Any touristy suggestions for my mom's visit?

So, my mom is visiting from South Africa in a few weeks. I thought I'd open up a thread for people to suggest things they'd recommend doing in and around Seattle and Oregon.

• What would you do with your parents if/when they visit?
• What are some of the lodges, inns and B&B's you would recommend staying in?
• Any off-the-beaten path towns or interesting places you'd suggest we take her?
• Any good day hikes? (Without too much elevation gain and not too long, say 5 miles roundtrip max).

My mom is a great cook and a foodie, is into beading, books, wine and coffee, and hasn't seen much of the beauty of the Pacific NW. :)

Some of the things we have thought of already:

• Shipwreck Beads in Lacey, WA. (The largest bead store in the world?)
• Other bead stores around Seattle: e.g. Beads & Beyond in Bellevue
• Day trip to Mt. Rainier. Grove of the Patriarchs and other easy hikes sound good - are there others you would recommend?
• Drive to Mt. St Helens and explore the visitor's centre.
• Portland: Powell's, street market and walk around the Pearl district. Japanese gardens, ... Maybe Mt. Hood too?
• Sea-kayak day trip. (Assuming I can convince my mom she will survive, but I think Brad will look after her).
• Shows: Zinzanni. Maybe something at Benaroya hall or the Paramount. I'm not sure what's on in July yet...
• Specilaty shops/markets: Pike Place Market, Uwajimaya
• Dining: Gnocchi & cured meat @ Salumi, Veggie food at Cafe Flora and Carmelitas, Sushi (maybe at Kisaku)
• Northern Cascades Highway loop.
• The Olympic Peninsula. Maybe drive south to the Washington coast (stop and see the Capitol in Olympia), see Hoquiam and Aberdeen, drive north on the 101 and stay overnight somewhere. M-Jo recommended the Kalaloch Lodge. Include a short Hoh River hike. On the northern side of the peninsula we could do Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crescent Lodge. Port Townsend looks nice too. (I think the only time I've been was when I "helped" CraigH sail his yacht down from the Orcas islands.)
• From Port Townsend we could catch a ferry to Whidbey island. Whidbey has an arts/craft village that sounds fun (I think it's Langley?) Other islands maybe worth a visit are Vashon
• Parks: Visit Gasworks, Volunteer and Discovery park. The Arboretum and Japanese Gardens. Kubota Gardens. Bellevue Botanical Garden.
• Museums: SAAM/SAM in Capitol Hill.
• Small towns: La Conner (lots of interesting places to browse), Leavenworth, Roslyn (she could see how it's changed since she saw it in '99). Twisp, Chelan (we could come down this way from the Northern Cascades Highway)