History UsefulNotes / Washington

* Steven Soderbergh's ''Film/Kimi''
* ''TabletopGame/Shadowrun'' treats a particularly warped version of Seattle as its default setting, although a few details have become hilarious over time. For example, the eastern suburb of Redmond is treated as part of Seattle and is so rundown that it's often called the "Redmond Barrens" in-universe. In real life, of course, Redmond hosts Microsoft's corporate headquarters and is one of the glitzier suburbs in the state.

Despite all the cities and suburbs, the region still manages to have some wide-open spaces, mostly family-run fruit, vegetable and dairy farms, forests, streams, as well as dozens of islands in Puget Sound and the Channel Islands further north, with the Sans Juan Islands in particular being a favorite getaway of Seattleites.

The region’s most infamous offspring is the Hanford Nuclear Site, one of the main sites of the Manhattan Project and the birthplace of [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki]]. Decommissioned for years, the plant is now a Superfund Site that constantly threatens to leak radioactive waste into the Columbia River, impacting millions of people who live downstream. The nearby towns of Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco grew to service the plant and today are known as the “Tri-Cities”, which make up the largest metro in the area. Further north is the Gorge Amphitheater, a popular outdoor concert venue located in the middle of vast wilderness, while Pullman in the east hosts Washington State University, the biggest school in Eastern Washington and eternal rival of Seattle’s University of Washington (folks use the term “U-Dub” to refer to the latter and "Wazzu" or "[=WaSu=]" (pronounced “Wazoo”) to refer to the former).

The state (much like neighboring Oregon) is divided, both geographically and culturally, by the Cascade Mountain range, with the west being known for its prolific liberal politics while the eastern half is generally more conservative, which often creates enough friction for the latter to sometimes [[StartMyOwn try to secede]], so far with no success. As of 2023, it holds the record for having the longest streak of Democratic governors, with the last Republican one leaving office in 1985. Democrats dominate state politics on both the federal and state levels, and especially in King County, home of Seattle. As of the 2020 election, the state is also home to the county with the longest streak of voting for the eventual winner in elections, with Clallam County's streak going back to 1980, while 19 mostly Rust Belt counties has their streaks (some going back decades) snapped.

In most media, Washington is often stereotyped as being a perpetually cloudy, rainy place populated by flannel-wearing hipsters and disaffected UsefulNotes/{{California}} expats drinking coffee in UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} or hunting for {{Bigfoot|Sasquatch And Yeti}} (who is actually protected by state law, believe it or not, in the off chance it exists). In reality, the state covers a wide range of geography and climates, from oceans, forests, lakes, mountains, plains, dry steppe, and outright desert. So too are the people diverse, with significant minorities of Hispanics, East Asians, and Native Americans to name a few, all from a wide array of different backgrounds. The state (much like neighboring Oregon) is divided, both geographically and culturally, by the Cascade Mountain range, with the west being known for its prolific liberal politics while the eastern half is generally more conservative, which often creates enough friction for the latter to sometimes [[StartMyOwn try to secede]], so far with no success.

Washington State, officially known as the State of Washington (not to be confused with UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC), is the 42nd state of the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates. Located in the northwestern corner of the continental U.S. in a region known as the “Pacific Northwest,” it is bounded by UsefulNotes/{{Oregon}} to the south, UsefulNotes/{{Idaho}} to the east, the [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canadian]] province of British Columbia to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Established in 1889 out of the Oregon Territory, as of 2020 it is home to 7.6 million people, making it the 13th most populous state overall while being 20th in land area.

* The first chapter of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' is primarily set in Washington.

