tried Alaska’s?
A quick flight from Seattle—or a stop on an Alaska cruise—leads to Southeast Alaska’s floating oyster farms and a Ketchikan waterfront spot serving the local harvest.
Living in Seattle can make an oyster eater a little smug. Washington produces some of the best, and we know it. We have opinions about mignonette—do or don’t?—and can find a good dozen without leaving the neighborhood. So when an invitation to Southeast Alaska promised oysters that were “INSANE!” I wanted to see how they…
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