Seattle Mag
Tot Textiles: Eco-Chic Comes to Your Kids’ Room
Portland's YOLO Colorhouse debuts a line of healthy fabrics
YOLO Colorhouse, Portland’s purveyors of pretty, nonpolluting paint, has created a new line of soft and snuggly organic fabrics just for life’s newcomers. The Sprout Collection ($36 per yard) features 100 percent organic cotton fabric boasting a 230-thread count that’s made in the U.S.A. using nontoxic, water-based inks. Even better, YOLO teamed up with craftsperson…
Architect Jim Castanes Revives a 1910 Home on Capitol Hill
The remodel features a new playroom and sunken patio garden
When it comes to remodeling, it’s often just easier to knock things down and start from scratch than it is to make calculated changes from within. The downside of this route is that it can result in a hodgepodge design compromise, and, ultimately, in the loss of a home’s heart. Christine and Eric Larsen, and…
Dry Soda, Fonte Makes A Splash At Aspen’s Big Food Fete
You just never know who you’re going to bump into at the huge Aspen Food & Wine Classic Grand Tasting Tent. There are hundreds of wineries, scores of food purveyors, not to mention ginormous displays of dazzling gadgets, gizmos and kitchen equipment for the home cook and the pros. More than 5,000 consumers streamed into…
Willows Inn Chef Blaine Wetzel Wows Aspen Food & Wine Classic Crowd
Blaine Wetzel, the wunderkind chef from Willows Inn on Lummi Island, was named one of the nation’s Best New Chefs by Food & Wine Magazine, his increasingly famous face featured on the cover of the July issue. One of the perks of this recognition is an invitation to the Aspen Food & Wine Festival, a…
Cormac Mahoney Shines at Aspen Food & Wine Classic
Madison Park Conservatory’s Cormac Mahoney was glowing. And it wasn’t just the photo-op bright lights. No, the chef was basking in the steady stream of compliments flowing from the consumers at this weekend’s glittering Aspen Food & Wine Classic. Even after waiting in one of the longest lines of the event, avid food enthusiasts raved…
The Gates Foundation Brings World Health Home
A new interactive exhibit helps connect Seattleites with the problems people face worlds away.
Seattleites are nothing if not socially aware, but it can still be difficult for us to fully grasp the grave problems facing people who live a world away. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hopes to help bridge that gap with its new visitor center, located on the organizational campus near Seattle Center. The interactive…
Free Shoe-tying Lessons
Need help getting your tot trained to tie his own shoes? Leave it to the professionals.
Flip-flop days are upon us, but soon enough, it will be time to lace up those runners again. Need help getting your tot trained to tie his own shoes? Leave it to the professionals by attending a free shoe-tying lesson in the Nordstrom kids shoe department. Offered once a month at all locations, typically on…
Hear Classical Music on the Peninsula
Pastoral beauty and a symphonic soundtrack await at Quilcene’s Olympic Music Festival
WHERE: Quilcene, Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula. WHY: For the 29th season of the Olympic Music Festival (6/30–9/2. Sat.–Sun., 2 p.m. $14–$33. 7360 Center Road; 360.732.4800; olympicmusicfestival.org), where the pastoral grounds invite both strolling and swaying to classical masterworks. Take a seat inside the lovely, turn-of-the-century barn—or spread a picnic blanket on the luxurious lawn…
Best Hikes with Views
Sweeping coastal and mountain views offer big payoffs on these hikes and walks.
Mount ConstitutionOrcas Island Difficulty: Moderate to difficult; 6.7 miles round-trip, 1,490-foot elevation gain. Or easy; a scant eighth-mile from parking lot to tower Location: In the San Juan Islands, about three hours from Seattle, via Interstate 5 and the ferry from Anacortes. Nearest town: Eastsound, about 20 minutes from the top. Discover Pass required; parks.wa.gov …
Best Hikes into Old Growth Forest
Grove of the PatriarchsMount Rainier Difficulty: Easy; 1.5 miles round-trip, 50-foot elevation gain Location: About a two-hour drive from Seattle, on the southeast side of Mount Rainier National Park, via Enumclaw. Nearest town: Packwood, 14 miles. $15 park entrance fee; dogs prohibited; nps.gov If you like your trees old—really old—this easy one-and-a-half-mile lollipop loop is a…
Best Hikes to see Wildflowers
Two hikes boasting riotous wildflower displays and gorgeous mountain views.
Sourdough Ridge TrailSunrise, Mount Rainier Difficulty: Easy; 2.5 miles, 400-foot elevation gain Location: Two hours from Seattle in the northeast corner of Mount Rainier National Park. Nearest town: Enumclaw, 60 minutes. $15 park entrance fee; dogs prohibited; nps.gov For subalpine meadows bursting with extravagant color, head to Sunrise, the highest spot you can drive to on…