Washington advertises itself as the forest-clad Evergreen State. Actually,
vast eastern portions of it are reclaimed from sagebrush desert by irrigation.
The Cascade Range is a weather barrier that confines most of the rain to the
Puget Sound area, which is a world of green. Two-thirds of the state's population
live in Seattle and other urban centers along this inner sea coastline. There
are three National Parks around Seattle: Rainier with its glaciers, the primitive
North Cascades, and Olympic, with its dramatic rain forests and wilderness
strip along the Pacific Ocean. (Courtesy of Rand McNally http://www.randmcnally.com)