The state of Washington affords unusual opportunity for all these. Its mountains, glaciers and waterfalls are not excelled by the most boasted scenes of Switzerland.
[Illustration: MOUNT ADAMS AND FOREST-COVERED FOOTHILLS.]
Almost the year round the waters of Puget Sound and the harbors of the southwest invite the small craft. Nearly 50,000 miles of scenic highway, passable for twelve months in succession, are ready for your automobiles. Game, both large and small, feathered and hoofed, will lure you through many a jungle of delicate fern and sweet scented bramble; while countless streams and lakes teem with fish of many species.
Picturesque parks, dazzling sunsets, roaring ocean surf, cozy camping sites, beach parties and clam bakes, college regattas, midwinter fairs, roses at Christmas, golf the year round on turf that's always green--these are a few of the charms that are as common in the state of Washington as sands in the Sahara, or ice at the Poles.
If you are drawn by none of these, but desire only to satisfy that exalted yet mysterious feeling which lurks in everyone's breast, becoming manifest when the greatest works of the firmament are beheld, then by all means visit this the "Evergreen State" and drink in the glories which no book, howe'er so well written, and no picture, whoe'er the artist, can portray with any degree of fullness or accuracy.
Washington is a region of variety and strong contrasts. At one moment you may be jostled along the streets of some metropolitan center among people of many nationalities and within a mere hour or so be wafted to a sequestered spot of transcendent beauty, where no voice but your own is echoed by the hills and where the existence of any other human being to share this planet can be completely forgotten.
It is a state of large accomplishments. Big projects are planned: mammoth irrigation schemes are carried out; lands are reclaimed from the deep; orchards fill its valleys; wheat plateaus extend for miles; salmon traps line the shores; its lumber supplies the world; its ships sail all the seas; monstrous bridges cross the waterways; buildings vie with the highest anywhere constructed; its schools rank first in the Union; its men contribute to the world's greatness; its women vote and rear capable families; the people make their own laws. Loyalty, originality, enterprise, independence and liberality, all attributes of the western spirit, are evident throughout the state.