1995 Travel Guide Keeps Vacation In A Great State

The 1995 Washington State Lodging and Travel Guide is now available, “free to the traveling public,” which presumably means that if you don’t travel, you can’t get one.

Anyway, this 128-page guide is an extremely useful source of information about things to do and places to stay around Washington. And there are billions - well, millions - of phone numbers, which come in handy for travel planning.

You’ll also receive one of the state’s quarterly Field Guides, with information about seasonal events.

To get both, call (800) 544-1800, extension 101, or write to: P.O. Box 42500, Olympia, WA 98504.

On track: Despite cuts in Amtrak service nationwide, daily passenger service between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia is still supposed to begin in May, according to the Washington Department of Transportation.

Train stops in Washington probably will include Edmonds, Everett, Burlington/Mount Vernon and Bellingham.

The new service is scheduled to begin May 26 with one round trip daily between the two cities.

Fast track: The 16th annual Snake River Canyon Half Marathon, traditional beginning of running season on the Palouse, is this Saturday.

The race, which begins at Wawawai Landing, 16 miles southwest of Pullman, typically attracts 250 to 300 runners. For information, call Gary Bryan at (208) 882-9350.

Fish fight: Two seafood festivals coming up in March:

The ninth annual Penn Cove Mussel Festival at the Captain Whidbey Inn, in Coupeville on Whidbey Island, is Thursday through Sunday . Events include all-mussel dinners, a mussel-eating contest and a mussel recipe contest. For information, call (800) 366-4097 or (206) 678-4097.

The first Sea Side Invitational Chowder Cook-Off is March 18 in Seaside, Ore., with competition in two divisions (restaurant and general public). Spectators are welcome; there’ll also be samples from wineries and microbreweries.

For information about the cookoff, call the Sea Side Inn at (503) 738-6403. For a discount coupon booklet and information kit about the city, call the Seaside Chamber of Commerce at (503) 738-6403.

The cabins were REALLY small: A news release describes a new Celebrity Cruises vessel, the 1,750-passenger Century, as a “70-ton” vessel.

Actually, the correct number was 70 THOUSAND tons.

Read all about it: Out West, a newspaper about what to see and do along the back roads of the West, is offering a free issue to potential subscribers. The quarterly tabloid is in its eighth year and has 10,000 subscribers.

For a free issue, write to: Out West News, 408 Broad Street, Suite 11, Nevada City, CA 95959.

MEMO: Send information about travel opportunities around the Pacific Northwest to: Travel Editor, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.