Leavenworth to Seattle, WA drive (US-2): 129 miles, 23 exits, 10 towns, 96 stories, what's worth stopping for
Downtown Leavenworth to Downtown Seattle (I-5 exit 165): about 2 h 25 min at the speed limit, without stops.
This is the US-2 route over Stevens Pass. The other way is I-90 east and US-97 over Blewett Pass; we do not time that route yet.
This page is your guide as far as Gold Bar. From there, Sal narrates live to Seattle.
Each plays its stretch exit by exit, in order.
What Sal tells on this drive
| Exit | Where | Minutes in, at the speed limit | Worth stopping for | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leavenworth → Stevens Pass · 35 mi · 4 towns · 38 min | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US-2 | Leavenworth | 0 min | Goose Ridge Leavenworth Tasting Room · just off the road | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US-2 | Coles Corner | 18 min | Lake Wenatchee RV Resort · just off the road | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
⋯ 1 more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US-2 | Stevens Pass | 38 min | Stevens Lodge - A Mountaineers Property · 2 min off | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stevens Pass → Skykomish · 16 mi · 1 town · 16 min | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US-2 | Skykomish | 54 min | Skykomish Historical Society · 1 min off | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skykomish → Everett · 50 mi · 1 exit · 5 towns · 58 min | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US-2 | Baring | 62 min | Baring Community Park · just off the road | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US-2 | Index | 66 min | Bigfoot Park · 1 min off | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US-2 | Gold Bar | 76 min | Maggy’s Family Mexican Restaurant · 1 min off | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US-2 | Sultan | 85 min | Good Brewing Company · just off the road | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
⋯ 1 more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 194 | Everett | 112 min | Food in Everett | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Everett → Seattle · 28 mi · 22 exits · 29 min | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 193 | Everett | Food in Everett | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 186 | Murphys Corner | 120 min | Patty's Eggnest · 1 min off | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 176 | Shoreline | 131 min | Ronald Bog Park · 1 min off | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 169 | Seattle | 137 min | Food in Seattle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
⋯ 17 more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 165 | Seattle | 141 min | Madison Street Market & Deli · 1 min off | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total: about 2 h 25 min at the speed limit, without stops.
Got 20 minutes?
- Monroe — Mardigra Cafe/SFE Skykomish → Everett about 17 min round trip
- Exit 192 — Diedrich Espresso Aquasox Everett → Seattle about 18 min round trip
Got 45 minutes?
- Coles Corner — Lake Wenatchee RV Resort Leavenworth → Stevens Pass about 25 min round trip
- Skykomish — Skykomish Historical Society Stevens Pass → Skykomish about 21 min round trip
- Baring — Baring Community Park Skykomish → Everett about 26 min round trip
- Index — Bigfoot Park Skykomish → Everett about 26 min round trip
- Exit 183 — Interurban Trail Everett → Seattle about 27 min round trip
- Exit 179 — Jack Long Park Everett → Seattle about 27 min round trip
- Exit 176 — Ronald Bog Park Everett → Seattle about 26 min round trip
- Exit 175 — Ridgecrest Ice Cream Social Everett → Seattle about 27 min round trip
Stories along the way
Gold Bar
historyGreat Northern construction camp at Gold Bar
In 1892, Gold Bar was the site of one such camp. The railroad had become a steady presence, maintaining extensive shops and a railyard in the town.
Source: historylink.org
historyGold Bar incorporation
On September 16, 1910, Gold Bar officially becomes a municipal corporation of the fourth class. Three months earlier on June 12, local voters approved a measure to incorporate the small Snohomish County logging, railroading, and mining town.
Source: historylink.org
historySkykomish villages at Gold Bar
There were seven villages between what are now Monroe and Index, including a large permanent village where Gold Bar is today.
