A couple of close friends of mine are getting married, and then moving to Seattle from the East coast. (He’s going to be a resident at Seattle Children’s.) Do any of you have any good recommendations for fun things to do or see in and around Seattle? They’re in their late 20s, with no kids.
Thanks in advance.
[ul][li]Post Alley (under the Pike Place Market, which is also fun but only on weekdays). [/li][li]Kells (Irish pub with great pasties and Irish stew, up at the north end of Post Alley)[/li][li]The Chittondon Locks up in Ballard[/li][li]Golden Gardens Park (Ballard)[/li][li]The Ballard Farmer’s Market[/li][li]Walk around the Queen Anne district and admire the architecture[/li][li]Go to the Seattle Center and the Space Needle[/li][li]See the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the oldest symphony orchastra on the West Coast[/li][li]Go sailing or kayaking on Lake Union[/li][li]Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (sorry about the abominable Frank Gehry architecture…it’ll fall apart soon and someone will build a real building to replace it)[/li][li]Go pubbing in the Pioneer District[/li][li]Walk around the highly diverse International District (locals call it “the I.D.”) and the community gardens at the top of the hill[/li][li]Take the train down to Portland for the day and enjoy a toy version of Seattle[/li][li]Et cetera, et cetera[/ul][/li]
And that’s a short list; I’m sure residents can add to this significantly to neighborhoods I haven’t gotten to visit yet.
It’s almost a tossup whether Seattle or San Francisco is my favorite city on the Pacific Coast; I think I’d have to edge toward San Francisco, but fortunately Virgin America flies to both destinations, and Seattle has the Olympic Peninsula within an easy drive or bus ride, which is my favorite place to chase bears.
Stranger
Based on the OP, the couple is moving to Seattle, not coming for a visit. Most of the activities above are generally tourist type things. As far as things to do as a resident of the area, it would help to know what things or hobbies they are interested in. Seattle has just a small part of the 1001 things that folks can do in Western Washington. An example would be my weekend, I went to a collectibles auction in Bellvue on Friday, took my grandkids to a fair in Puyallup yesterday and went fishing in Puget Sound this morning. A little more info about their likes and interests would help.
Have a cold meat plate at Salumi. Expect to wait in line.
See if there’s a good jazz group at Demetriou’s Jazz Alley, or at Triple Door, or Tula’s.
Have breakfast pastries and coffee at Le Panier.
Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.
In answer to the question above, I guess both touristy and non-touristy things would be good. So far as I know they’ve never even been to Seattle except for my friend’s interview at the hospital. So even though they’ll be there long term, I imagine they might want to do the tourist stuff at least once.
As far as what they’re into . . . I’ve never really thought of them as particularly outdoorsy (in the hiking and camping sense), but maybe that will change now that they’ll be somewhere with better opportunities for that. They enjoy going to plays, dining out together, that sort of thing. I know when they lived in NYC for a few years they liked that there were so many fun things they could walk to, so even just nice places to walk around and shop would probably be fun for them.
I still haven’t gotten them a wedding present, so what I was hoping to do was get them some guide books to the city and add a bunch of little notes of places and attractions I’d heard good things about (from all of you, I mean). So if you can give any specifics of why the places you’re recommending are favorites of yours, that would be especially helpful. (Since that’s a bit of a cheap gift, I’m also hoping to get them gift certificates to a couple of restaurants or something, if I can find places that are willing to mail them to me.)
Thanks again for all the help!
The climate and scenery will probably make them like being outdoors more than they do now. While it rains often, it is often light rain and pleasant to be out in. Olympic National Park has spectacular old growth rain forest and rugged beaches with tide pools. Mt. Rainier is otherworldly, especially when the wildflowers are blooming. If they don’t want to get dirty, both parks have good car access to overlooks and miles of paved trails in addition to the ‘real hiking’ out in the boonies. Both are close enough to Seattle proper for a day trip. The San Juan Islands are also beautiful and fairly close, probably more of a weekend trip distance. While it’s kind of ‘touristy’, sea kayak excursions there are far more fun than one would think, especially if a pod of whales swims by. I can recommend a company in Friday Harbor that will keep even the most clueless, terrified paddler (like me) quite safe. Whale watching cruises are quite entertaining if you’ve never been near the critters before.
