506 Travel Guide

The Washington State Capitol in Olympia centers on a stately domed legislative building, its 87-metre masonry dome sheathed in copper — the tallest self-supporting masonry dome in the United States. Completed in 1928 after a 1907 fire, the campus blends Classical Revival symmetry with Pacific Northwest landscape. Free guided tours cross the marble halls, the legislative chambers and the rotunda. Set among manicured grounds with views toward Puget Sound, it is both a working government and a serene civic park.

Mount Rainier National Park encircles one of the Cascade's tallest volcanoes — Mount Rainier (4,392 m), a snow peak crowned by 26 glaciers and Washington's most awe-inspiring landmark. The Paradise area is famed for summer wildflower meadows (lupine, Indian paintbrush), earning its 'paradise' name; it's also a hiking and climbing mecca, with the 150 km+ Wonderland Trail circling the mountain. Visitors gaze at glaciers from centres, walk boardwalks through blossoms, or catch first light at Sunrise viewpoint. After autumn snow, the park turns into a quiet snowshoe and Nordic ski world.

Mount St. Helens is an active Cascade volcano made world-famous by its catastrophic May 18, 1980 eruption — the northern flank collapsed in one of history's largest landslides, sending ash across several states. Now a National Volcanic Monument, its huge horseshoe-shaped crater still steams while scientists monitor activity and ecological recovery. Visitors face the broken summit from Johnston Ridge Observatory, or walk trails through blasted forest and regenerating vegetation, witnessing nature rebuild. It's both a geology lesson and a testament to life's resilience.