Source: historylink.org
seasonalGold Dust Days
The city hosts an annual festival, named Gold Dust Days, over a weekend in late July that includes a parade, a street fair with vendors and food, live music, a car show, and a beauty pageant. It was founded in 2007 and also has events to commemorate the history of the Skykomish Valley, such as gold panning demonstrations and historical reenactments of battles.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyGoldbar post office
By 1899 there were enough settlers in town to establish a post office under the name "Goldbar," spelled as one word, and Otto Lewis became its first postmaster. Post-office listings for the town continued to be spelled as one word until 1951.
Source: historylink.org
historyOtto Lewis and the Gold Bar Lumber Company
The town's most prominent early settler was Otto Lewis (1861-1926), who had been postmaster at Wallace (now Startup) before moving with his family to Gold Bar in 1898. Purchasing a large amount of land, Lewis built a home, donated land for a two-story schoolhouse and a church, and developed the Gold Bar Lumber Company, which soon became the town's main employer. In 1906, he sold the company to a buyer from Alaska, and the Lewises moved to California.
Source: historylink.org
historyWallace River
The Wallace River, with its headwaters in the snowy ridges of the Wild Sky Wilderness above the falls, takes its name from Skykomish Indigenous homesteaders Joe and Sarah Kwayaylsh (misspelled and mispronounced as “Wallace”), whose allotment homestead was located on the river below the falls.
Source: parks.wa.gov
Exit 194 · Everett
historySwalwell Cottage
Built in the winter of 1891–1892, the cottage was the home of Alfred W. Swalwell. Pine St. was Swalwell Avenue at the time of construction. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 28 November 1978.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
developmentMill Town Trail
The Mill Town Trail, a loop of more than six miles, follows the waterfront from the Terminal Avenue area, along West Marine View Drive, around the peninsula to Riverside Park overlooking the Snohomish River on East Grand Avenue.
Source: heraldnet.com
sightSnohomish River estuary
The final few miles of the river in Everett form the Snohomish River estuary, a river delta that features wetlands and tideflats spread out across various islands and arms of the river. Several bridges carry U.S. Route 2 , Interstate 5 , and State Route 529 across the delta. The river then empties into Possession Sound, which is part of Puget Sound, between Everett and Marysville .
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyDominic Cavelero
Dominic Cavelero immigrated with his family to the United States from Italy in 1883, landing in San Francisco. He also was a noted vegetable farmer on land in east Everett, across the Snohomish River flats. In all, Cavelero amassed 2,150 acres of fertile land.
Source: heraldnet.com
Exit 189 · Everett
developmentEverett Mall
Everett Mall, first planned in the mid-1960s as the Broadway Mall, finally opened in October 1974 with only one anchor tenant and little more than half of its stores occupied. Brixton Capital announced a major redevelopment in August 2022, and the mall's interior closed on July 1, 2025.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
developmentSouth Everett Freeway Station
Sound Transit and its partners broke ground on the South Everett Freeway Station on September 12, 2006, the state's first park-and-ride lot located in a freeway median. It was planned with approximately 400 parking stalls and direct access for transit and HOV vehicles to both directions of I-5.
