Upcoming trip to Seattle, WA (1 Viewer)

InTheFade82

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I will be taking a long overdue vacation to Seattle, WA Feb 9-12. My girl will also be celebrating her birthday.

Any helpful advice, tips or must see sights would be welcomed. Even if it means renting a car for a day or explore further outside of the city.

Thank you for any info.
 
We did a number of the sites in and around Seattle when we went up for the Saints vs Seahawks Monday night game a few years back. My Step-dad and mom live in the area, so they were our defacto tour guides. They drove us all over the area and up into the mountains. It was fun and beautiful fall scenery, but I am not sure if it would be quite the same in February. That said, the two things that I consider most memorable and would recommend hitting are the Pikes Place Market and the Chihuly Glass museum.

The Pikes Place Market is an eclectic shopping area with some of everything. It was fun to walk amongst the various kiosks and check out all of the local artistry. Some of the stuff was uniquely Seattle and some was touristy trinket crap. The fish throwing guys were fun to watch as well. Especially for the weekend we were there. We had quite the contingent of Who Dats and we matched every "Go Hawks" with an even louder "WHO DAT!" They admitted defeat when they realized they were literally surrounded by New Orleans fans.

The Chihuly place was thrown in as something my mom had wanted to check out, but never had an excuse to go. It is next door to the Space Needle, which you may add to your list as it is iconic Seattle. I was a tad leary when we first arrived as the admission was $20 and I did not really want to spend $20 to go to a glass museum. We were already there, so decided to go inside and check it out. I am SO glad we did. It was some of the most amazing art I have ever seen in my life. We spent a few hours just wandering through taking pictures from all different angles. I would say ultimately this was the highlight of the entire trip and the one thing that I would recommend to everyone going to Seattle. Even if you don't like art or blown glass, the scale and enormity of some of his pieces just needs to be seen; Tripadvisor agrees as it is their #1 of 499 things to see in Seattle.

Pike Place Market
https://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/
 
Some good food tips in this thread from six months ago:

http://saintsreport.com/forums/f3/seattle-seafood-101-a-356139/#.WIFTe7nkpYA

There are several great out-of-town excursions. You can drive to the ferry to Whidbey Island, which has sort of a New England island vibe, only warmer and greener and better food. Or for something more spectacular (and way more expensive) you can take a daytrip (or overnight) to Victoria, BC, going one way by fast ferry and the other by seaplane.
 
We went in September.

Biscuit ***** is a fun place to fight that hangover with breakfast. And the best meal we had was at Din Tai Fung.

But definitely rent a car and drive to one of the surrounding mountainous areas. We spent some time on the northern Cascades and it was amazing and beautiful. Also consider going to one of the many surrounding waterfront areas that can offer nice views of the city during sunset hours. We had a great evening on Alki beach, for example. It's a fun city but the natural beauty of the area is not to be missed.

The EMP museum was fantastic. Seattle Coffee Works and Slate coffee were the best espressos I found.

And certainly spend a couple of hours at the market putting together a picnic lunch. We bought a bunch of meats and cheeses and sweet things. There's even a great wine shop on the edge of the market. You can go someplace like Discovery Park and have an awesomely secluded experience.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
If you have the time and a car, drive across the sound to the Olympic National forest to place called Hurricane Ridge, the view is breathtaking.
 
Been to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest five times; we always go in late summer and pair it with a trip to Mt. Rainier National Park, where we stay in their Paradise Lodge and hike. That's a no-go in February, of course-- all snowed in at that level.

But with a few days in Seattle, there is plenty to do. I would recommend a rental car for total freedom, but that's just me. There's a lot of stuff downtown but Seattle transit outside of the downtown area is not that fantastic.

Seconded is the Pike Place Market, which is as stated a LOT bigger than just the fish market. You should also walk down to the city waterfront, with restaurants, the big ferris wheel, boat rides on Puget Sound/Elliot Bay, etc.

Of course you need to go to the top of the Space Needle; every visitor needs to do that at least once. A good way to do that is to take the old monorail from the heart of downtown out to the Space Needle, which is on the "edge" of downtown.

And you have to get some doughnuts at Top Pot (the original, right next to the monorail line, not to far from the downtown end - 2124 5th Ave). A Seattle classic.

Other recommendations:

- University of Washington campus -- really pretty, stadium is right on Lake Washington.

- The Fremont neighborhood is cool and quirky. They have the Fremont Troll - a sculpture of a troll eating a VW beetle under the Hwy 99 bridge --and after the fall of the USSR, they got a Lenin statue (at Fremont Pl N & N 36th Street).

- Lots of parks and nice drives along the waterfront for scenic views-- Golden Gardens Park and Carkeek Park along Puget Sound, Alki Avenue for a nice drive, and Lake Washington Boulevard around Madrona is really pretty. Also Gas Works Park on Lake Union-- great example of industrial site redevelopment as recreation.
 
Haven't read any of the other responses, but my wife and I went for our 10 year anniversary a couple years ago. Our highlights:

The EMP museum right by the Space Needle. There was an awesome Nirvana exhibit and Star Wars costume exhibit. Not sure what exhibits are in season right now, but it's a cool place.

The Chihuly Glass Gardens (also by the Space Needle) is pretty amazing.

We took a little trip to see Mt. St. Helens. Can't remember how long of a drive it was (seems around 1-2 hours or so). But that was definitely worth doing.
 
I went this past summer with my wife and a couple from Louisiana. We saw Mt. Rainier, whale watching in the San Juan Islands, and toured downtown Seattle. Loved every minute of it. We will be back at some point. You will enjoy yourself for sure!
 
I'll second the trip north to Mukilteo and the ferry across to Whidbey Island. The Muk' has some good little restaurants, as does Whidbey itself.

If you had more time, since it'll take most of a day, I'd recommend the big circle of ferry routes..breakfast in Edmonds, to Kingston then Port Townsend to Coupeville and Clinton to Mukilteo for dinner.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/pdf/wsfroutemap.pdf
 
You may wish to visit Underground Seattle. The city is built on top of the old city.

Pike's Market is iconic and a must see. The Space Needle provides a great overall view of the city.

Mount Rainier, if you have time, is always worth seeing up close.
 

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