USA Pacific Northwest Region
Destination Guide & Hotel Reservations
The Pacific Northwest states of WASHINGTON and OREGON , while similar in climate, topography and generally
liberal politics, are quite different in their attitude toward expansion and progress.
Since the 1990s, Washington has been home to high-tech businesses, sprawling growth,
bustling military bases and notorious freeway gridlock, while Oregon remains lower-scaled
in both design and temperament, thanks in no small measure to its stringent land-use laws
and "urban-growth boundaries" surrounding its larger cities.
Significantly cooler than California to the south, both are split by the great
north-south spine of the Cascade Mountains , with their western sides more
appealing by far. Throughout these hilly western regions, the ocean rains have
created a verdant landscape, thick with woodlands that on the Olympic Peninsula
become localized rainforests. This fertile land is where the population is most heavily
concentrated, although the principal cities are not along the exposed coast itself, which
remains - in Oregon at least - remarkably pristine, scattered with remote, rugged beaches.
Both Seattle and Portland lie roughly fifty miles from the Pacific Ocean
along the I-5 Interstate, running from Canada to California. Seattle, the commercial and
cultural capital of the Northwest, is a major national port perched on the edge of the
beautiful, island-strewn Puget Sound , with a busy network of local and
long-distance ferries among the container traffic. Portland lies adjacent to the rich
farmlands of the Willamette Valley, long the historic heartland of Oregon.
Across the Cascades, the east is far drier and less hospitable, peppered with
desert and scrubland, much of which is prone to drought and periodic wildfires, which have
become increasingly common in recent years. Of the towns, only Spokane is of any
appreciable size, though the booming resort town of Bend is a far more appealing
destination, as its Cascade-straddling location makes it a useful base for sampling the
mountains, desert and, especially the beautiful Columbia River Gorge . Of
outstanding interest also is the scarred territory between Seattle and Portland around Mount
St Helens , which erupted with devastating effect in 1980.
Reserve a Hotel Room in The US Pacific Northwest Region
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