Source: soundtransit.org
historyState Route 526
State Route 526 ends at an interchange with I-5 in southern Everett, reached on flyover ramps. A ramp from northbound I-5 to westbound SR 526 opened on November 13, 1970, and a direct connection from SR 526 to northbound I-5 was built in 1995.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionCascade High School
Cascade High School opened on September 5, 1961, a year later than projected, as suburbs grew south of Everett; until then all Everett School District secondary students attended Everett High School. Everett annexed Cascade and its surrounding area on February 6, 1962.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Exit 186 · Murphys Corner
historyState Route 96
State Route 96 follows the route of a wagon road Snohomish County built in the late 1880s to connect Snohomish to Seattle. Its westernmost segment, once named Post Road, was extended to Paine Field in the late 1960s, a few years after its I-5 interchange opened in 1965, and the road joined the state highway system in 1991.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
developmentSwift Green Line
Community Transit's Swift Green Line, a bus rapid transit route that cost $73 million, began construction in July 2017 and opened on March 24, 2019. A queue jump and bus lane at the 128th Street interchange opened in January 2018, and the line serves a park and ride at Mariner.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionMariner High School
Mariner High School opened on September 8, 1970; before then the Mukilteo School District only offered kindergarten through ninth grade, and older students had to attend Everett High School. It was the district's only high school until Kamiak High School opened in 1993.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Exit 183 · Mill Creek
developmentSwift Orange Line
The Swift Orange Line, the third line of Community Transit's Swift bus rapid transit system, began service on March 30, 2024. Its 11-mile route runs from Edmonds College to McCollum Park with 16 stations, serving Lynnwood City Center station, Alderwood Mall and Ash Way Park and Ride.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
quirkWell Number 5
Well Number 5, also called the 164th Street Artesian Well, is one of ten artesian wells that supplied the Alderwood area in the 1950s; the other nine were capped when the water district contracted with Everett for its supply. In the early 2000s its taps were moved about 100 feet from a wooded spot to a structure alongside 164th Street.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Exit 182 · Lynnwood
historyState Route 525
State Route 525, which runs from Lynnwood to the Mukilteo ferry and across Whidbey Island, was extended from Highway 99 to the newly completed I-5 in February 1965 along 164th Street. In the 1980s it was moved onto a two-lane freeway that extended the route to I-405, and its interchange with I-5 was completed in November 1984.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
developmentLynnwood Place
The former Lynnwood High School at 3001 184th St SW was built in 1969, and its site sat vacant from 2009 to 2015 after the school relocated. In October 2007 the Edmonds School District reached a deal with Cypress Equities for a 99-year lease, and the site was redeveloped as Lynnwood Place, with a Costco that opened on October 1, 2015.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
developmentAlderwood Mall
Allied Stores announced a mall in 1969 and cleared 110 acres west of the I-5 and I-405 interchange, but the project stalled until developer Edward DeBartolo Sr. built Alderwood Mall, which opened on October 4, 1979. A 2002 to 2004 renovation added The Village and shortened its name to Alderwood.
Source: historylink.org
developmentSR 524
In 2018, WSDOT installed a pair of roundabouts on SR 524 on both sides of its I-405 underpass to handle increasing commuter traffic.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Exit 181 · Lynnwood
historySuperintendent's Cottage
The Superintendent's Cottage and the Water Tower are the only surviving structures of the 33-acre Demonstration Farm the Puget Mill Company built in 1917 along the Interurban Railway. The Lynnwood-Alderwood Manor Heritage Association rescued the cottage during interchange construction in 1997 and moved it to Heritage Park.
Source: lynnwoodwa.gov
developmentLynnwood City Center station
A park and ride near I-5 and 44th Avenue West opened in May 1981 with 808 stalls, the largest of its kind in Washington, and was rebuilt in 2003 as Lynnwood Transit Center. Light rail service began there on August 30, 2024, and the facility was renamed Lynnwood City Center station.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Exit 178 · Mountlake Terrace
historyLondon Bridge Studio
London Bridge Studio is a recording studio near Seattle that has hosted and recorded many influential artists, producers and engineers since 1985. Bands of that era, such as Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, launched the studio into international notoriety.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
quirkEdmount Island
Edmount Island, also called Ballinger Island, is a 3-acre island in Lake Ballinger, in the Seattle suburbs of south Snohomish County, in the U.S. state of Washington. The Bartholomews were from Pennsylvania and homesteaded the lake island in 1862 ... requiring the United States government to re-survey the land which did not exist in official records. A land patent was issued in 1902. The island is made of peat, which was completely engulfed in a runaway barbecue fire during a summer heat wave in 2009. Since the fire, the island has been closed to public access.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Exit 177 · Mountlake Terrace
developmentMountlake Terrace
In 1949, developer Albert LaPierre and his partner, Jack Peterson, bought an abandoned airstrip on logged-over land about 12 miles north of Seattle, just over the Snohomish County line, and began filling it with 640-square-foot cinder-block houses, priced at $4,999 and aimed at World War II veterans with young families. They named their development Mountlake Terrace because from some parts of the property they could see both Mount Rainier and Lake Washington, and the old runway looked a little like a terrace.
