Olympic Peninsula is calling
If there’s anyplace worth the drive, it’s got to be Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. It has everything: mountains, lakes, seashore, temperate rainforest, banana slugs, the whole bit.
When we were kids, my grandparents bravely took my brothers and me on a tour of the peninsula in their travel trailer, and I have a distinct memory of endless fields of wildflowers.
So I don’t know why you’re not in your car right now. If you need one more incentive, here you go:
Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort – 12 miles into Olympic National Park – opens for the season on Friday. To mark the occasion, they’re offering the “Spring into Springs” package through May 22.
An unrelated special, honoring Earth Day, rewards one-night guests arriving in an “earth-friendly mode of transportation” with a $50 in-house voucher for dining or gift shop purchases through the month of April.
Spring into Springs wraps a recently renovated standard cabin, pool passes, a pool toy, and breakfast and lunch boxes together for a family of four. Prices start at $188 per night, $55 off regular rates.
For my grandparents’ crowd, you can hook up your RV at one of the resort’s 17 sites for $25 a night plus tax.
Regardless where you lay your head at night, during the day you can get your fill of three outdoor mineral water hot springs. They’re kept between 99 and 104 degrees, and if you just can’t handle it, dip your toes in the freshwater swimming pool instead.
There’s more water fun to be had at Sol Duc Falls – a three-mile hike from the resort – or you can try your luck with the salmon, steelhead and rainbow trout in the Sol Duc and Hoh Rivers. If all that activity wears you out, the resort will set you up for a massage.
To get in on Spring into Springs, visit www.visitsolduc.com or call (866) 476-5382.
The Maryhill is alive …
Also worth the drive, the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Wash., recently opened its 69th season.
“Percy L. Manser: Grandeur and Light” leads 2008’s special exhibitions, through July 6.
The museum calls Manser “an outstanding regionalist of his day,” inspired by the “grandeur of the mountains of valleys of the region.” So he whipped out his brushes and produced a “widely popular” collection of landscapes.
More than 50 of them are on display, along with Manser-related photographs and documents.
Concurrently, “The Maryhill Outdoor Sculpture Invitational” presents large-scale works from a number of Pacific Northwest artists in the museum’s sculpture garden. The exhibit overlaps Manser, starting May 10 and running through Oct. 31.
“Andy Warhol and Other Famous Faces” elbows its way onto the schedule from July 19 to Nov. 15 with portraits of the Beatles, Sitting Bull, General Custer, Geronimo, Queen Elizabeth, Jimmy Carter, Marilyn Monroe, the excrutiatingly irritating Liza Minnelli and Jaccqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Warhol’s famous Cambell’s Soup cans make the scene, and works by a number of other artists cover more of the celebrity landscape.
While you’re in the neighborhood, head four miles east to take in the Stonehenge replica, a monument to Klickitat County’s World War I soldiers.
There’s more about Maryhill’s fascinating history, its collection of sculptures and drawings by Rodin, and other ongoing exhibitions, at www.maryhillmuseum.org. Or you can call (509) 773-3733.
Regional events
•Puyallup Spring Fair, April 17-20, Puyallup, Wash. Celebrate the change of seasons with music, comedy. a garden show, the Kidzone – complete with reptile and wild West shows – and “Thrivefest,” a night of “games, inflatables, prizes and fun.” (www.thefair.com/ 253-841-5045)
•15th Annual Ancient Echoes of Tribal Belly Dancing, April 25-27, Detroit, Ore. Breitenbush Hot Springs invites you to “honor yourself and the power of your creativity in a vibrant circle of women.” The weekend covers tribal-style belly dancing instruction, yoga for belly dancers, tribal singing and more. (www.breitenbush.com/ 503-854-3320 or 3321)
•Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival, April 25-26, Missoula. Featured guests including Phil Woods, John Allred, James Morrison and Bucky Pizzarelli join the man himself in concert at the University of Montana. (www.visitmt.com/ 406-243-5071)