The furthest west region of the state, covering the outer (non-Puget Sound) Pacific Coast and most of the Olympic Peninsula. Geographically, it is dominated by the Olympic Mountains, which take up most of the peninsula, are virtually uninhabited, and protected by the sprawling Olympic National Park. Its tallest peak, Mt. Olympus, is the tallest non-Cascade mountain peak in the state at almost 8,000 feet. The western slopes are home to a rare example of [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest a lush, virgin temperate rainforest]], while the eastern slopes are drier due to the rain shadow. To the south are low-lying hills and valleys, northern extensions of the Oregon Coast Range, through which the Columbia River cuts to reach its mouth in the Pacific Ocean. Battered by winds and clouds coming off of the Pacific, this region is notoriously cold, wet, and rainy, with Forks (the setting of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'') averaging 120 inches (over three meters) of rain every year, and the Hoh Rainforest receiving a whopping ''200 inches'' annually! Needless to say, the region is sparsely populated and rural, and the local economy relies on timber, fishing, agriculture, and tourism, especially during the summer months when the beaches are actually quite pleasant. The twin cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam, as well as Port Angeles on the northern Olympic Coast, are the largest population centers, with other towns of note including the aforementioned Forks, Ocean Shores, Westport, Raymond, and Long Beach.\\

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''

In most media, Washington is often stereotyped as being a perpetually cloudy, rainy place populated by flannel-wearing hipsters and disaffected UsefulNotes/{{California}} expats drinking coffee in UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} or hunting for {{Bigfoot|Sasquatch And Yeti}} (who is actually protected by state law, believe it or not, in the off chance it exists). In reality, the state covers a wide range of geography and climates, from oceans, forests, lakes, mountains, plains, dry steppe, and outright desert. So too are the people diverse, with significant minorities of Hispanics, East Asians, and Native Americans to name a few, all from a wide array of different backgrounds. The state is divided, both geographically and culturally, by the Cascade Mountain range, with the west being known for its prolific liberal politics while the eastern half is generally more conservative, which often creates enough friction for the latter to sometimes [[StartMyOwn try to secede]], so far with no success.

The furthest west region of the state, covering the outer (non-Puget Sound) Pacific Coast and most of the Olympic Peninsula. From north to south, counties in this region roughly include Clallam, the western part of Jefferson, Grays Harbor, Pacific, extreme western Lewis, and Wahkiakum. Geographically, it is dominated by the Olympic Mountains, which take up most of the peninsula, are virtually uninhabited, and protected by the sprawling Olympic National Park. Its tallest peak, Mt. Olympus, is the tallest non-Cascade mountain peak in the state at almost 8,000 feet. The western slopes are home to a rare example of [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest a lush, virgin temperate rainforest]], while the eastern slopes are drier due to the rain shadow. To the south are low-lying hills and valleys, northern extensions of the Oregon Coast Range, through which the Columbia River cuts to reach its mouth in the Pacific Ocean. Battered by winds and clouds coming off of the Pacific, this region is notoriously cold, wet, and rainy, with Forks (the setting of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'') averaging 120 inches (over three meters) of rain every year, and the Hoh Rainforest receiving a whopping ''200 inches'' annually! Needless to say, the region is sparsely populated and rural, and the local economy relies on timber, fishing, agriculture, and tourism, especially during the summer months when the beaches are actually quite pleasant. The twin cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam, as well as Port Angeles on the northern Olympic Coast, are the largest population centers, with other towns of note including the aforementioned Forks, Ocean Shores, Westport, Raymond, and Long Beach.\\

Sandwiched between the Olympic and Cascade Mountains are the valleys surrounding Puget Sound, an inland ocean waterway linked to the greater Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and to a lesser extent the I-5 corridor south to the Oregon border on the Columbia River. The counties which define this region include eastern Jefferson, Mason, Kitsap, San Juan, Whatcom, Skagit, Island, Snohomish, King, Pierce, Thurston, most of Lewis, Cowlitz, and Clark. Defined by low-lying river valleys draining off of the mountains on either side, it has a mostly moderate climate which is warm in the summer and cold and rainy during the winter. Unlike the mountains, snow is rare here but does blow in from time to time. It is also much drier than most people think, since the Olympics block most of the moisture coming off of the Pacific, causing “wet and rainy” Seattle to actually be drier than most other major American cities such as UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}.\\

