8 Best Sights in Ellensburg, Washington Wine Country

You could lose yourself for a couple of hours browsing the three floors of light-filled galleries within downtown's imposing 1889 Stewart Building. This community art center buzzes with creative energy, as artists often work on-site. Rotating exhibits showcase the area's considerable diversity of artistic talent, and there's a fantastic gift shop. Be sure to check out the top floor, which preserves many of the building's most striking Victorian architectural elements.

Roughly 12,500 students learn and in many cases reside on this pleasant, tree-shaded campus marked by formidable redbrick architecture and located on the north side of downtown. University Way contains several handsome buildings dating from the university's founding in 1891 as the State Normal School. Attractions near the center of campus include a serene Japanese garden and the Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, which features the work of regional and national artists.

Half this museum set inside converted vintage downtown storefronts houses a collection of works by renowned painter John Clymer (1907–89), an Ellensburg native who was one of the most widely published illustrators of the American West, focusing many of his oils and watercolors on wildlife and indigenous culture. The other galleries mount rotating exhibitions featuring other established and emerging Western and wildlife artists.

The home of artists Jane Orleman and her late husband Dick Elliott is a continuously growing whimsical folk sculpture of outsider art: a collage of some 20,000 bottle caps, 1,500 bicycle reflectors, and other colorful, reused bits. Although you can't tour the house itself, you can view the fantastic exterior and art-strewn front and backyards from the sidewalk, and you're encouraged to sign the guest book mounted on the surrounding fence.

About 30 miles east of Ellensburg via Interstate 90, Ginkgo Petrified Forest hugs the western bank of the Columbia River and preserves the remarkable petrified-wood logs that were once part of a thriving ginkgo forest. The 1¼-mile Trees of Stone Interpretative Trail loop trailhead and Trailside Museum are a 2-mile drive west of the interpretive center (closed Monday through Thursday, mid-September–mid-May). The adjacent Wanapum Recreation Area has camping, swimming, and river access for boaters.

The six galleries in this excellent regional history museum set inside the opulent Victorian Cadwell Building showcase one of the state's better pioneer artifact collections, ranging from Native American basketry to early-20th-century carriages. There's also an impressive collection of historic photos.

One of central Washington's most dramatic drives, this 27-mile journey alongside the region's defining river twists and turns beneath towering 2,000-foot sagebrush-carpeted cliffs and volcanic basalt outcroppings. There are four well-marked BLM recreation areas—each with picnic tables, fire rings, vault toilets, campgrounds, nature trails, and boat ramps—along the drive, which provides a stunningly scenic alternative to Interstate 82 between Ellensburg and Yakima. A few local companies, including Yakima River Tubing ( www.yakimarivertubing.com) offer family-friendly float trips along this generally gentle stretch of river, which is also popular among trout fly-fishing enthusiasts. Keep your eye out for eagles and other raptors circling overhead. At the north end of the canyon in 64-acre Helen McCabe State Park, construction is underway on a sleek, contemporary interpretive center that will educate visitors about the canyon and the region's thriving indigenous culture, and feature trails and a fishing pond; visit  www.ycic.org for news about the anticipated opening date.