Seattle, the largest city in Washington state, is home to many historical sites, such as the Pike Place Market downtown. The century-old market, known as the "soul of Seattle" and "America's premier farmers' market," according to the market's website, offers booths of produce, other foods, entertainment and arts and crafts. Other historical landmarks in Seattle include Pioneer Square, the city's oldest neighborhood, offering restaurants, nightclubs, art galleries and community shops. Likewise the 605-foot-tall Space Needle is Seattle's landmark, built for the 1962 World's Fair.
Established in 1899, Mount Rainier National Park is home to a large and active volcano, also the highest point in Washington state. The volcano is among 16 "Decade Volcanoes" worth watching worldwide, identified by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior. The heavily forested national park offers a variety of outdoor activities, such as touring Mount Rainier as well as hiking, biking, fishing and camping in any of the five regions of the park, Paradise, Longmire, Sunrise, Ohanapecosh and Carbon River.
First a small settlement in eastern Washington known as Spokane Falls, Spokane is now one of the largest cities in the state. The Bing Crosby Theatre, once named the Clemmer Theatre and the Metropolitan Theater of Performing Arts, is a landmark. Opened in 1915, the Art Deco building is one of the few early movie theaters still in operation. Also in Spokane is the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist; construction on this Gothic structure started in 1925 and finished a decade later.
Olympia, the state capital of Washington, is home to just under 50,000 people. The area once was home to several Native American tribes, including the Chehalis, Nisqually, Puyallup and Squaxin. The city, located at the southern tip of the Puget Sound region, is also known for the Olympia Brewing Company, which established Olympia Beer in 1896. The city is known as the region's artistic center; its cultural entities include the Capital Playhouse and Washington Center for the Performing Arts.
