Welcome to the inland Empire

You have probably heard about the city of Seattle, home of Starbucks Coffee, but do you know about the eastern part of Washington State?  Asks Jenifer Hermes

Eastern Washington is known as "The Inland Empire".  The second-largest city in Washington, Spokane, is located here, and also there are many interesting small towns. 

You can easily travel to other states such as Idaho and Montana, and also people in Eastern Washington often like to travel to Canada.

The weather in Eastern Washington is very different from the weather in Seattle.  Seattle is cool and rainy, but Eastern Washington has four distinct seasons, with very hot summers and snow in winter.  We always have a "White Christmas."  In fact, the famous singer of the song "White Christmas," Bing Crosby, was born in Spokane.

In the summer, many people travel to Eastern Washington for white-water rafting or camping or hiking.  In the winter people like to go snowboarding or skiing.  If you have never tried these sports, it's easy to rent equipment and have a lesson.

Spokane has about 450,000 people, and it is a very interesting city.  When you visit Spokane, the first thing that you will notice is that the airport is very close to the city…it takes only 15 minutes to reach downtown from the airport!  At nighttime there is a beautiful night view of the city when you travel from the airport.

After you arrive downtown, the first place that you will want to go to Riverfront Park.  This was the site of the Expo '74 World's Fair.  Now it is a park.  In the middle of the park is a beautiful waterfall.  You can walk across a bridge over the waterfall, or stop on a small island in the middle of the waterfall.  You can also take a gondola sky ride over the top of the waterfall.  The view is quite exciting.

In addition to the beautiful natural waterfall, Riverfront Park has many other fun things to do.  There is a carnival in summer, and also a giant IMAX movie theater.  You can ride an antique wooden carrousel with hand-carved horses.  You can even find a garbage-eating goat that will be happy if you feed him!

When you get tired, you can go to the Davenport Hotel for a meal or to stay.  This is a beautiful old hotel.  It was closed for many years.  Now it has been completely restored and was voted one of the best hotels in the world.

Spokane has some very special events during the year.  In early spring we have the Lilac Bloomsday race.  It is the largest timed road race in the world.  Nearly 50,000 people come to Spokane to run or walk the 12-kilometer course.   As soon as winter is finished, you can see many people practicing for the run.

If you like basketball, you will love Spokane.  In late June Spokane hosts the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world. There are over 400 courts set up  all over downtown Spokane.  All traffic is stopped because everyone is either playing or watching basketball. 

Near Spokane you can find the university town of Cheney. Cheney has a wonderful downtown with many old-fashioned stores and restaurants.  People in Cheney are very friendly and as a student you can enjoy the small-town life of Cheney while being near the big city of Spokane.  You can find a quiet place to study or take part in many activities.  The cost of living is very reasonable. International students are an important part of Eastern Washington, so please come and visit us!

Jenifer Hermes is Ph. D Director of the English Language Program at Eastern Washington University in Chenay, Washington, USA

Photo by Ashley Pedersen