The region is far and away the most populous in the state, with most of the major cities being located here. Seattle is the largest by far, with a population in excess of 750,000 (making it the 18th largest in the country, with the 15th largest metro area when including the entire region). Seattle is the home base of Amazon and Starbucks, while nearby Redmond hosts Creator/{{Microsoft}}, Federal Way has Weyerhauser, North Bend has [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} Nintendo of America]], and Boeing’s manufacturing plant is in Everett (Boeing itself is headquartered in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}, however). Besides Seattle, other big cities in the area include Everett, Bellevue, Kent, and Tacoma. Seattle and Tacoma are among the largest commercial shipping ports in the U.S., while Everett boasts the Everett Naval Shipyard, part of the large amount of military infrastructure in the region which also includes Joint Base Lewis-[=McCord=], the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Naval Air Station Whidbey, the Jim Creek transmitter station in the hills east of Everett, and Bangor Submarine Base in Hood Canal, one of two in the U.S. (the other is in Savannah, Georgia) and home to a sizable chunk of the country’s nuclear stockpile. The state capital, Olympia, is located at the southern end of Puget Sound and is home to [[StrawmanU The Evergreen State College]], while Bellingham to the north is the largest city between the Seattle Metro and the Canadian border.\\

The chain of mountains splitting the state in half, the Cascades run from southern British Columbia in the north, down through Washington and Oregon and terminating near Lassen Peak in California. The western slopes include parts of Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King, Pierce, Cowlitz, and Clark counties as well as all of Skamania County, while the eastern slopes cover western Okanogan, Chelan, Kittitas, western Yakima, and western Klickitat counties. Jagged and treacherous, these volcanic peaks range from sparsely to literally uninhabited, although several major highways trek through them to connect the two sides of the state. Mt. Rainier, at 14,411 feet, is the state’s highest peak, and the highest Cascade peak in general. Rainier (also known by its original indigenous name, Tacoma), is also an active volcano, one which could pose a severe risk to the Seattle area should it erupt; a national park, the nation’s 5th oldest, surrounds its base. Its tough, rocky, and perpetually snow-and-ice covered character make it a popular training ground for those aspiring to summit Mt. Everest. Other high peaks, all volcanoes, include Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak, Mt. Adams, and the infamous Mt. St. Helens, which violently erupted on May 18th, 1980, taking 57 lives, destroying many bridges and roads, and flinging volcanic ash as far away as [[UsefulNotes/OklahomaUSA Oklahoma]].\\

South and east of the Columbia River (and a little bit west of it as well in places) lies this broad, arid, mostly flat region which is only occasionally broken up by hills, buttes, pothole lakes, and streams, causing its topography to resemble the western Great Plains more than the standard depiction of Washington. It consists of Douglas, Grant, Lincoln, Whitman, Adams, western Yakima and Klickitat, Benton, Franklin, Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin Counties. In further parallels with the Great Plains, much of it is covered in crop fields and cattle ranches, with the few remaining wild areas consisting of grassy, sagebrush steppe. The southeastern part of the state also includes some of the Blue Mountains, which bleed in from Oregon and Idaho. In addition, several buttes, coulees and scablands are scattered across the region, all carved by the violent Missoula Floods during the last Ice Age which sent walls of water down them at speeds of up to 60 mph.\\

Located north of the Columbia Basin and east of the Cascades (roughly east of the Okanogan River), this remote, sparsely-populated mountain wilderness consisting of the southwestern peripheries of the Selkirks and other Rocky Mountain subranges covers eastern Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille (pronounced “Pond-a-ray”), and Spokane Counties, although geographically and culturally it extends into the Idaho Panhandle and Northwestern UsefulNotes/{{Montana}} as well. The region is dominated by Spokane, the state’s second largest city and the center of a geographic and market area known as the "Inland Empire"[[note]]Though that term, these days, is more often associated with Riverside and San Bernardino Counties in the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles region[[/note]] or "Inland Northwest", with other major towns in the area including the Idaho Cities of Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint. Spokane is also home to Gonzaga University, a Jesuit school which emerged as a major men's basketball power in the current century. Outside of Spokane, however, the region has few sizable towns, all located in secluded valleys tucked in between the mountains. Timber harvests, mining, and cattle ranching drive the economy in these areas. Because of the region’s remoteness, it is rather infamously home to a number of people trying to get away from the rest of civilization, including doomsday preppers, cultists, and a few Neo-Nazi groups.

