A July 8 story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer listed almost 3,500 auto break-ins in downtown Seattle in the past 17 1/2 years — an average of 200 a year.

Crime in Seattle's downtown parks is bad enough that the city began hiring street performers this summer to try and keep bad elements away.

"While crime in Seattle is not disproportionately greater than in other American cities of its size, visitors should take the same precautions to guard against crime just as they would in any large city," Blandford said.

Seattle trivia —Seattle's original name was "Duwamps" but changed in honor of Indian Chief Sealth; the 42-story Smith Tower boasts the only human-operated elevators in the West; Seattle has the highest percentage of people that bike to work in the nation; because of so much CPR training by area residents, Seattle is reputed to be the best U.S. city to survive a heart attack; Starbucks Coffee began its popular chain in Seattle in 1971; Boeing, UPS, REI, Nordstrom, Microsoft and Eddie Bauer all started here.

Puget Sound has 500 square miles of water, 1,400 miles of shoreline and some 300 islands. Its average depth is 205 feet and maximum is 930. Average water temperature is 50 F.

Sources: Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau (www.visitseattle.org); www.SnoqualmieFalls.com; www.emplive.org; and various tourist brochures

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E-mail: lynn@desnews.com