Washington Tourist Theme Towns: Lynden, Leavenworth, La Conner & Winthrop

Washington has several theme towns. I'm not sure that is the proper name for them. Towns with a theme. Maybe just calling them Tourist Towns suffices.

Leavenworth is definitely a town with a theme, with that them being a town in the Bavarian Alps, with the Cascade Mountains substituting for the Alps.

Winthrop is another town with a theme, with the Winthrop theme being an Old Western Town. Winthrop came to life when the North Cascades Highway opened a few decades ago. Prior to the highway being built, Winthrop was a very isolated location in Washington. Now it's a major tourist destination.

La Conner, in the Skagit Valley, was a very poor, rundown, sad little town, way back in the 1960s. I don't remember what sparked the change, but the change to La Conner is amazing. La Conner is now a classic tourist town, with galleries, good restaurants, brew pubs, marinas and a lot of visitors.

And then there is Lynden. Lynden is the reason I am from Washington. My Dutch ancestors came to America in the late 1800s. They kept trying to find a place to live that they liked. Further and further west they went. And then they heard of this place in the far northwest corner of America. My great-grandpa was sent, solo, to check it out. He spent a summer, and then returned to his sister, my great aunt Anna, and my great-great grandpa and grandma, Cornelis and Aagie, bringing with him apples, thick bark from a tree, tales of berries growing wild, lush farmland, tall trees and land that reminded him of Holland.

And so they moved to the Lynden area, along with a lot of other Dutch people.

Lynden retains its Dutch character, leading many to say a visit to Lynden is like a visit to Holland without needing a passport.

When you visit Lynden you can't help but notice that there seems to be a lot of churches. And the lawns are all immaculately kept. Lynden may be the most litter free town in America.

I am likely forgetting a Washington theme/tourist town or two. Of all of them, Leavenworth is my favorite.

Washington My Old Home

Washington has become a tourist Mecca in the past few decades.

With iconic attractions like Pike Place Market, Mount Rainier and the Space Needle along with the Cascade Mountains, the Olympic Mountains, Mount St. Helens National Monument, North Cascades National Park, Olympic National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, 5 volcanoes including Mount Baker, destination tourist towns like Leavenworth's Bavarian Village and Winthrop's western town, both in Eastern Washington. In Western Washington you can sort of visit Holland in Lynden. Another tourist town is La Conner in the scenic Skagit Valley, where in the Spring the valley floor is covered with tulips and other flowers.

Add in a thriving arts scene including music, theater and museums, plus, orchards, breweries, wineries and to give you plenty of energy to see and do it all, the world's highest per capita number of places to buy coffee.

And in the past decade Seattle has become the homeport to 5, or is it 6, cruise ships, sailing to Alaska, sort of a modern day version of the Alaska Gold Rush when Seattle served as the launch pad to Alaska, with many Seattle fortunes made outfitting gold seekers.

In Washington you can try and seek your fortune in the many casinos owned and operated by Washington State Native American tribes, like the Tulalip and the Puyallup.

While it is true that it rains in Washington, particularly on the west side of the Cascade Mountains, in summer you'll find many days without a cloud in the sky.