Source: historylink.org
institutionShoreline High School
Shoreline High School was a public high school in Shoreline, Washington, United States, in the Shoreline School District. Shoreline opened in 1955 and closed in 1986. In 1984 the Shoreline School Board voted to close the Shoreline High School at the end of the 1985–86 school year. The reasons for the closure were due to declining enrollments and monetary issues. Once closed the Shoreline High School building became used as the Shoreline School District administration offices.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Exit 169 · Seattle
institutionJohn Stanford International School
Formerly known as Latona School, the school is named for the late John Stanford, superintendent of the Seattle School District, who died on 28 November 1998. The historic school building (1906) is a designated City of Seattle Landmark.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyWallingford-Meridian Streetcar Historic District
The Wallingford–Meridian Streetcar Historic District was designated by the National Register of Historic Places on December 9, 2022, to recognize the neighborhood's streetcar suburb origins, similar to a handful of other neighborhoods in Seattle.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionGood Shepherd Center
Meridian Playground features a former Roman Catholic home for wayward girls called the Good Shepherd Center, now a shared community space run by Historic Seattle.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
developmentU District Station
U District station opened October 2, 2021 as part of the Northgate Link light rail extension, putting an underground station on Brooklyn Avenue NE next to the University of Washington campus.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyShip Canal Bridge Lower Deck
Construction was completed in 1961 and the bridge opened to traffic on December 18, 1962. The bridge is double-decked, with the upper deck carrying traffic in both directions and the lower deck carrying traffic southbound in the morning and northbound in the afternoon.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyBurke-Gilman Trail Wallingford Section
The trail can trace its origins to the founding of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway on April 15, 1885, by ten men headed by judge Thomas Burke and Daniel Gilman. On August 19, 1978 the first 12.1 miles of the right-of-way from Seattle's Gas Works Park to Kenmore's Tracy Owen Station was opened as a public trail.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyNorthlake Shipyard
Marine Power & Equipment Company was established in 1946. Their repair yard was at 1441 North Northlake Way, on Lake Union - see it from the air on Google here : it is now occupied by Northlake Shipyard.
Source: shipbuildinghistory.com
developmentWallingford Center
On the southeastern corner of this intersection is the Wallingford Center, a 53,000 square foot elementary school built in 1904 that has been renovated and converted into two floors of shopping and dining establishments with 24 studio apartments above.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyLake Union Dry Dock Company
Lake Union Dry Dock Company was founded by Otis Cutting and John McLean in 1919 to build and service watercraft vessels. During Prohibition, the US Coast Guard commissioned Lake Union Dry Dock Company to construct fifteen 75-foot patrol boats.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
seasonalUW Quad cherry blossoms
About thirty Yoshino cherry trees, bought by the UW in 1939 and moved from the Arboretum to the Quad in 1962 after SR 520 construction began, typically bloom between mid-March and early April.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyLincoln High School
Lincoln High School was closed in 1981, but was re-established as a comprehensive high school in the fall of 2019, after a comprehensive renovation in 2017–2019.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
sightRainier Vista at UW
Rainier Vista, today the defining element of the University of Washington campus, was laid out by landscape architect John C. Olmsted of the Olmsted Brothers firm for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition as one of the grounds' view axes, deliberately framed on Mount Rainier.
Source: historylink.org
Exit 168 · Seattle
historySeward School Historic Landmark
It will be renamed the Seward School in 1905 when a second building is added. A third building will join the others in 1917. The three historic buildings, designated landmarks in 1981, will become the home of an alternative program known as The Option Program at Seward and later TOPS K-8 School.
Source: historylink.org
sightStreissguth Gardens
The Streissguth Gardens are a family-maintained hillside garden covering approximately one acre on the northwest side of Capitol Hill in Seattle, Washington. The Streissguth Gardens have grown incrementally over the years, beginning with Daniel Streissguth’s purchase of the north lot by the Blaine steps in 1962.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyRoanoke Park Historic District
The park was named by David T. Denny and Henry Fuhrman after Roanoke, Virginia. It was bought by the city of Seattle in 1908.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyLake View Cemetery
Martial artist and film star Bruce Lee, laid to rest in 1973, is buried at Lake View Cemetery, next to Volunteer Park in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, beside his son Brandon, who died in 1993; the grave draws visitors from around the world and is a national and global pilgrimage site.
