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Stroll down the 3-block stretch of Denny between Broadway and Olive Way to scout for charming Victorian and Craftsman-style homes and elegant balconies decorated with hanging flower baskets or off-beat art. Marvel at the opulent mansions on the blocks just south of Volunteer Park. Capitol Hill’s adjacent Central District, south of Madison and north of 14th Avenue East, is a transitional neighborhood but features view properties with gorgeous old homes – best seen by car.

With rooms organized by country, this museum illustrates the links between Scandinavian people in the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1980, it’s the only museum in the United States to revere the legacy of immigrants from five Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. It also enlightens visitors with rotating and permanent exhibits such as colorful Old World textiles, rare china, books and bibles, woodworking tools, and carved wooden ale bowls. There is also a music library.

Founded by the dedicated Carter Family Marionettes in 1986, this puppet center offers a museum, archive and library, and over 250 annual performances. The troupe tours and also sponsors educational outreach programs worldwide.

Bellevue sometimes gets a bad rap from more city-slicked Seattleites. It’s a classic suburb, as well as one of the state’s largest cities. But there is an area that speaks of its former life as a small town. Head to Old Bellevue and its restored Main Street for the antidote to freeway interchanges and big box stores, especially if you like buying antiques.

This large brick warehouse used to house Seattle’s early mass transit vehicles, the trolleys. Since then, the building has been a microbrewery, an event rental facility, and a gourmet chocolate factory.

Washington’s state capital has a rich past, historic buildings, and a thriving youth culture. Highlights include the State Capitol Campus, with grounds designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1928, Evergreen State University, a farmers’ market, and the surrounding mostly rural Thurston County.

The trompe d’oeuil screen and curtains on a factory wall attract hundreds of attendees for campy feature films. It grew from a sparsely attended free affair to a popular summer weekend event that charges admission. Part old-fashioned American drive-in, part Fremont irreverence, people bring their own chairs or sofas and occasionally compete in film-related games between reels. The shows begin after sundown, but audiences begin arriving for the best seats by mid-afternoon.

Bisecting Capitol Hill are two busy streets offering their own flavor and subculture. You can find many of the area’s gay and lesbian hangouts on the blocks above and below Broadway, as well as a great selection of taverns and stores selling vintage housewares and furnishings. Although the city has tried to discourage their postings, you may also notice colorful flyers stapled onto telephone poles and virtually any surface, advertising band concerts in the vicinity. If nothing else, they draw attention to the pulse that keeps this community living and breathing on the edge.