Not that there’s anything wrong with seeing ‘tourist’ stuff. What else are you when you first move somewhere? Further along the ‘tourist’ continuum are harbour cruises in Seattle, which can be had cheap and give a good view of the city. The view from the Space Needle at night is better still, if it’s clear-ish. Of course living there, they can just wait for good visibility. Pike Place Market is a real market, best visited early in the morning. The floors below the main building are more typically tourist-trappish and probably skippable. The fishing boats in Salmon Bay are cool if you are into nautical stuff and people are free to walk around the docks. Ditto the locks, fish ladder, and park in Ballard. Just riding the ferries around is fun, if it’s not part of your commute. The city of Olympia is really nice, in a small state capital kind of way. There’s a good farmer’s market there and a restored salmon run/fish ladder in Tumwater Falls park. Port Townsend has cool preserved Victorian architecture.
As for food, if they like fish, they are in luck. If they think they don’t, they are in for a revelation. Wild Pacific salmon (4 kinds?) is monumentally better than Atlantic, which is all farmed regardless of what ocean it’s from. The hot smoked salmon typical to the northwest is also much better than the Lox back east, IMHO. Plus, the WA and AK fisheries are considered to be sustainable. Pacific oysters are similarly better than the off-putting ones from the Gulf and east coast that we eat in the rest of the USA. I thought I hated oysters until I ate some baked Pacific ones.
Throw in a Zagat guide with the guidebooks, it rarely steers you wrong. The Steelhead Diner at Pike Place is quite good with lots of local ingredients, although it’s not like a traditional northeast ‘Greek Diner’. A more diner-like place is Thirteen Coins, which has a lounge and huge plates of surprisingly good stuff, is open very late. Sitka and Spruce is tiny, high-end, and very well-regarded, with prices to match. In Post Ally, the White Horse is good for a quiet drink. May Thai restaurant on 45th St is very good as well.
My home town. On the Olympic Peninsula, not too far from Olympic National Park. Big boom town late 19th century, lost out to Seattle when the railroad came. Because of the boom quite a few fancy Victorians were built, because of the bust they stuck around. In the late 1970s a bunch of hippies and artist types fleeing California came up here and found cheap rent in leaky old Victorian houses. That’s kind of disappeared now with the discovery of the place by retirees (though my my parents still stick around and the hippies have not entirely disappeared).
The place is on a peninsula on a peninsula (that’s not a typo, PT is on the Quimper Peninsula, which is on the Olympic Peninsula) so it’s kind of off in its own little world.
I was going to come in and post that they should visit Port Townsend–it is indeed a nice quant little town, it is my wife and my favorite vacation spot. I love that urban development passed it by and thus most of the old buildings were NOT torn down to put up a bunch of empty parking lots. Also stop by Poulsbo which is on the Penisula as well. They have a very nice bakery there.
I would also support Chefguy’s Salumi recommendation. For HUGE amounts of good mexican food (and please note in general mexican food in the northwest is medicore at best) I would recommend Gordito’s up in the Phinney area. Lots of good local microbrews if they enjoy beer as well.
Do they like coffee? Because we’ve got good coffee here. No, not Starbucks. A café tour of Capitol Hill is worth the effort, with Vivace and Victrola as don’t-miss – best I’ve ever tasted outside of Italy – plus a few worth a shot (or a double shot): Joe Bar, Vita, Stumptown, Ladro.
I was going to say Port Townsend, too. My husband and I were only able to stay for a long afternoon, and we would like to go back someday. We missed the last ferry and had to drive down to Bellevue to cross back to Seattle, and were treated to the most beautiful sight of sailing into Seattle at night. Wonderful place.
Now I wanna go back.
