I’m 22, male, moving there in a week, from Ireland. What’s good to do there?
The bluest sky you’ve ever seen, in Seattle.
And the hills the greenest green, in Seattle.
Like a beautiful child, growing up, free and wild.
Full of hopes and full of fears,
Full of laughter, full of tears,
Full of dreams to last a year, in Seattle.
. . . Hey, what more do you need, right?
Do me a favor. If you run into my ex-fiancee, and the guy she left me for, tell her that I hope every single one of their kids looks just like ME.
Really depends on the kinds of things you like to do. When I was in the area (Scum… er… Sumner/Bonny Lake area), I liked hiking around Mt. Rainer, poking around Black Diamond and Carbonado (mispelt that, I belive) for coal, wandering around the market down on Pike, heading up to Vancouver when the US dollar is strong against the Canadian dollar and buying stuff cheap. 
(Not to mention they actually know [I}how* to make tea there!)
Also be sure to catch the Seattle Underground tour, at least once. With the right tour guide, it’s a blast.
<< I have no desire for money. It’s stuff I want. >>
OK – Great scenery. Lots to do. Great restaurants. Bus service is fantastic. People are generally friendly. All sorts of fun areas to visit – you’re sure to fit into one. Symphony, opera, great theater and museums.
Not so great – weather, especially in winter. (No snow, just rain.) Traffic sucks. Cost of living is rather high. Affordable housing is hard to find.
Still, I find it a wonderful place to live!
Seattle is a wonderful place to live and my home.
Outdoor activities - you can (depending on the season and weather) go boating, hiking, waterskiing, biking, kayaking, canoeing, snowskiing, snowboarding, camping, etc., etc., etc. We have virtually every climate imaginable within a two hour drive from rain forests on the Olympic Peninsula to high desert east of the Cascade Mountains. We have a lot of state and national parks. The weather is unbelievably beautiful from late June to early October, but is sadly wet much of the rest of the time. This year though has been an exception and the weather has been wonderful all year long.
Arts - Opera, symphony, museums, plays, movies, etc. It’s not New York or L.A., but it’s not too bad.
Sports - Being from Ireland, you probably won’t care about this but we have the best baseball team in the world right now (to be proved in October). We also have somewhat competitive (American) football and basketball teams. We have minor league hockey and a soccer/football team. We also generally have very expensive arenas/fields for these teams, some of which are truly beautiful.
Traffic - It sucks. A lot. There is bus service, but IMHO it’s rather limited compared to the public transit systems of other major cities. Our elected leaders are utterly failing to address the city/region/state’s transportation problems.
Job market - the economy is pretty good here, and fairly diversified. Some areas have been hit by the dot.com crash, but it’s remained pretty healthy as a whole.
Housing - it can be very, very expensive to live close to the city. But, there aren’t too many areas that are really “bad” neighborhoods. Crime is not a big problem compared with other large cities.
People - tend to be a little reserved and very polite, sometimes to the point of concealing their true feelings. People generally have lives outside their jobs (with the possible exception of some of the high tech companies) and are fairly friendly.
As you can probably tell, I really, really love it here.
Washington would be a whole lot nicer if they would just TORCH THE FRIGGIN’ MOUND ANTS.
Thank you, my rant is done.
Jman
Go to the Pike Place Market!
Go to the Space Needle Restaraunt.
Get a Dicks Deluxe!
Take the ferry to Bremerton.
Go to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Forest.
Stay away from Tacoma - Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.
Avoid riding on Metro at night at all costs.
I second the underground tour. A blast. Off-duty comedians and a seedy history, what more could you want? Check out the Experience Music Project (but give yourself the whole day). Like any other city, it’s what you make of it. Get involved in a sport (Ultimate is big, i believe) and then come on up to Vancouver in your spare time and spend some of those hard-earned US greenbacks. Ski Mt. Baker often, egg Bill Gates (or at least a cream pie), learn to Kayak, check out the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), eat at Mama’s Mexican Restaurant (ask for the Elvis Room), check out the Aquarium, then lunch at Ivars. Take the Ferry to Victoria and do Vancouver Island. So many options…
Eh, I hated the traffic when I lived there, but I don’t think the bus system is that bad. Of course, this is from the perspective of someone who moved to LA, where the bus system is absolutely horrible. It’s certainly not great, but I could easily get from Tacoma to Seattle on the bus, and once you get to Seattle, the downtown area is free ride, which is always a plus.
I hate to say this, but… I actually LIKED the weather. I could wish for a bit more snow, but the rain never really bothered me. My mom used to say that you could walk around in it all day and not get wet; my mom must have been on SOMETHING, but in my experience it doesn’t normally rain all that hard. (And THIS, of course, is from the perspective of Florida, so I’m maybe warped again.)
Lots to do outdoors, as mentioned. OTOH, if you’re looking for a quick trip to another city, and you dislike Portland, Vancouver, and Victoria, you’re hosed. (Personally, I like all three of those, but you never know.)
I have to take issue with NutWrench a tad; I would say stay away from Bremerton, because I was always bored out of my skull there. Tacoma is a pit and I hope it one day falls into the ocean; there are, however, some fairly nice areas NEAR Tacoma that aren’t so bad.
Oh, and did I mention the traffic?
The bike trails are good. So, if you don’t want to drive and live in the city, then you can access most of it, and other cities in the immediate vicinity, via bike. I bike year round here, but many people commute during the nicer months.
Many, many outdoor activities. Hiking can be done year round depending on where you go and what you’re prepared for. Also, access to trails and forest areas is 45 minutes away at the least.
Pretty decent music scene from rockabilly to jazz to indie.
The contemporary visual arts scene needs a c-section. A few organisations, while good, have had the worst of luck from skyrocketing rents and/or relocation needs. The Seattle Art Museum is run by prudes. Otherwise, we get some good exhibits and exciting stuff happening here and there.