Source: seattleglobalist.com
quirkSaint Mark's Cathedral Crypt
From 1943 to 1944, the United States Army used the cathedral as an anti-aircraft training facility; the evidence of this era can still be seen in murals in the crypt.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyInterlaken Boulevard Historic Parkway
Interlaken Park is a 51.7-acre park in Seattle, Washington. A heavily wooded hillside and ravine, it forms the division between Capitol Hill to the south and Montlake to the north. Interlaken Drive E. runs through the park north to south, and E. Interlaken Boulevard, part of which is now closed to traffic, does so northwest to southeast.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyPortage Bay Houseboat Community
In June 1961, and in September, 53 houseboats on Portage Bay faced eviction due to the imminent construction of a viaduct linking the new Evergreen Point Floating Bridge to the new I-5.
Source: historylink.org
developmentBoyer Avenue East
Montlake was primarily developed by John E. Boyer and Herbert Turner from 1903 through the early 1930s. The neighborhood's main thoroughfares are Boyer Avenue E. (northwest- and southeast-bound), 24th Avenue E. and Lake Washington and Montlake Boulevards E.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyMontlake Playfield
The Montlake Playfield and Shelter House were constructed partially on fill in former marshlands on the shores of Portage Bay between 1933 and 1936. In the 1910s and 1920s, houseboats moored there, and Dahlialand, a local garden store, utilized nearby acreage to grow dahlia bulbs for commercial use.
Source: historylink.org
institutionBoyer Children's Clinic
The Boyer clinic opened in 1948 as Dr. Wyckoff Spastic Pre-school and Clinic. The facility served children with cerebral palsy and other neuromuscular disorders. The current two-story, 13,444-square-foot building at 1850 Boyer Avenue was designed by Ibsen Nelsen and the Fred Bassetti group, and opened in 1992.
Source: historylink.org
developmentPortage Bay Bridge rebuild
The SR 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid project started construction in November 2024, with completion estimated for 2031; it replaces the aging Portage Bay Bridge with a seismically resilient structure and builds a landscaped lid between Roanoke Park and North Capitol Hill.
Source: wsdot.wa.gov
sightGas Works Park
Gas Works Park, on a promontory on the north shore of Lake Union, preserves remnants of the Seattle Gas Light Company's coal and oil gasification plant, which supplied the city's gas from 1906 to 1956. Landscape architect Richard Haag's design kept the plant structures; its 45-foot Great Mound, known as Kite Hill, opened in 1973 and the full park in July 1976.
Source: historylink.org
historyMuseum of History and Industry Montlake Site
In 1952, the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) opened on land that had been owned by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, a remnant of the Lake Washington Ship Canal project, and was acquired by Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, which gave MOHAI a low-cost lease. The airy, modern building was designed by noted northwest architect Paul Thiry (1904-1993).
Source: historylink.org
institutionMontlake Community Center
Montlake mothers, desiring to ward off boredom that might propel their teenagers into juvenile delinquency, pushed for the creation of the playfield, which -- with the field house structure that initially housed the community center -- were built by WPA (Works Progress/Works Projects Administration) workers.
Source: historylink.org
institutionSeattle Yacht Club
The Seattle Yacht Club's first Opening Day Parade in the Montlake Cut was held May 1, 1920, to celebrate commissioning its grand new clubhouse on Portage Bay; Opening Day has since become the nation's largest regional celebration of spring and the start of boating season.
Source: seattleyachtclub.org
quirkSleepless in Seattle houseboat
The floating home at 2460 Westlake Avenue North on Lake Union was the houseboat of Sam Baldwin, Tom Hanks's character in the 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle. It is privately owned, so there are no tours inside, but fans can still see the outside.
