3 Best Sights in The Olympic Peninsula and Washington Coast, Washington

Anchoring 25-acre Railroad Bridge Park, a beautifully serene Audubon Society preserve bisected by the Dungeness River, this stunning nature center reopened in 2022 following a dramatic expansion and redesign that features informative natural history exhibits as well as a bookstore, a coffee bar, and a pavilion and rain garden. The center is adjacent to a lacy, 730-foot-long ironwork bridge that was once part of the coastal rail line between Port Angeles and Port Townsend and is now a popular multiuse path for hiking and biking. On warm days, the grounds are lovely for picnicking, and you can watch live performances in the amphitheater. There are free guided bird walks and other nature programs year-round.

At the western end of Port Angeles, this 3½-mile-long natural sand spit protects the harbor from big waves and storms. The Hook is a fine place to take a walk along the water and watch shore- and seabirds, and to spot the occasional seal, orca, or gray whale. It's also a popular dive spot.

This pocket park, dedicated in 2011 along the muddy banks of the Wishkah River, pays homage to grunge legend and Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, who grew up in a modest home two blocks from here. A guitar sculpture, lyrics to “Something in the Way,” and other remembrances—like an empty instrument-stand sculpture identified as the musician's air guitar—mark the quiet spot that fans still seek out more than 20 years after the rock star's death. Some leave messages on the park bench and picnic table as well as under the bridge.