There are many, well dispersed green spaces in Seattle. Also, if you live in an apartment and long for a garden, there is the P-Patch program which provides organic gardening space to Seattle residents.
Outdoor movies in Fremont during the summer.
Good coffee, if you know where to get it. (And, I ain’t tellin’.)
Really, really good burgers at Dicks.
Ferries. Take yourself for a ferry ride.
(If you’re really lucky you’ll get your head bashed in during a Mardi Gras celebration.)
I like it here, although I’m more of a country girl.
Damn, Eve, who sang that? It’s gonna be stuck in my head the rest of the work day.
I too love the weather in Seattle (and Portland). I think I actually get grumpier if it is sunny too often.
I spent the first 23 years of my life in Washington and never heard of or saw Mound Ants. More information, please.
Get a tourist guidebook for Seattle. Make a list of all the places listed and don’t go to any of those places (this may surprise all the people who slobber all over Pike’s Place Market, but it is just an open-air market; only slightly better than average). Eventually a friend or family member will arrive in town and you can use them as cover for seeing the tourist spots.
Seattle is best after dark, put on a warm jacket and just start walking. That’s pretty much what I did for the four years I lived there and it worked pretty well.
Take the ferry over to Bremerton. Not because there is anything over in Bremerton, but because you can then schedule your return to Seattle so that your ferry arrives after dark. The view of the city from the ferry is fantasic.
I’ve lived in Washington my for 23 years now, and Seattle for 3. Seattle is the best Washington has to offer. I haven’t done much travelling at all, but I would certainly say that Seattle has a good mix of everything.
Lately though, I’ve thought that this would be a FANTASTIC place to live if you were wealthy. With a big boat and some money, there’s lots of great places to go here.
But the best points of Seattle now are: clean streets, nice healthy people, hilly landscape, lots of trees, lots of water, lots of great places to eat (my favorite is called GORDITOS, a mexican restaurant with the most amazing burritos, I guarantee it), a thriving pro baseball team (if you like sports), islands, and lots of little things I can’t remember.
The bad: weather here can be pretty wet most of the year (probably like Ireland), but it never get genuinely COLD. Our summers consist of about an average 50 days of good sun, all spread out within a five month period. Washington state has a higher sales tax than many other states, I believe. But hey, you’re close to Canada, the richest man in the world lives here, we can say Nintendo is in our backyard (they’re based here also), Boeing is here (for now), and for fun you can stand right next to the Space Needle saying to passers-by, “excuse me, but where’s the Space Needle?” It’s kind of a cheesy landmark to claim, but it’s there, nonetheless.
Seattle is a good mix of things. But I’ve never been to Ireland, so…
If the streets are clean, that is a new feature since I moved away in 1996.
It’s a comparative thing. Versus NYC, they’re friggin SPOTLESS.
I third the ‘don’t go to Bremerton’ thing. It’s a dump (and I LIVE there). The town REALLY grew during WW2, and hasn’t changed much since. It IS a good gateway for the Olympic Peninsula. The ferry ride is nice, though. And you don’t have to pay to get back to Seattle.
[quote]
Do me a favor. If you run into my ex-fiancee, and the guy she left me for, tell her that I hope every single one of their kids looks just like ME.
[quote]
Will do and if you like, I’ll kick his ass and tell him it’s from you.
[quote]
Job market - the economy is pretty good here, and fairly diversified. Some areas have been hit by the dot.com crash, but it’s remained pretty healthy as a whole.
[quote]
That’s ok, I’ve been transferred there with work, so I’m safe on that front.
[quote]
People generally have lives outside their jobs (with the possible exception of some of the high tech companies)
[quote]
I guess I’m in trouble, then, because I work for Microsoft.(I can hear the hissing starting already) 
[quote]
(my favorite is called GORDITOS, a mexican restaurant with the most amazing burritos, I guarantee it)
[quote]
I’ll definitely check it out!
[quote]
the richest man in the world lives here
[quote]
Yep, he’s my boss!
[quote]
egg Bill Gates (or at least a cream pie)
[quote]
BLASPHEMER BLASPHEMER!!!
Ooops, guess I haven’t gotten a grip on this quotes thing yet!!!
My favourite thing about Seattle is my rich uncle. Big Hot Tub ($10,000 at least), extensive wine collection (let’s crack open some '84 port), and a black sports car.
But Heaving Mass, that awful mess with quoting means I ain’t never gonna invite you over when I’m there
‘/quote’ is your FRIEND!
It’s the theme song from the 1970’s ABC TV series Here Come the Brides. Damned if I know who sang it.
I second Pike’s Market, the Underground Seattle tour, the Space Needle. Just walk the incredibly clean (and incredibly steep) streets.
Get a car and drive to Mount Ranier and hike it. Go see the Paradise Ice Caves, if they haven’t melted yet.
Go to the dams and watch the salmon migrating upstream through the salmon ladders.
Thank you, Cal. I’ve watched the television show, but for some reason I keep thinking Burl Ives sang the song. I just know that’s wrong.
While Bremerton may not be the booming town it once was before the Navy was downsized, it’s interesting to drive through and look at. The best part though is that it’s a direct link to the Olympic Peninsula, which has some fine forests and parks to walk, camp and hike in. The ferry ride to and fro is long and scenic.
I second obfusciatrist’s suggestions. Try to stay away from the tourist areas. There are many open air farmers’ markets in the smaller neighborhoods in Seattle which offer a variety of foods, flowers and handmade items. Also, night walks in Seattle are very nice especially on warm summer nights. Crisp winter nights are also wonderful. As of late I’ve been doing my best to enjoy our nights here.
I like the weather myself.