Source: housedigest.com
institutionMontlake School
The renamed Montlake School replaced Portage School in 1924, serving first through seventh grade the first year and through eighth grade thereafter. In 1941, seventh and eighth grades were relocated to Meany Middle School on Capitol Hill.
Source: historylink.org
developmentMontlake Lid over SR 520
WSDOT's SR 520 Montlake Project, now complete, built a new three-acre lid over the highway in Montlake with regional transit stops and open green space, plus a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over SR 520 just east of the lid.
Source: wsdot.wa.gov
institutionMontlake Branch Library
In 1944, The Seattle Public Library teamed up with the Montlake Community Club to open a small library. The community club raised money and leased a former grocery store. The Library provided a librarian and books. The new Montlake Branch opened in 2006 with a meeting room and a parking lot.
Source: spl.org
quirkMontlake Spite House
In 1925, a Montlake neighbor made a low offer for a tiny slice of adjoining land. Out of spite for the low offer, the builder built an 860-square-foot house at 2022 24th Avenue E. that blocked the neighbors' open space. The house is 55 inches wide at the south end and 15 feet wide at the north end. The Montlake Spite House still is standing and occupied.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Exit 167 · Seattle
developmentHarvard-Belmont Landmark District
H. C. Henry, a railroad builder and a powerful force in Seattle's business community, was the first man of influence to settle in the district. Although his house is now gone, his presence was instrumental in attracting others of like means and ability to the area.
Source: seattle.gov
sightVolunteer Park Water Tower
The Seattle Water Department finished the Volunteer Park Water Tower on Capitol Hill in 1906, partly to give the park an observation deck. Two spiral stairways inside, each with 106 stairs, climb to a deck with a 360-degree view.
Source: web.seattle.gov
Exit 166 · Seattle
institutionDick's Drive-In on Broadway
Dick's Drive-In opened its first location in Wallingford in January 1954 and its Broadway location on Capitol Hill in 1955; both are still operating.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
developmentAmazon Spheres
The Amazon Spheres, opened January 30, 2018 on Amazon's Seattle headquarters campus along Lenora Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, are three glass-domed spherical conservatories housing 40,000 plants and serving as an employee lounge and workspace.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyDenny Regrade (Belltown)
Denny Hill was removed in regrades between 1897 and 1930, largely with hydraulic cannons that sluiced it into Elliott Bay, lowering its high point by more than 100 feet to create the flat Denny Regrade.
Source: historylink.org
institutionMuseum of Pop Culture
On June 23, 2000, the Experience Music Project opens at Seattle Center. The museum and education center occupies a flowing polychrome pavilion designed by Frank O. Gehry (1929-2025) and inspired by Seattle-born rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970). The name will be shortened to EMP and later, following several other permutations, changed to the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP).
Source: historylink.org
historySpace Needle
The Space Needle was built for Seattle's 1962 World's Fair and stands 605 feet to its aircraft beacon; 2.65 million people visited it during the fair.
Source: spaceneedle.com
Exit 165 · Seattle
institutionRainier Club
The Rainier Club is Seattle's oldest private club, established in 1888 when Washington was still a territory. On September 30, 1904, the Rainier Club, designed by Spokane architects Kirtland Cutter and Karl Malgren, opened its doors.
Source: historylink.org
historyFirst United Methodist Church
The church, occupied by the oldest Christian congregation in Seattle, is located downtown on the west side of 5th Avenue between Marion and Columbia streets (811 5th Avenue) Construction began in 1907 and enough of the church was complete to hold sermons in it the following year. The Beaux Arts style sanctuary, with its 66-foot high interior ceiling, brick and terra cotta façade, and orange tile-covered central dome was completed and dedicated in 1910.
Source: historylink.org
developmentColumbia Center
On March 2, 1985, the first tenants occupy the 76-story Columbia Center, the tallest building in the Pacific Northwest.
Source: historylink.org
sightSeattle Central Library
On May 23, 2004, The Seattle Public Library opens its new Central Library at 1000 4th Avenue. Some 26,600 people come downtown on a sunny Sunday to celebrate the opening.
