Exploring Washington State

Toby Hanson joins the podcast to talk about his musical career as an accordion player. From an early age Toby was studying music. A family member would play an accordion at family gatherings.  Since Toby was not big enough to play an accordion at that time he started in music by playing Piano. After graduation with a bachelors degree in music Toby has had an interesting career as a professional mu...

Exploring Washington State Podcast Episode 45. Karla Kelly joins us to have a conversation about Birding in Washington State.  Karla is an Avian Field Technician with Ecostudies Institute. In this weekend we chat about Birding in Washington State. Karla's job has her studying birds on the prairies of South Puget Sound. If you want other great ideas of places to visit, or to find out more about peo...

Exploring Washington State Podcast Episode 44. In this episode Scott Cowan has a conversation with Jesse Butterworth. Jesse is the lead singer of The West Coast Feed.  He also has recorded a solo album that will be released in 2021. Jesse shares stories about The West Coast Feed and his musical inspirations.  He recorded his solo album All The Gold I've Struck at Abbey Road Studios.  His stories a...

Exploring Washington State Podcast Episode 43. In this episode Scott Cowan has a conversation John Furniss.  John is known as the Blind Woodsman. Living with his wife Anne in Washougal Washington. With over 500,000 Tik Tok followers John has become Internet Famous. Blind due to an unsuccessful suicide attempt John has managed to find his purpose in life and he shares his story with us on this epis...

Stephanie Anne Johnson and The Hidogs are a Tacoma area band that you need to hear about.  In this episode we have a conversation with Stephanie Anne Johnson. Full of energy, passion, and a genuine appreciation for music. Stephanie Anne is a true joy to listen to. Stephanie Anne shares stories of their musical journey starting at Jason Lee Middle School, Stadium High School,  Pacific Lutheran Univ...

Exploring Washington State episode  41 In this episode MacKenzie Passegger has a conversation with Dena Selert and her daughter and business partner Chris. We learn how this mother daughter duo have launched a high quality natural skin care company in Spokane.  They share the process of how they are growing by bringing natural small batch products to market. Learn more about this Spokane based bus...

Episode 40 of the Exploring Washington State Podcast. Brian Naron one of the authors of Rusted Metal: A Guide to Heavy Metal and Hard Rock Music in the Pacific Northwest (1970 and 1995) Rusted Metal is the definitive guide to Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Music.  This book took over5 years to complete Truly a labor of love for  James R. Beach,  James Tolin, Brian Naron, and James D Sutton. Brian share...

Exploring Washington State episode 39 In this episode Scott Cowan has a conversation with Lilly Longshore. Lilly is a C5-6 quadriplegic who lives near Vancouver Washington. Lilly recently published a book "Lilly's Most Excellent Wheelchair Adventures: Wheeling Washington State " In this episode we chat with Lilly about places in Washington State that are wheelchair accessible. Lilly shares many pl...

Exploring Washington State episode 38 Part 4  Featuring my long time friend, former roommate, and family member Michael "Wanz" Wansley.  We are going to cover over 40 years of his musical journey. In Part 4 we finish our conversation and we learn more about the journey that Wanz travelled as he was called in to sing the hook on Thrift Shop and the worldwide tour that was to follow. The story of hi...

In this episode Scott Cowan has a conversation with  Ava Davis or as she is known online PNW Cider Girl.  Ava is an avid hiker and cider enthusiast.  She combines her love for hiking and ciders. Many of her cider reviews show the cider at some location on one of her hikes.  Ava also completed 52 hikes in 52 weeks in 2020.    We chat about what it takes to go for a hike and complete such a large go...

Exploring Washington State episode 36 Part 3  Featuring my long time friend, former roommate, and family member Michael "Wanz" Wansley.  We are going to cover over 40 years of his musical journey. In Part 3 we chat about more of his early experiences and bands in Seattle from the late 1980's until the early 2000's Wanz's first job was at Tower Records in the U District. Many of his connections in...

In this episode Scott Cowan has a conversation with  Mindy Sonshine one of the owners of Orcas Island Leather Goods. Based On Orcas Island in the beautiful San Juan Islands. Mindy and her husband moved their family to Orcas Island based on a family summer camp.  This was a French speaking  summer camp. Mindy is a lot of fun and this was a very enjoyable episode  where we chat about how they starte...

