Metro Parks Tacoma, Tacoma

Incorporated in 1907 to oversee the city's fledgling parks, today the Metro Parks Tacoma organization enriches the lives of residents and visitors with its array of recreational facilities that includes community centers, dog parks, pools, and athletic fields. At Fort Nisqually Living History Museum, visitors step back in time to interact with Washington's denizens of yore, hearkening back to the day when trappers fetched a pretty penny for the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics' jerseys. For nearly a century, golfers have flocked to Meadow Park Golf Course's 27 holes to shoot for par or practice their drives, and the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium touts a rich Asian forest sanctuary home to real Sumatran tigers.