Where is Washington State?

Washington State, not to be confused with Washington D.C., is a beautiful place found all the way on the other side of the country in the furthest Northernmost corner.  Washington is bordered by Oregon and Idaho to the South and East, respectively, and shares a border with Canada to the North.

People say it rains a lot in Washington, and it does, but for those of us who live here - we don't mind!  We know that the rain helps keep our beautiful trees and forests green!  The forest below is in Forks - you may have heard of this place as it was the setting for a popular series of books and movies - the Twilight Saga!

You may recognize this famous landmark found in Seattle, Washington - the Space Needle!  Originally built for the 1962 World's Fair, the Space Needle is a well known part of the Seattle skyline.  Each year many holidays are celebrated here with a fireworks show - like the Fourth of July and New Year's.  Fireworks shoot off the top of the needle and out the sides along the way up - it's really exciting to watch!

From inside the Space Needle you can see all of Seattle below you.  One interesting thing about Washington State is that, in addition to cars, trucks and trains, you can also use a ferry to get to places in the area.  Ferries are large boats that carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles, across the water.  This allows people to travel in more direct routes when they would otherwise have to drive ALL the way AROUND the water to get where they are going.

Washington also has natural landmarks - famous mountains like the one seen in the ferry picture above.  Some of the mountains are not just any mountains though - they are volcanoes!  Mount Rainier is an active volcano, which means it could erupt at any time.  However, the volcano has stayed relatively dormant since the 1800's and isn't showing any signs of change any time soon.  Below is a photo of Mount Rainier above the city of Tacoma.

Mount Saint Helens is another famous volcano in Washington.  In May of 1980 there was an eruption that blew the top of the mountain right off!  Below is a before and after picture with a cloud above what is left of the volcano on the left side of the photo.

So that's a little bit of information about the beautiful state of Washington.  Now let's see what Flat Stanley has been up to while he was here!

Flat Stanley - the basketball fan...

When Flat Stanley arrived in Washington State, he came to a Lady named Lynn in a city called Yelm.  After spending some time there and taking in the scenery, Lynn sent Flat Stanley to live with her daughter, Amy, in Kirkland.  Kirkland is not that far from Seattle and the Space Needle that we talked about earlier.

Stanley came along with Amy, her husband Anthony and their baby son Xander to Xander's first basketball game - we think it was Flat Stanley's first basketball game too!

Xander and Anthony walking to the game - all bundled up of Washington's chilly November weather.  It's not as cold here as it gets in Connecticut, but to us it's pretty cold!

Amy, Anthony and Xander enjoying the game.

The game was held at the University of Washington where the Huskies played... the Huskies...!  That's right, the Houston Baptist Huskies played the home town UDub Huskies!  Did you know that there were other colleges besides the University of Connecticut that had a Husky as their mascot?  Flat Stanley was expecting to see the guys from UCONN, but he had a good time anyway.  It didn't hurt that the home team won the game!

(Double click on Stanley's picture to see a full sized version)

Flat Stanley... the Husky fan...

Flat Stanley had such a good time at the University of Washington basketball game that when he found out about the upcoming Husky football game he just had to go!  He was becoming a UDUB Husky fan, so when he asked who the Huskies biggest rivals were, Amy suggested that Flat Stanley see for himself.

Every year the University of Washington Husky football team plays in a game called the Apple Cup.  This is the last scheduled game of the season and is always played against the Washington State University Cougars.  This year the game was going to be held at Century Link Field - the same place where Washington holds professional football and soccer games.  Stanley just couldn't wait!

Flat Stanley really enjoyed the game - mostly because the Huskies won!  He also enjoyed the half time show when the marching band from both universities played a bunch of songs while they marched on the field.  In the picture of Stanley, you can see the Husky band over his right shoulder as they played music during the game from the stands.

Flat Stanley... the NFL fan...

Before Flat Stanley had to pack his envelope back to Connecticut, Amy took him on one more adventure.  He had already been to Century Link Field, but Flat Stanley hadn't actually seen a professional game of ball.

Amy and her family were sure to get to the stadium early before the game so Flat Stanley could watch the teams practice.

Flat Stanley got to watch the cheerleaders as they welcomed the team coming from the locker room too.

Wow - there were fireworks too!  Green ones (that's one of the Seahawks team colors!)

Stanley is a little out of focus in this photo below, but he was really excited to get to see all the action as the Seattle Seahawks took on the Washington Redskins.  It was a really good game and the Hawks had a slight edge until the end when they lost the game - but Flat Stanley still had fun.

After the game, Stanley took a look around at some memorabilia.  First he posed with Matt Hasselbeck - the Seattle Seahawks star quarterback who recently left the team.

Flat Stanley saw this jersey too - the Seattle Seahawks have a lot of fans and many of them wear the number 12 to represent the twelfth man.  Eleven men from each team play on the field, so the Seahawks call the fans the "twelfth man" to honor how the fans help support the team so much, it is like they are PART of the team!  Amy thinks that after seeing all the action, Flat Stanley wanted to BE part of the team too.

The Seattle Sounders, Washington's Major League Soccer (MLS) team, also play at Century Link Field.  Flat Stanley found this fully autographed photo of the team.

Flat Stanley also noticed how different the MLS jerseys are from the NFL jerseys - similar colors, but still so different.

Overall, Flat Stanley had a great time and learned a lot about professional sports in Washington State.