Monroe

Take a drive east on Highway 2 toward the alpine wilderness of the Cascade Mountains and the ski slopes of Stevens Pass and you will find the growing town of Monroe. Monroe found a foothold to growth when the Great Northern Railroad crested the Cascade mountains and pushed into the Puget Sound area. In the early years wood products provided the industrial base for Monroe. Over time that was replaced by agriculture, particularly berries, and dairy farms. As you are leaving town traveling east on Highway 2 you will see a monument to the old dairy industry of Monroe. As you are leaving town you will see a tall old smoke stack that is what remains of a Carnation condensing plant that burnt down in the 1940s. 

A great jumping off point to the incredible wilderness areas of the Cascade Mountains, Monroe is a town that you could easily call home. Still reasonably close to the metropolitan area, it provides the best of both worlds giving residents access to cityscape and landscape.