Washingtonian  

Being born and raised in Washington State I can honestly say that there is no place that I would rather live. Growing up here it is easy to take for granted the beauty that is all around.

I was once on a business trip to Columbus, Ohio and the business associate that I did some traveling with around the Columbus area was a native to Ohio and had never traveled out west. While driving down the freeway he mentioned that we had to go "over that hill" to get to where we were going and I started to laugh out loud. He had a bewildered look on his face and I quickly explained to him that it simply struck me as funny that he would refer to that mound as a hill.

Another business associate who traveled out west for the first time in his life and landed at Sea-Tac airport asked "how far away is that mountain?" pointing at Mt. Rainier. He said that he never imagined that he could see it from that far away.

Just like my first trip to Montana where you simply have to be there to understand why they call it "Big Sky Country", the beauty of Washington State is something that should be experienced first hand. Everything from the Rainforests in the western most part of the State on the Olympic Peninsula to the desert lands in the eastern side, and everything in between.

Growing up my Father would often take me and my brothers on camping trips into the Cascade Mountains and we would trek all around exploring new areas, camping at either some of our favorite locations or just heading out on a logging road to see how far we could go to get away from civilization and find that hidden creek or lake where we could do some fishing and sleep under the stars.