Fort Lewis, WA Indoor Activities

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture combines permanent and rotating exhibits such as The Life and Times of Washington State exhibit, which guides the viewer through the state's ancient timeline from the age of mammoths to the mammoth modern age of humans. Through May 31, the museum proudly displays the Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway exhibit, where you can see how professionally excavated fossils compare against the trilobite farm you recently found in the bathtub.

Pilates on 10th's dedicated brood of trained muscle molders gently elongates spines and loosens limbs through body-harmonizing classes. With a series of movements and breaths, extremities are tightly trimmed and cores etch-a-sketched to display deep crevices and curves. Each class incorporates graceful and fluid movements to help straighten posture, increase flexibility, and bolt down balance as recovering injuries are pep talked to strength. There are four levels of mat sessions available: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and mat basics, all occurring weekly.

The show itself, the biggest on the West Coast, offers a boater’s paradise of boaty boating boatitude with more boats than you can shake an oar at. You’ll get to see, and shop, more than a thousand recreational watercraft, including inflatables, tugs, yachts, and the somewhat impractical flying cruise liner. Exhibitors include the 13th Coast Guard District, Alaska Series Inflatable Boats, Blue Water Yachts, Harbor Marine, Mastercraft Boat Company, Viking Life Saving Equipment, and Yachtcare, LLC. Seminar topics, will cover all of the ins and outs of fishing, boat maintenance, first aid, picking up mermaid hitchhikers, and other maritime concerns.

From its birth more than 80 years ago, The 5th Avenue Theater has grown into a cultural leader in the Northwest, enlightening eager audiences with performances both elegant and entertaining. The three-show package grants eyes and ears admission to a series of family-friendly productions served course by course, like a fancy meal or a day of binge golfing. Begin with an appetizer of laughter, friendship, and premeditated workplace revenge in 9 to 5: The Musical from April 5–April 10. Follow three unlikely friends through a plot to conquer their company, while they sing along to the Grammy-nominated score penned by Dolly Parton. Then, satisfy gambling glands May 17–May 22 with Guys & Dolls, a tale of gangsters, gals, love triangles, and suspense quadrilaterals, set to the music of Frank Loesser. Finish the tuneful trifecta July 12–July 17 with Aladdin: The New Stage Musical, a sweet tale of courage and friendship based on the animated film. Relish new and treasured melodies by Alan Menken as acclaimed director Casey Nicholaw offers spectators a magic carpet ride in his '83 Ford Taurus.

Not only is the Seattle Aquarium the ninth largest of its kind in the United States—with more than 22 million visitors since its opening in 1977—it is also an integral center for marine conservation and education. The exhibits display stunning creatures of land and sea, and staff biologists study the aquatic tenants to conduct critical research on giant Pacific octopuses, sixgill sharks, sea otters, and other indigenous animals.

Though the Seattle Aquarium is an advanced center for research, it isn’t all serious business and otters wearing lab coats—it also hosts numerous interactive exhibits and displays to please young and old alike. The Marine Mammals exhibit puts visitors up close with sea otters, playful river otters, harbor seals, and fur seals. The Pacific Coral Reef exhibit displays visually stunning and vibrant tropical fish, and the 120,000-gallon Windows on Washington Waters exhibit provides a floor-to-ceiling view of hundreds of Puget Sound fish, including salmon, lingcod, rockfish, and wolf eels.

The Seattle Aquarium also stays actively involved with the community. The aquarium’s biologists partner with local divers to take an annual octopus census, and each year the center trains more than 150 volunteers to teach visitors about the ecosystems of local beaches.

The handsome, 12,000-square-foot museum is home to four exhibition galleries and a permanent collection that focuses on the wealth of regional talent in the Northwest, in addition to housing Japanese woodblock prints and European paintings. Tacoma's own Dale Chihuly fills a gallery space with his permanent installation of playful and fantastical glasswork, much of it inspired by his love for the sea. Brush up on your goose-whispering skills at the Secret Language of Animals exhibit, a family-friendly flock of approximately 40 paintings, sculptures, and videos depicting rodents, birds, horses, dogs, crazy uncles, and more.