Nope, not a tie or a tool or a toy.
What Dad needs for Father’s Day is a trip. Even if it’s just across town.
A few suggestions:
Baseball and barbecue: The Everett AquaSox baseball season is just underway at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Take Dad to the game and impress him with the following facts:
The AquaSox, the Single-A minor league affiliate for the Seattle Mariners, finished in first place in the division last season with a record of 44-32. Among the current Seattle Mariners who spent time in Everett are catcher Mike Zunino, outfielders James Jones and Michael Saunders and pitcher Dominic Leone. Joining the team as manager this year is Mariner broadcaster Dave Valle, a Mariners catcher from 1984 to 1993 .
The Frogs play the Hillsboro (Oregon) Hops at 4:05 p.m. Sunday. In recognition of Father’s Day, barbecue hamburgers, hot dogs and more are available and the first 1,000 fans receive a barbecue apron.
Get tickets online at tinyurl.com/EveAquaSox or by calling 425-258-3673.
Zip right along: One of the Northwest’s best zipline tour companies is located on Camano Island.
Canopy Tours Northwest gets dads and their families zipping through the tops of the trees in the Kristoferson family forest at 332 N. East Camano Drive.
More information is at www.canopytoursnw.com.
Take Dad for a spin: If automobiles are Dad’s thing, he’s got a choice of at least two museums:
LeMay: America’s Car Museum offers a collection of some 350 vintage cars, trucks and motorcycles at its four-story museum in Tacoma, including a 1926 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, 1937 Fiat Topolino (Little Mouse), a 1983 Delorean and the very first 1963 Studebaker Avanti off the production line.
Among the museum’s current exhibits is “Route 66: Dream of the Mother Road.” Accompanying some of the collection’s vehicles, a wall full of roadside attractions take you past roadmaps, teepee-shaped motels, diners, billboards and gas stations. Another exhibit opening Father’s Day celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang.
The museum is located at 2702 East D St., Tacoma. Learn more at www.lemaymuseum.org/ or call 253-779-8490.
Car buffs also should check out Jim &Betty Green’s Hot Rod Gallery at 17520 147th St. SE, Monroe.
The auto museum had its beginnings as Jim Green’s Performance Center in Lynnwood, where it was located for 42 years. Green and his family repaired, designed and raced cars. They opened the museum in 2012. Learn more at www.hotrod- gallery.com or call 425-224-5009.
Head into the woods: If Dad’s a hiker, take him on a trail he probably took you when you were a kid: the Big Four ice caves.
This 2.2-mile round-trip hike is suitable for all ages and gains only 200 feet to the caves from the picnic area, where a grand hotel once sat. The trail takes you past wetlands, over a footbridge spanning the South Fork Stillaguamish, through an open forest and to the base of Big Four Mountain. By mid-summer, snowmelt and wind create caves at the base of the mountain’s snowfield.
For more information, check out the Washington Trail Association’s Big Four page at www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/big-four-ice-caves. A recent trail report on the website notes that wildflowers are in bloom, but the caves haven’t appeared yet. A Northwest Forest Pass is required, though the pass is not required on Saturday, National Get Outdoors Day.
And heed the Forest Service’s and the WTA’s warning: Because of the possibility of avalanches and falling ice and rock, don’t venture into the caves or onto the snowfield.
Take the poor man’s cruise: It’s still very affordable to ride aboard Washington State Ferries if you leave the car behind and walk on. Pack a lunch, take a pair of binoculars, some sun screen and a book.
Nearby, boats depart regularly on the Mukilteo-Clinton route, Edmonds-Kingston and from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands.
Go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/ ferries/ for schedules and fares.
Jazz it up: The Edmonds-based Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society offers a Father’s Day concert at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Ballard Elks Lodge, 6422 Seaview Ave NW, Seattle.
The New Orleans Quintet includes a handful of Northwest veteran jazz musicians. The group gets its name from a long history of a weekly gig at the New Orleans Cafe in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. Tickets are $15.
Pop a cork: Adult kids can take Dad on a tour of the wineries in Woodinville. Designate a driver and visit Chateau Ste. Michelle, the Columbia Winery or any of the scores of other wineries with tasting rooms, along with a few distilleries and brewpubs. Most wineries will offer tastings of select wines for a few dollars, and will refund the tasting fee if you buy a bottle or more.
Woodinville Wine Country, www.woodinvillewinecountry.com, has a map along with a calendar of events and other suggestions and information.
Suds for Dads: If beer is more to Pop’s liking, take him to the Washington Brewers Festival, continuing Sunday at Marymoor Park, 6046 W. Lake Sammamish Parkway NE, Redmond.
Several Snohomish County-based brewers will be among the 88 breweries pouring their beers at the festival, including American Brewing, Diamond Knot Brewery, Gallagher’s Where U Brew, Justice Brewing, Lazy Bowin Brewing, McMenamin’s Salish Sea Brewing, Scuttlebutt and Skookum Brewery.
Along with beer, the festival will feature live music and local food trucks.
Tickets, $25 each, are available at the gate or at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/605031.
Give Dad some culture: Celebrate the arts and Father’s Day at the free, 57th annual Edmonds Arts Festival, Friday through Sunday at the Frances Anderson Center, 700 Main St., Edmonds.
The festival includes art, entertainment, food vendors and activities for children.
Perhaps the exhibits and vendors will give your Dad an idea for a new hobby.
More information is at www.edmondsartsfestival.com.
Come fly with Dad: It might be a busman’s holiday for most Boeing employees, but if Dad doesn’t work for Boeing, let him try his hand at designing a jet at the Airplane Design Zone, just one of several exhibits at the Future of Flight, 8415 Paine Field Blvd., Mukilteo.
Dad can design a plane on a touchscreen computer, then test and modify it until it flies. If he’s proud of his work, he can pick up a copy of the design at the Future of Flight Store. Other exhibits put you on the flight deck of a 727 and offer virtual tours of flight decks of other Boeing planes, including the 787. Watch Dreamliners, as well as 747s, 767s and 777s, being built on the Boeing Tour. Tickets are $20 for adults, $14 for youths; but they are a couple dollars cheaper if reserved online. Learn more at www.futureofflight.org.
Or you could take your pick of any of the above but leave Dad on the couch with the remote and a cellphone to call for pizza delivery.
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