What does FOVA stand for?

Many historic sites and parks pepper the Washington landscape including Whitman Mission National Historic Site near Walla Walla, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, San Juan Island National Historical Park, and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park in Seattle.

The service's regional director for the West Coast, Jonathan Jarvis, earlier this year recommended scuttling planned 2008 fee increases for 16 sites including Yosemite National Park, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, and Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in southwest Washington.

VISITING VANCOUVER Vancouver, Washington boasts significant cultural and historic attractions, including the Pearson Air Museum, situated on the nation's oldest operating airfield; the Fort Vancouver National Historic site, which was once the center of political, cultural and commercial activities of the Pacific Northwest; several wineries and Uptown Village, where visitors can step back in time on upper Main Street and visit antique and gift shops, restaurants and boutiques.

And Oregon City's 158-year-old McLoughlin House, a jewel of Northwest history, is being attached by the National Park Service to the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in neighboring Vancouver, Wash.

The trail begins in downtown Vancouver's recently refurbished Esther Short Park, meanders along Vancouver's Columbia River waterfront, then circles by Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (a former Hudson's Bay Co.

To the fort Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is the city's most popular and well-known tourist destination.

The museum is next to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (a reconstruction of a 19th-century Hudson's Bay trading post).

Travelers to the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site might want to plan their trip before or after the repairs, or phone to check how bad the backups are.