Source: historylink.org
historyArctic Building
The nine-story building remained home to the Arctic Club until 1971. the Arctic Building was the first downtown building to use exterior color in terra cotta.
Source: historylink.org
historyKing County Courthouse
In 1931, 10 stories were added to the 1916 four story building to bring the courthouse to its current height. Until 1962, the County-City Building accommodated the offices of King County and City of Seattle government.
Source: historylink.org
historySmith Tower
Smith Tower, completed in 1914 at 462 feet, was the tallest building west of the Mississippi at completion and remained the tallest on the West Coast until the Space Needle in 1962.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyFairmont Olympic Hotel
Its construction was financed with community bonds and it stands on the original site of the University of Washington. After gathering a list of 3,906 names from the community, a committee chose The Olympic .
Source: historylink.org
developmentHenry M. Jackson Federal Building
The Henry M. Jackson Federal Building (JFB) is a 37-story United States Federal Government skyscraper in downtown Seattle, Washington. Located on the block bounded by Marion and Madison Streets and First and Second Avenues, the building was completed in 1974 and won the Honor Award of the American Institute of Architects in 1976. Among the structures torn down to build the federal building were the Richardsonian Romanesque Burke Building (built 1889–91), the Hotel Stevens, and the Rivoli Theater, a burlesque house. In 1984, the building was rededicated and named to honor Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson (1912-1983), a Democratic U.S. Congressman and Senator
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionFederal Reserve Bank Building
Designed in 1949 by architect William Bain Sr. (1896-1985) of the firm NBBJ (Naramore, Bain, Brady and Johanson) in the Moderne style, the building's design conveys a sense permanence and security. In February 2008 the branch closed when bank operations moved to a new building in Renton.
Source: historylink.org
history5th Avenue Theatre
Designed by architect Robert C. Reamer (1873-1938), with interior design supervised by Gustav Liljestrom of San Francisco, the theater embraced Seattle’s growing connection to the Far East by employing a Chinese theme, debuting a full eight months before the now-famous Grauman’s (now Mann’s) Chinese Theatre in Hollywood first opened. After closing in 1978, the theater was rescued by a coalition of local companies and arts patrons, who funded a $2.6 million restoration of the classic venue.
Source: historylink.org
historySeattle Tower
When it was built, the designers added "more than 300 flood light units, located in the offsets, which will shoot their rays upward, while one color gradually gives way to another, producing a beautiful and effective aurora borealis, visible for miles" (Casteel). Locals called it the Northern Lights building and the company newsletter was known as the Northern Lights , then, through the 1970s, the Aurora Borealis. The aurora floodlights were dismantled in 1942, likely never to return.
Source: historylink.org
historyCobb Building
The Cobb was the West Coast's first building designed expressly for physicians and dentists, and it included a bank of four high-speed elevators, additional gas and electrical service and a built-in vacuum cleaning system. A relief of Hippocrates stands guard over the building entrance.
Source: historylink.org
developmentRainier Square Tower
Rainier Square Tower, completed in 2020, is Seattle's second-tallest building at 850 feet. It has a sloping shape that narrows toward the top, and the taper was lowered so it would not block views of the pedestal base of the Rainier Tower next door.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyColman Building
The Colman Building in downtown Seattle was built by James M. Colman (1832-1906) in 1889. In 1904, the Colman Building was transformed. Four additional floors were added. By 1906, the new Colman Building was complete, and for a time dominated the landscape of the “Commission District” and waterfront of downtown Seattle with six stories and a full-block bulk.
Source: historylink.org
historyPioneer Square and the Great Fire
The Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889, started when glue being heated in a cabinet shop boiled over, destroyed 29 city blocks of the central business district; the city rebuilt in brick with streets raised above the original level, creating the Seattle Underground.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyEagles Auditorium Building
In active use by the Eagles until 1981, as a rental facility it hosted many memorable light show/dance events known as Trips Festivals during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Source: historylink.org
institutionBenaroya Hall
In 1993, Jack and Becky Benaroya gave an unsolicited $15 million to the project, which triggered enthusiasm for it among other donors. The state, city, and county promised support as well. The hall was built in two years, on time and on budget at $118 million.
