Create your own wizard-worthy local tour

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park planned for Florida won't open until 2009. And there's only one lucky local girl who won a free trip to London to meet J.K. Rowling this summer.

The rest of us will just have to use our imaginations to get pumped up for the final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," slated for release at midnight July 21. The "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" movie opens late night on July 10.

To help, we came up with our own local tour, visiting attractions that evoke Harry Potterlike characters, scenes and locations. We first published this tour in 2002; now we've updated it with new spots.

Howl with wolves, drink a cup of tea, hop on a train or conquer a giant troll — all without leaving the state.

Magical locations

If Diagon Alley were transported to the United States, one imagines it would look a lot like Pike Place Market, with its small variety shops and stalls.

Just wander and take in the ambience, or look for shops such as the Tenzing Momo Herbal Apothecary (in the Economy Building), which has jars of dried herbs just like the Apothecary in "Harry Potter." Or try some tea at MarketSpice (1501 Pike Place), which also has bulk herbs. Market Magic (first floor Down Under) sells magic supplies and boasts a fortune-teller machine out front. Try a crumpet (a British teacake) and cup of tea at the Crumpet Shop (1503 First Ave.). For a spot of tea or British treats, try afternoon tea at local tea rooms or hotels.

The odd assortment of toys, gags, candy and "strange unexplainable objects" at Ballard's Archie McPhee (2428 N.W. Market St., Seattle, 206-297-0240) makes it a good stand-in for Fred and George's shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

On the darker side, there's Knockturn Alley, where one store features "a glass case [holding] a withered hand on a cushion, a blood-stained pack of cards and a staring glass eye." That sounds a bit like the sort of thing you'd find at Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe (1001 Alaskan Way, on Seattle's waterfront), which showcases a two-headed pig in a jar, mummies and other oddities in cases along its back wall.

Given the Northwest's dearth of royalty, the closest stand-in for the impressive Hogwarts school is Manresa Castle in Port Townsend, built in 1892 and now a hotel. Even better: Wooden playgrounds at local parks, such as Kirkland's North Rose Hill Woodlands Park or St. Edward State Park in Kenmore, offer twisting wooden walkways, turrets, slides and hidden nooks.

Every book begins and ends with a trip on the Hogwarts Express. While there isn't a Platform 9 ¾ at Northwest Railway Museum's Snoqualmie Depot, it is a charming historic building. Ride the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad out to North Bend and keep all thoughts of Dementors out of your head.

Magical creatures

In "Sorcerer's Stone," a troll whose "skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder" frightens Hermione. You can conquer the Fremont Troll as it grasps a car in its lair under the north end of the Aurora Bridge.

"Harry Potter" dragons are European, but fortunately, dragons are featured in several cultures' mythologies. In Seattle, the best place to find the winged serpents is the Chinatown International District, where colorful dragons twist and crawl around light poles. Inside Uwajimaya, an Asian store (600 Fifth Ave. S.), a dragon's long body stretches above shoppers' heads.

If kids want a dragon to play on, head over to Deane's Children's Park (5500 Island Crest Way, Mercer Island), which is also known as "dragon park" for its cement dragon. The playground there also has a castle theme. North Rose Hill Woodlands Park in Kirkland features a dragon-decorated climbing wall. The Woodland Park Zoo is also home to a smaller type of "dragon": Komodo dragons.

Snakes link Harry to Voldemort, a fellow parselmouth who can talk to snakes. At the end of "Chamber of Secrets," Harry kills the basilisk, the king of serpents, which can turn people to stone with its gaze.

There are no such murderous snakes here, but visitors to the Woodland Park Zoo can see boas and other types of snakes in the reptile area of the Day and Night Exhibits building. Children can actually hold snakes at the Washington Serpentarium in Monroe. (All venomous snakes are surgically devenomized).

The Pacific Science Center houses spiders in its Insect Village exhibit. While there's a tarantula, none are as big as Aragog, Hagrid's former elephant-size pet that died in "Half-Blood Prince."

To see a possible relative of Hedwig's, Harry's beloved snowy owl, visit the core area of Northwest Trek in Eatonville, where two snowy owls perch on tree snags.

Howl at the moon (but don't turn into a werewolf like Remus Lupin did) at Wolf Haven International's summer Howl-Ins.

In "Order of the Phoenix," readers meet Hagrid's half-brother, the giant Grawp. Seattle has its own famous giant: the Seattle Art Museum's Hammering Man (1300 First Ave.). At Pike Place Market, there's also a Giant Shoe Museum.

Ron, Harry and Hermione play chess with life-size chess pieces to reach the hidden spot of the Sorcerer's Stone in the first book. They're not as big — nor as violent, since the losers in Harry Potter's game are smashed by the victors — but kids can play on a large chessboard with knee-high pieces at Third Place Commons (17171 Bothell Way N.E., Lake Forest Park), Crossroads Shopping Center (15600 N.E. Eighth St., Bellevue) and North Rose Hill Woodlands Park.

Pottery botany

The amiable volunteers at the Graham Visitors Center at the Washington Park Arboretum (2300 Arboretum Drive E., Seattle) will try their best to find a willow in their collection, even if you answer their query of "What type of willow?" with the answer, "Whomping."

The arboretum has one big willow, a Wisconsin weeping willow (Salix elegantissima), on the west shore of Duck Bay, just down from the parking lot marked No. 16 on the arboretum map (available free in the visitors center).

Professor Sprout, Hogwarts' herbology teacher, would seem at home with Volunteer Park Conservatory's (1400 E. Galer St., Seattle) collection of exotic plants, though she wouldn't find any Mandrakes or Fanged Geraniums.

Stephanie Dunnewind: 206-464-2091 or sdunnewind@seattletimes.com