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This bastion of inexpensive eats attracts blue-collar workers and a large youth crowd. Great four-egg omelettes.

With the opening of the Sinclair Mill in the 1890s, Ballard was given the title “Shingle Capital of the World” as it was instrumental in rebuilding Seattle after the havoc wreaked by the Great Fire of 1889. Smaller firms and manufacturers, machine shops, and foundries settled in to stake their claims as well. Today, the area has not changed much. Skirting Ballard’s southern waterfront along the Ship Canal, Salmon Bay industries include dry dock repair and maintenance for ocean-going container ships and barges, and a large gravel company whose equipment dominates the skyline.

Specials reflect the freshest seasonal fish and seafood, and picture windows offer diners the most breathtaking views of Elliott Bay.

The scant remains of the temperate rainforest old growth trees give a clue of what Seattle must have resembled before European settlement. Schmitz is essentially a deep, wide, heavily wooded ravine surrounded by residential streets, but street noises disappear among the magnificent trees and native plantlife.

For an adventurous sport opt for scuba diving in Puget Sound to discover undersea creatures such as wolf eels, octopus, sea stars, and urchins with amazing ranges of size and color. Divers embark solo or as part of chartered excursions to take advantage of the coastline that’s never victim to heavy damage or dangerous currents from Pacific Ocean storms.

This home has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens magazine, and includes amenities such as Internet access, parking, and the flexibility of daily, weekly, or monthly rates.

A parade along 4th Avenue in early July kicks off Seafair, a celebration of maritime and aviation history highlighted by the aerodynamic “derring-do” of the Navy’s Blue Angels F/A-18 fighter pilots, an All Nations Pow Wow at Daybreak Cultural Center, hydroplane races on Lake Washington, and battleships open to the public on the waterfront.

Jonathan Borofsky’s 48-ft (15-m) tall, black metal Hammering Man stands at the entrance of Seattle’s largest art museum (see Seattle Art Museum). SAM’s permanent collection of approximately 23,000 objects includes European, Asian, African, and Northwest Coast Native American works.

Designed by Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, the imposing sandstone and limestone edifice houses an enviable permanent collection of about 23,000 pieces. The African collection inspires with traditional sculpture, masks, textiles, basketry, and decorative arts. In 1991, Seattle Art Museum acquired the John Hauberg Collection, one of the most prized examples of Northwest Coastal Native American art, comprising nearly 200 artifacts from British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, and Oregon.