I grew up in Tacoma, transplanted from Montana at a young age.  Our mountain raised family was captivated by the parks on Puget Sound.  I think we went to all of them before we settled on our favorites.  If you are looking for a park filled with natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, here are three of my family’s tried and true recommendations:

1.  Sunnyside Beach in Steilacoom offers a pebbled beach, a play structure and if you can brave 56 degree water, good swimming. Dogs are allowed too.  Plus, you can amble up the road for a quick snack if you wish in the cute coastal town of Steilacoom.

2.  Kopachuck State Park on Henderson Bay is about 20 minutes from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. This is the first beach we ever went clam digging (we used our mother’s purse as a buckets with their blessing, that is how excited we all were).  It offers picnic tables, barbecues, and a typical Puget Sound beach with good clam digging at low tide. By typical, I mean lots of muddy muck to wade through to get to the water.  Plus it has views of the Olympic mountains when the sun deigns to shine.  Be sure to bring old tennis shoes to walk to the water when the tide is out otherwise the little shells in the muck hurt your feet.  It also offers good campgrounds.

3.  Twanoh State Park on Hood Canal–is my favorite park since I was a child.  As the park service says, “the park is situated on one of the warmest saltwater beaches in the state. This is because Hood Canal is one of the warmest saltwater bodies in Puget Sound.” The water is onlywarm by Northwest standards. Twanoh offers a good beach, nice picnic areas, and a dock that can be swum to from the beach in the summer.

All three of these parks are great to visit whether the sun is shining or not.  I really don’t recall the sun shining much on our visits nor did I mind. In this area, if it isn’t raining, go outside before it does.

Photo:  Kopachuck State Park, courtesy of Washington State Parks.