Things to Do in Vashon

The 90-minute stroll through Seattle’s micro-China starts at the Chinatown-International District. A friendly and engaging guide leads tours through authentic Asian markets, whirling with bustling merchants, brightly colored goods, and savory smells of incense or freshly roasted duck. As you learn the history and significance of historical landmarks, the diverse languages of the city's Asian community co-mingle melodiously in the air, and the spirit of a culture thousands of years old flits through the incomparable Seattle neighborhood like a flutterbug in a bag of cotton balls.

Staffed by experienced professionals and computers who’ve sworn allegiance to the Three Laws of Golfing Robotics, GolfTec’s syndicate of golf training centers grooms games with a five-pronged approach enhanced by technological refinements. Score-shaving wisdom resonates within the walls of the indoor facilities, where certified personal coaches point out flaws and strengths while providing golfers with tips to permanently improve their game from tee to green. By utilizing video swing analysis and motion-measurement software, instructors can assess pupils’ abilities with objective data and a fact-based tact superior to traditional hearsay-oriented coaching strategies. To further enhance performance, GolfTec offers club-fitting services to match each swing profile with its ideal set of sticks.

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.

The Children's Museum, Seattle inspires curiosity and creativity in children between 10 months and 10 years with 22,000 square feet of hands-on exhibits that explore science, arts, and cultural education. The museum's collection of permanent exhibits boosts brainpower with feats of engineering, miniature global villages, an aquarium, and a theater, where kids can don costumes and reenact famous monologues from Sponge Bob. The museum heightens the joy of discovery with such activities as summer camps, birthday parties, partnership outreach, and after-hours events.

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.