8 Best Sights in Washington Wine Country, Washington

This fascinating, underrated living history museum is quite a sight to see, with rows and upon rows of antique farming equipment, including more than 150 tractors donated by families that have been farming the Yakima Valley for generations. This sprawling property is devoted to preserving the region's agrarian heritage, with additional exhibits that include pioneer-era homesteads and cabins, a vintage railroad boxcar, a vintage gas station, a blacksmith shop, a sawmill, and many more buildings. Just south of Yakima in one of the state's oldest towns, Union Gap, the museum occupies a good chunk of 15-acre Fullbright Park and offers access to trails along Ahtanum Creek and up into the high-desert hills. The grounds are open year-round, even when the buildings are closed.

The home of artists Jane Orleman and her late husband Dick Elliott is a continuously growing whimsical folk sculpture of outsider art: a collage of some 20,000 bottle caps, 1,500 bicycle reflectors, and other colorful, reused bits. Although you can't tour the house itself, you can view the fantastic exterior and art-strewn front and backyards from the sidewalk, and you're encouraged to sign the guest book mounted on the surrounding fence.

The residential quarters of an 1856 army fort, located on some 200 acres about 30 miles west of Toppenish, look like a Victorian summer retreat. Exhibits focus on relations between the Yakama people—in the heart of whose reservation the fort stands—and American settlers. The Military Days celebration in May features reenactments. There's wildlife viewing, especially bird-watching, all year as well as 45 picnic tables and four sheltered picnic areas.

About 30 miles east of Ellensburg via Interstate 90, Ginkgo Petrified Forest hugs the western bank of the Columbia River and preserves the remarkable petrified-wood logs that were once part of a thriving ginkgo forest. The 1¼-mile Trees of Stone Interpretative Trail loop trailhead and Trailside Museum are a 2-mile drive west of the interpretive center (closed Monday through Thursday, mid-September–mid-May). The adjacent Wanapum Recreation Area has camping, swimming, and river access for boaters.

Although this rails-to-trails multiuse throughway stretches for 250 miles across Washington, following the former route of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad, this section over the Cascades and into Cle Elum is one of the more scenic and popular. Formerly known variously as the John Wayne Pioneer and Iron Horse Trail, it climbs over Snoqualmie Pass, burrows through Snoqualmie Tunnel (it's closed in winter), and then runs alongside several alpine lakes on its way to the old rail station in South Cle Elum (an excellent place to pick up the trail). From here you can also continue east toward the Columbia River through Ellensburg, if you're up for a longer adventure. The headquarters of this linear park is at Lake Easton State Park, 15 miles west of Cle Elum and just off Interstate 90. The trail is open to hiking, jogging, biking, and horseback riding, as well as cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter.

This six-building complex just outside Toppenish has a fascinating museum of history and culture related to the Yakama Nation, which occupies a 2,200-square-mile reservation. (It's a little bigger than the state of Delaware.) Holdings include costumes, basketry, beadwork, and reconstructions of traditional lodges. Tribal dances and other cultural events are often staged in the Heritage Theater. The complex also includes a gift shop, restaurant, and library.

Exhibits at this history museum on the west side of town focus on Yakama native, pioneer, and 20th-century history, ranging from horse-drawn vehicles to a "neon garden" of street signs. Highlights include a beekeeping exhibit, a wealth of Yakama Tribe art and artifacts, and a model of Yakima native and Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's Washington, D.C., office.