You must mean Bremerton or Bainbridge Island ferry–Bellevue is on the EAST side of Seattle and Port Townsend is to the West. And there isn’t a ferry from Bellevue
But I agree—nothing is quite as nice as a nice ferry sunset. I commute via the ferry and often get this sunset view. I personally would love to live in Port Townsend but it isn’t an easy place to commute to Seattle from, so we just visit.
I’m posting this from the Pike Market Soundview Cafe overlook. There is a homemade Donut place (Daily Dozen Donuts) over here that has what quite possibly could be the best tasting food I’ve EVER had.
Once that map store (Metsker Maps) opens for the day, I’m gonna truly be in heaven. I’ve only been here for 20 hours so far, but Seattle is fast becoming my favorite city outside of NYC.
If you like African food, there’s Pan Africa very near Metsker Maps. They can be a little slow, though. Top Pot Doughnuts is well-regarded, but if you’ve already had doughnuts it’s a little way from Pike Place. (Fifth Ave and Blanchard.) Pagliacci Pizza is good, but I don’t know where it is. I’ve only had it when it’s been delivered to the office for a luncheon. I like the chicken-and-spinach pizza. Ohana (First and Blanchard, a half-mile up from the Market) has a good beef teriyaki bento with spicy coleslaw and Hawaiian macaroni-and-potato salad. Piroshki-Piroshki at the Market has good… you guessed it: piroshkis. I like the salmon paté ones. No doubt you’ve been to Pike Place Fish Market (that of the fish-throwing fame). Try a sample of their alder-smoked salmon. Warning: The free sample may be expensive, since it’s so good you’ll want to buy a fillet. There’s a good little place for salmon chowder and Dungeness crab sandwiched in Post Alley, and there’s the famous Kell’s Irish Pub in the Alley as well. For a sausage-y snack, check out Ulie’s Famous Sausage inside the Market, not far from Pike Place Fish Market.
Tune your radio to 90.3, or visit www.kexp.org and listen to the streaming audio for concert tips. They have a run-down of gigs at 1300 sharp, usually signaled by a bit of Herb Alpert. (Strange, since that’s not the kind of music they play.)
The Sci-Fi Museum and Hall of Fame is really cool.
Regards,
Shodan
Eat and drink at The Collins Pub.
On the other hand -
We went to Mount Rainier. One of the upper parks (don’t recall the name) had three feet of snow (this was about two weeks ago). And a blizzard.
My son said, “Dad, you live in Minnesota. You flew twenty five hundred miles and drove for two hours to see something you have been dealing with for the last six months. This is fun?”
Darn kids.
Regards,
Shodan
How lucky! I love Seattle. Haven’t been since the mid-1990s, but I spent a few summers there. Some of my favorite things to do:
– Visit Snoqualmie Falls. Short drive east. Recognizable from the TV show “Twin Peaks.”
– I lived along Lake Sammamish, nice area. Also did a stint in Kirkland, ditto.
– Music scene. Was definitely good in the 1990s (obviously), but I can’t believe it’s still not good.
– Ferry trips. Aforementioned Port Townsend is lovely. Also enjoyed visiting Victoria Island in Canada.
– Green. They don’t call it the “Emerald City” for nothing. It’s just plain lush, wonderful to soak in. The mountains are great, the hiking is great (I’m a lazy day hiker, there are plenty of easier trails), and the fishing is great.
BTW, I’ve been to Vancouver and Portland, and what’s funny is they’re both like Seattle cover bands. Yeah, they each have their faithful defenders-- and I’ve had some great times in Vancouver-- but Seattle is the alpha & omega.
Oh, one other thing: traffic was going to hell when I was there fifteen years ago. I can’t imagine it’s gotten any better since then.
Dude, your kid **ROCKS!!! **
Shodan kid: Mommy, why doesn’t daddy have any common sense?
Shodan kid Mommy: He lives in Minnesota. He missed the snow. Bless his heart.
Seattle has a pretty active theatre scene. This link goes to a listing of about 125 theatre companies in the region - not all of them by any means - ranging from store front theatres to full blown Broadway style houses. Seattle is often a proving ground for Broadway-Bound shows - For example, recently we’ve had Hairspray, Young Frankenstein, and Shrek all preview here first.