Federal Way, WA has a population in the neighborhood of 83,000 people. Federal Way, Washington is located on southern Puget Sound in King County. Federal Way is also in the southern Seattle Metropolitan area. Except for two small areas, Federal Way lies west of Interstate-5. The main entrance to the city is Interstate-5 Exit 143.

Federal Way has 8 miles of shoreline along Puget Sound and is close to Seattle, Tacoma, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The map at the left shows the location of Federal Way in the Seattle Metropolitan area. The southern city limits of Federal Way share a border with the City of Tacoma and Dash Point State Park.

History

Federal Way began in the late 1800’s as a logging settlement harvesting the Douglas Fir forests that thrived in this area. In 1915 U.S. Route 99 was built with the help of federal funding. It became known locally as “federal highway”. The first school on this road was known as Federal way and soon several schools consolidated into a school district under the same name. At one point some locals wanted to change the name to Twelve Lakes after the lakes in the area, but they were not successful.

Family Fun

Wild Waves Enchanted Village

This Six Flags theme park is the premier amusement park of the northwest. Entertainment includes rollercoasters and thrill rides, as well as family rides like a 1906 antique carousel and bumper cars. It also includes a water park with wave pool, waterslides, and an activity pool.

visit their website

The Outdoors

Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection

This beautiful outdoor collection of more than 50 bonsai trees is open free to the public year round. It represents the work of well known artists with trees from around the Pacific Rim including Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United States.

Visit Their Website

West Hylebos Wetlands State Park

This beautiful wetlands park offers a serene walk along a 1-mile boardwalk, a self guided tour through a wetlands forest.

4^th Avenue South off 348^th Street

Visit their website:

West Hylebos Wetlands

Rhododendron Species

Botanical Garden

One of the world’s largest collections of rhododendrons is found in this 22-acre woodland setting. Featuring over 2,000 varieties of rhododendrons with the majority of them in bloom from March to May., but the flowering season in western Washington can continue through late July.

http://www.rhodygarden.org/visitus.html

Dumas Bay Park

30844 44^th Avenue SW

Federal Way, WA

This 19.3 acre neighborhood park has 12 parking stalls, unpaved trails to a beach on Puget Sound, picnic tables, and interpretive signs for a Heron rookery on the site.

Visit the parks web site.

Dumas Bay Center

3200 SW Dash Point Road

Federal Way, WA

This facility is the location of the Kuntzen Family Theater, a meeting facility, and a park with views of Puget Sound and Maury Island.

Visit the park's web site.

Dash Point State Park

This 398 acre state park has 3,301 fee of shoreline on Puget Sound. The beach provides an excellent opportunity to view sea-life. The park has 114 tent sites and 27 RV sites with hookups.

Visit the Park's web page.

Shopping

The Commons at Federal Way

Formerly known as SeaTac Mall this shopping center is located in downtown Federal Way. Currently under redevelopment The Commons offers shoppers access to over 100 stores ranging from national department stores like Macy’s, Sears and Target to specialty shops.

http://www.tcafw.com/

For more information on Federal Way we recommend this website:

http://www.federalway.org/tourism/index.htm

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