Things to Do in Sedro-Woolley

On September 9, 1979, more than 100,000 Whitecaps fans lined Robson Street to salute their hometown club. That day, the Whitecaps returned home after becoming Vancouver's first professional sports team to win a major North American championship: they had just defeated the Tampa Bay Rowdies to claim the North American Soccer League title.

Since that first one, the franchise has won six additional titles–including four in a row from 1988–1991 while playing as the 86ers in the Canadian Soccer League. In fact, the club competed under that 86ers moniker until 2000. That year, spurred by public support and an unexplainable 'Caps logo beamed into the night sky, it re-emerged under its original Whitecaps identity. Today, the 21st-century incarnation of the club continues to battle for its first championship as part of Major League Soccer, where it began play in 2011.

In 1985, as ends meet became harder to make, the Carleton family sold its cows and closed its nearly 30-year-old dairy farm. Not to be deterred, Mary Carleton began selling pumpkins and sweet corn from a roadside stand three years later. Today, the Carletons continue Mary's efforts by cultivating 60 acres of produce, including english peas, zucchini, and green and purple beans. Along with their own veggies, the Carletons stock their farm market with organic raw milk, grass-fed beef, local honey, and handmade pies.

After a summer spent selling their produce, the Carletons unwind with guests for nearly two months of autumnal fun starting in September. A corn maze with stalks more than 9-feet high snakes through a 4-acre field in a different shape each year. Come dusk, a cornfield eerily transforms into the haunted swamp, which dares guests aged 12 and up to creep through its creature-filled labyrinth. The pumpkin patch teems with various-sized pumpkins ripe for plucking, while the pumpkin cannon launches gourds into the air in hopes that one will transform into Cinderella's private jet. The fenced kids' area further entices youngsters with a zip swing, tube slides, and a rope maze, and the play area inside the barn intrigues them with a rope swing and hay maze.

If there’s a whale breaching on the protected waters of the San Juan Islands, there’s a good chance a passenger on Mystic Sea Charters’ 100-foot vessel will see the splashy spectacle. The company’s five- to six-hour tours have an impressive track record when it comes to spotting the gargantuan mammals, introducing tour-goers to different species of whale up to 99% of the time. Onboard the ship, a naturalist divulges facts about ocean life as passengers watch for whales from the heated cabin or from the deck, which has 4-foot railings so guests can hold on if whales start singing and dancing to the hit song “Rock the Boat.” The company promises that voyagers will see at least one gray, orca, humpback, or minke whale, depending on the season. If not, they’ll receive a follow-up whale-watching tour for free.

The top minor-league affiliate of the Calgary Flames, the Abbotsford Heat joined the American Hockey League in 2009, when the team made a valiant entrance by reaching the Calder Cup playoffs in its maiden season. Having fostered a number of players who went on to don the NHL's iconic tuxedos, the Heat reigns over the ice at the Entertainment & Sports Centre, where up to 7,000 fans cheer on every thundering slapshot and board-rattling check.

Prose in both Lushootseed and English caption the displays inside the 23,000-square-foot Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve, chronicling the journey of the Tulalip people in honor of those who have passed. The Tulalip represent the successors to the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, and Skykomish tribes, as well as other signatories to the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty. Exhibits on their traditional territories, the importance of the cedar trees, and their seven value stories extend viewers' eyes to the distant past to learn their culture.

Historic canoes and archaeological remains provide tangible proof of the lives of the people remembered, and 50 acres of forests and wetlands preserve the natural landscape they called home. Back inside the museum, a life-size Tulalip longhouse expounds upon these artifacts and tales with recordings by Tulalip storytellers. Progressing to the present day, the exhibit Warriors: We Remember details more than a hundred years of veteran service, from the warrior spirit in ancient military traditions to recent sacrifices by men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Since 2004, Snowbus’s fleet of 56 comfortable passenger coaches has shepherded skiers and snowboarders back and forth between Vancouver and Whistler Blackcomb. The route schedule allows mountaineers to hitch a ride out of Vancouver, schuss and slalom to their heart’s content at the world-renowned resort, and hop back aboard a bus for a movie and snack to accompanied their trip home. The service gives downhillers a way to circumvent the hassles of dealing with traffic and parking, and enables them to partake in après-ski revelry without fear of drinking and driving or drinking and cartwheeling back to Vancouver.