To the south lies Vancouver, Washington ([[NamesTheSame not to be confused]] with UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}}, British Columbia, a short distance across the border to the north). It is the 4th largest city in the state, helps form the Portland-Vancouver Metro area, and for all intents and purposes is closer to Oregon culturally and economically than to the rest of the state. Lewis and Clark passed by the future city during their expedition, and it was named in honor of a historic fur-trading outpost, Fort Vancouver. A common joke/piece of advice to people moving to the area is to live and work in Vancouver and do all your shopping in UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, since the former has no state income tax while the latter has no state sales tax.\\

Located north of the Columbia Basin and east of the Cascades (roughly east of the Okanogan River), this remote, sparsely-populated mountain wilderness consisting of the southwestern peripheries of the Selkirks and other Rocky Mountain subranges covers eastern Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille ([[NoPronunciationGuide pronounced]] “Pond-a-ray”), and Spokane Counties, although geographically and culturally it extends into the Idaho Panhandle and Northwestern UsefulNotes/{{Montana}} as well. The region is dominated by Spokane, the state’s second largest city and the center of a geographic and market area known as the "Inland Empire"[[note]]Though that term, these days, is more often associated with Riverside and San Bernardino Counties in the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles region[[/note]] or "Inland Northwest", with other major towns in the area including the Idaho Cities of Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint. Spokane is also home to Gonzaga University, a Jesuit school which emerged as a major men's basketball power in the current century. Outside of Spokane, however, the region has few sizable towns, all located in secluded valleys tucked in between the mountains. Timber harvests, mining, and cattle ranching drive the economy in these areas. Because of the region’s remoteness, it is rather infamously home to a number of people trying to get away from the rest of civilization, including doomsday preppers, cultists, and a few Neo-Nazi groups.

The region’s most infamous offspring is the Hanford Nuclear Site, one of the main sites of the Manhattan Project and the birthplace of [[UsefulNotes/TheAtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki]]. Decommissioned for years, the plant is now a Superfund Site that constantly threatens to leak radioactive waste into the Columbia River, impacting millions of people who live downstream. The nearby towns of Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco grew to service the plant and today are known as the “Tri-Cities”, which make up the largest metro in the area. Further north is the Gorge Amphitheater, a popular outdoor concert venue located in the middle of vast wilderness, while Pullman in the east hosts Washington State University, the biggest school in Eastern Washington and eternal rival of Seattle’s University of Washington (folks use the term “U-Dub” to refer to the latter and "Wazzu" or "[=WaSu=]" (pronounced “Wazoo”) to refer to the former).

Located north of the Columbia Basin and east of the Cascades (roughly east of the Okanogan River), this remote, sparsely-populated mountain wilderness consisting of the southwestern peripheries of the Selkirks and other Rocky Mountain subranges covers eastern Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille ([[NoPronunciationGuide pronounced]] “Pond-a-ray”), and Spokane Counties, although geographically and culturally it extends into the Idaho Panhandle and Northwestern Montana as well. The region is dominated by Spokane, the state’s second largest city and the center of a geographic and market area known as the "Inland Empire"[[note]]Though that term, these days, is more often associated with Riverside and San Bernardino Counties in the Los Angeles region[[/note]] or "Inland Northwest", with other major towns in the area including the Idaho Cities of Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint. Spokane is also home to Gonzaga University, a Jesuit school which emerged as a major men's basketball power in the current century. Outside of Spokane, however, the region has few sizable towns, all located in secluded valleys tucked in between the mountains. Timber harvests, mining, and cattle ranching drive the economy in these areas. Because of the region’s remoteness, it is rather infamously home to a number of people trying to get away from the rest of civilization, including doomsday preppers, cultists, and a few Neo-Nazi groups.

* ''Film/MeanCreek'': The Film itself takes place in UsefulNotes/{{Oregon]], but the scenes with the Creek were shot in Washington State.