Exploring Washington State episode 34 Part 2   Wanz The Sequel Featuring my long time friend, former roommate, and family member Michael "Wanz" Wansley.  We are going to cover over 40 years of his musical journey. In Part 2 we chat about more of his experiences in Ellensburg in the 1980's We set the stage for the Seattle years. You  will hear more about The Ranch (one of my personal favorite place...

In this episode Scott Cowan has a conversation with  Harley Sitner. Harley is the owner of Peace Vans. Based in Seattle Peace Vans restores, rents, and converts vans. Specializing in Volkswagen air cooled vans Peace Vans is possibly the coolest van repair shop on the West Coast. Not only do they restore and repair, they rent beautifully restored Volkswagen Vanagons and Mercedes Metris vans. Peace...

Exploring Washington State episode 32 is our first Music Monday segment. Featuring my long time friend, former roommate, and family member Michael "Wanz" Wansley.  We are going to cover over 40 years of his musical journey. The first episode features part one of my conversation with Wanz.  We start off in the 1980's when we met at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA.  Early bands, and...

In this episode MacKenzie Passegger has a conversation with  Jamie McGillen. Jamie  is a Tacoma area author who has published a historical novel In Sight Of The Mountain.  As of January 2021 Jamie's 2nd novel In Light Of The Summit will be published.  Kenzie and Jamie have a conversation about Jamie's fondness for 19th century  history.  Jamie shares how she researched to publish her books.  Spend...

In this episode we have a conversation with Alexis Devine.  Alex is working with her dog Bunny on communication.  Who knew dogs could talk?  Bunny is a Sheepadoodle who is learning to communicate with Alexis by using a buttons that play a specific word when pressed.  Currently Bunny is putting together 3 and 4 word phrases. Alexis shares that currently Bunny is interested in poop.  Sounds just lik...

In this episode we chat with Jason Spears one of the founders of Locust Cider and Brewing Company. Jason and his brother Patrick Spears started Locust Cider in 2015.  In this episode we learn how they came up with the name Locust Cider.  Jason shares the vision and motivation for building a cider company that has grown to 11 tap rooms in Washington and with production and tap rooms in Colorado and...

Scott chats with Jeanette & Lyz the founders of Seeking Kombucha. Jeanette started drinking kombucha for health reasons and found that it worked.  After finding out that many kombucha s are made with juice and other items that may not provide the maximum health benefits she started experimenting and making her own kombucha. Using locally sourced ingredients as much as possible Seeking Kombucha...

Explore Washington State Holiday Gift Guide 2020. Our second annual guide to some of the best local artisan gifts made in Washington State. In this episode we chat with Mackenzie Passegger as she shares with us a bit of information about each of the merchants in our gift guide. Explore Washington State is proud to support and promote Washington based small businesses and creatives.   2232 Ceramics...

In this episode Scott and Kenzie chat about Explore Washington State.  From the beginning focus to our current efforts we chat about the journey we have taken as we Explore Washington State. This is a casual conversation between father and daughter and we share a few laughs as we bring you our vision for Explore Washington State and the Exploring Washington State Podcast.  If you want other great...

Scott chats with Garrett Hanson to talk about Garrett's newest article for the Explore Washington State website. They talk about how Garrett got into the profession, the gear he uses, and some of the techniques he describes in his article. If you want other great ideas of places to visit, or to find out more about people who are making amazing things in Washington State you can visit Explore Washi...

Thunderboats memories from our childhood. David Williams has been a fan of hydroplanes since he was five.  Now he is the Executive Director of the Hydroplane and Race Boat Museum in Kent.  In this episode we chat with David and we learn about Washington State Hydroplane history.    Seafair, The 1962 Worlds Fair, The Seattle Pilots, The Seattle Supersonics, and much more can be directly traced back...

What is Fortuna Found? At its heart, Fortuna Found is the brain child of Nic O'Neill. It is a place to create, play, and fly kites, and a way to foster creating an environment for others to do the same.  What does Fortuna Found mean? Well, you will have to listen to this episode to find out. In this episode I chat with Nic and we learn about kites. Ranging from flying indoors (yes you really can f...

Lavender in Sequim.  Today Sequim is well known for Lavender.  In the 1990's that was not the case.  Mike Reichner went to a meeting one night and came home with a brand new plan.  Soon Lavender would be blooming and Sequim was on the way to be the Lavender capital of  Washington.  In this episode we chat about how Purple Haze Lavender Farm was named. We learn that there are many flavors of Lavend...