PNWSights

By Astrid · 6 places

Where to Take Your Holiday Visitors

Proof of where you live, in December light

Every December someone flies in and asks to see it, whatever it is. This is my answer: one market, one ferry, glass in two cities, a lit-up Bavarian village and a waterfall that works in the rain. Nobody goes home unconvinced.

  1. Snowy Cascade peaks rise behind a leafy park and village street, with tall green cottonwoods framing the view under a clear blue sky. In the foreground, a red “Non-Motorized Traffic Only” barrier and blue bollards mark the paved entrance near a small kiosk and grassy slope.
    1

    Leavenworth

    Leavenworth Waterfront Park

    The Bavarian village strings its lights across three December weekends, and the riverside park gives you the peaks behind the glow. Arrive early; parking is the real test.

  2. A glowing red-and-blue neon sign for Maximilien Restaurant hangs under Pike Place Market’s covered ceiling, with warm pendant lights, market menus, and a butcher shop sign clustered in the dim interior. The composition feels like an intimate early-morning street scene, emphasizing the market’s layered signage and old-world character.
    2

    Seattle

    Pike Place Market

    Fishmongers, flower stalls and the neon sign have been receiving visitors since 1907. I take guests before nine, then lose them happily in the Down Under.

  3. Inside a gallery, a large black-and-white photograph shows a person standing beside the curved glasshouse façade, with arched steel ribs and tall window panels filling the frame. To the right, a dark wall plaque titled “Glasshouse and Glasshouse Sculpture” presents exhibit text in white lettering.
    3

    Seattle

    Chihuly Garden and Glass

    Glass sculpture indoors and out at Seattle Center, which makes the weather irrelevant. The garden reads differently after rain, when every piece doubles in reflection.

  4. Seattle’s skyline glows across dark Puget Sound at night, with the Space Needle and clusters of downtown lights stretching low along the horizon. The ferry rail in the foreground and the black water below emphasize the wide, distant city view.
    4

    Seattle

    Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry

    Thirty-five minutes across Elliott Bay with the skyline, Rainier and the Olympics in rotation, and walk-ons ride free on the return from Bainbridge. It is the cheapest tour the city offers.

  5. Multnomah Falls drops in two tiers over dark basalt cliffs, with a thin upper ribbon of water falling to the historic stone footbridge and a broader lower cascade plunging into a small pool below. Lush green trees frame the misty scene, and the long-exposure blur gives the water a silky, soft look.
    5

    Troutdale

    Multnomah Falls

    Six hundred twenty feet of waterfall and a 1914 stone bridge, minutes off the interstate and flowing all winter. December mornings are quiet and the summer permit season is long over.

  6. A triptych-style stained glass panel shows Joseph Smith kneeling in a forest clearing as two robed figures appear in bright rays of light above him, framed by tall green trees and clouds. The central panel is flanked by narrower scenes of leafy woods, with gold borders and small inscriptions along the bottom.
    6

    Tacoma

    Museum of Glass

    The steel cone glows from within at blue hour, and the Chihuly Bridge of Glass is free to cross at any time. Guests get live glassblowing; I get the reflections on the waterfront.

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