Source: historylink.org
quirkHammering Man
On September 28, 1991, Hammering Man, a 48-foot-tall metal sculpture created by Jonathan Borofsky for the entrance to the new Seattle Art Museum, falls and is damaged. In September 1992, the repaired sculpture was reinstalled in front of the Seattle Art Museum at 1st Avenue and University Street in downtown Seattle.
Source: historylink.org
institutionSeattle Art Museum
On December 5, 1991, SAM reopened in a downtown facility designed by Robert Venturi; the cost of the build was US$62 million
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionIvar's Acres of Clams
Folk singer Ivar Haglund opened Seattle's first aquarium and a fish-and-chips stand on Pier 54 in 1938, expanding to the full Ivar's Acres of Clams restaurant in 1946; his motto was 'Keep Clam' and the restaurant still operates on the pier.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
quirkGum Wall
The Gum Wall in Post Alley beneath Pike Place Market started after the Market Theater began hosting Unexpected Productions' Theatresports in 1991, when patrons stuck used gum on the walls by the theater's box office. After several cleanings, Market officials let it stay, deeming it a tourist attraction around 1999.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionColman Dock ferries
Washington State Ferries is the largest ferry system in the United States. It has run since June 1, 1951, and its fleet is painted white with green trim. Colman Dock is its flagship Seattle terminal, serving the Bainbridge Island and Bremerton routes.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionPike Place Market
Pike Place Market opened August 17, 1907, when crowds of shoppers met six to 12 farmers' wagons and bought them out by lunchtime; it is one of the oldest continuously operating public markets in the United States.
Source: pikeplacemarket.org
institutionUwajimaya
Uwajimaya was founded in Tacoma in 1928 by Fujimatsu and Sadako Moriguchi; Fujimatsu sold homemade fishcakes and other Japanese staples from the back of his truck. Its Seattle flagship anchors Uwajimaya Village in the heart of the Chinatown-International District, and the family-owned business is now led by granddaughter Denise Moriguchi, the third generation.
Source: uwajimaya.com
developmentOverlook Walk
Overlook Walk, opened October 4, 2024 where the Alaskan Way Viaduct once stood, is an elevated park creating the first pedestrian connection between downtown and the waterfront, bridging the nearly 100-vertical-foot gap between Pike Place Market and the new Park Promenade on Elliott Bay.
Source: harrell.seattle.gov
institutionOriginal Starbucks
The 'Original Starbucks' at 1912 Pike Place is the company's oldest surviving store; the first shop opened in 1971 at 2000 Western Avenue and moved to the Pike Place location in 1976.
Source: seattletimes.com
Questions about this drive
- How long does the Leavenworth to Seattle drive take?
- About 2 h 25 min of driving at the speed limit, without stops, from the Leavenworth end to the Seattle end. The total is under the exit table.
- How far is Leavenworth to Seattle?
- 129 miles along US-2, measured over the same 23 exits and 10 towns this page lists.
- What is the halfway point of this drive?
- Index. It is the place nearest the midpoint of the routed time, so it is where to stop if you want to break the drive once.
- What is worth stopping for between Leavenworth and Seattle?
- Picks from along the drive: Lake Wenatchee RV Resort in Coles Corner, Riverside Park at exit 194, Blue Moon Tavern at exit 169. The table below covers all 23 exits and 10 towns and names the top stop at each one that has one, with how far off the road it is.
- Is there anything to know about US-2 along the way?
- 96 stories are placed at the exits they belong to, each with the source it came from.
- Where does Sal narrate on this drive?
- This page is your guide as far as Gold Bar. From there, Sal narrates live to Seattle. Start a drive from the button at the end of this page.
- What about the drive back, Seattle to Leavenworth?
- It is a separate page, because the routed time and the exits you actually pass are not the same in reverse on a divided highway. The link is at the top of this page.
withby tells you what is coming before the exit, not after it.
Drive it with Sal — live from Gold Bar to Seattle