The latest travel suggestion thread: Seattle

Had a great time in Seattle. Officially, the coolest city I've been to in a long, long while. Can't say enough good things.

I am curious why everyone urges people to ride the monorail. It's a 30-second ride from the Needle to downtown. Useful, indeed, but nothing special. I also took the street car up to Lake Union. Again, very useful, but fairly boring.

I was there four days and there's still about 2 or 3 days worth of shit I didn't get to do. Another time...

 

Since someone brought this thread back up ....

Got back a couple of weeks ago, and had a great time. Seattle is an extremely cool city, but I just wish I got to see a little more of it. We stayed two nights in Kirkland and drove over to the city, then stayed with a friend of my Dad's for a couple of days in Lakewood (meaning I couldn't get back to the big city save for our last night), and spent one of those days accompanying my sis to her Navy base in Bremerton.

Saw everything on the CityPass except the Museum of Flight. The Space Needle was well worth the time, and I enjoyed the EMP alright (whoever said the gift shop was great was spot on). I was surprised how much I liked the Pacific Science Center (if you have kids, they'll have a blast there). The second day, we went to the Aquarium (very good) and took the Argosy cruise (OK). And our last night in the area, we got to drive up and see the Mariners game (Safeco's a great ballpark).

My sis will probably be up there for the next four years between deployments, so hopefully I be back up there in another year or two and maybe see more of the city on my own pace (Pike's Place, Pioneer Square for example).

 

Having spent most of my life in Seattle, I've also wondered why people consider the Monorail a tourist attraction. It's just a short elevated train ride. It's not like it's a thrill ride through the city. But it is useful to get from the Seattle Center to downtown and back.

 

If you are interested in spending some time on the west side of the sound, check out Port Townsend. You can visit (and even stay at) Fort Worden, where they filmed an Officer and a Gentleman. There are also some decent beer opportunities in Port Townsend and in Sliverdale (Silver City Brewing Co.).
My family spent a weekend at one of the officer's quarters at Worden which they rent out (usually a year in advance). They overlook the main marching grounds, there are trails all over the place linking various old battery placements, a pretty cool place to spend a weekend right on the tip of the peninsula.

 

I've been wanting to visit the Olympic Peninsula since I moved to the region a couple years ago. Maybe next summer we'll get the chance.

Besides Hurricane Ridge and the coastline, I've heard Port Townsend is a must-stop, just for eats and drinks if nothing else. And of course, my wife the green thumber wants to hit Sequim (sp?) for the lavender festival.

I'd rather do that than swing over to Forks ... enough said about that! :