|
| |
| |
|
SPOKANE |
| |
The wide-open spaces and drab little towns of eastern Washington
don't prepare you for SPOKANE ("spo-CAN"). A few miles from the Idaho
border, it's the region's only real city, and its scattering of
grandiose late-nineteenth-century buildings - built on the spoils of
Idaho silver mines - sport some unexpectedly elegant touches.
The town's nexus is the hundred-acre Riverfront Park , sprawling over
two islands in the middle of the Spokane River. Originally planned by
Frederick Olmsted of Central Park fame, the park was not laid out as
specified until just before Spokane hosted the 1974 World's Fair.
Bisecting the park, the river tumbles down a series of rocky shelves
known as the Spokane Falls , once a fishing site for native peoples and
later the home of the first pioneers. Attractions include an ice-skating
rink which shares space with the IMAX theater, the charming hand-carved
Looff Carousel , and the Gondola Skyride cable cars (summer Sun-Thurs
11am-8pm, Fri & Sat 11am-10pm; $4.75) which run above the falls from the
west end of the park.
Most of the relics of Spokane's early grandeur can be found several
blocks southwest on W Riverside Avenue, where neoclassical facades
cluster around Jefferson Street. The city's nineteenth-century
highlights include the Davenport Hotel , the Clark Mansion , and the
Tudor Revival Campbell House (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm, Sun opens at 1pm; $4),
part of the Cheney Cowles Museum at 2316 W First Ave ( ), a regional
history museum holding an impressive collection of artifacts.
|
|
from $34.00
USD