As my two kids have grown older, my wife and I have made it a priority to take them on trips to explore new places. Growing up, I didn't have the same opportunities, as my family was often living paycheck to paycheck.
As my two kids have grown older, my wife and I have made it a priority to take them on trips to explore new places. Growing up, I didn't have the same opportunities, as my family was often living paycheck to paycheck.
One of our most recent adventures, and my kids' favorite so far, was our trip to Seattle, Washington. We had a blast exploring the city's incredible architecture and visiting various museums using the Seattle CityPass, which turned out to be a fantastic value.
At the top of my kids' favorite places was the Space Needle. It's been three weeks since our visit, and my oldest still tells everyone he meets about it. He was fascinated by the science and safety facts, like how the Space Needle is built to withstand a 9.0 earthquake and winds up to 200 MPH.
Personally, I wouldn't want to be on the outside deck or the rotating glass floor during such extreme conditions, even though it's the only one of its kind in the world! Honestly, I was a bit nervous even in perfect conditions—I might be a bit afraid of heights. Luckily, my kids didn't inherit that fear. They were completely fine leaning on the glass, looking out from the observation deck, and walking around on the revolving glass floor.
The Space Needle gift shop had an enormous LEGO replica that was about 14 feet tall! My oldest was inspired to build his own mini replica, and I think he did a fantastic job. Though I had to remind him several times that we couldn’t have a 14-foot-tall Space Needle in our house—it
just wouldn’t fit!
Afterwards we went to the **Pacific Science Center **which was only a couple of minutes walk away from the Space Needle
The Pacific Science Center was packed with amazing activities for the kids. The butterfly exhibit was a highlight—super awesome, though a bit crowded because of several field trips that day. They provided an information card that we used to identify butterflies as we walked around. My family took a picture of the card to keep track of which ones we found.
At the entrance, there was a dinosaur exhibit with a few fossils. I thought my kids would be more interested, but it might not have been interactive enough for them.
There was a small tide pool where the kids could touch starfish and sea urchins. My oldest loved it, but my youngest was too afraid to touch them.
They also had an interactive science area where kids could learn about levers and weight distribution, create a thin bubble curtain, and explore how wind tunnels and magnets work.
As we neared the end of our visit to the science center, we headed to the back where there was a kids' play area. Of course, my kid was drawn to the Legos, despite having tons at home. They also had a marble run attached to a magnetic wall where kids could move around different funnels and gear parts to create their own marble runs. There was a big wooden building area with lots of gears, nuts and bolts, wheels, tires, and boards, allowing kids to create large-scale objects like cars. It was really cool.
I’d say it’s definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in Seattle, Washington, especially if you have young kids who are into science.
Our next stop was the Chihuly Garden and Glass, and let me tell you, the glass sculptures there were absolutely breathtaking. I could have spent hours just soaking in the beauty of everything around me. However, it’s probably not the best place for kids who like to climb on things—especially my youngest, who wanted to touch everything. Glass and little hands don’t mix too well!
The last museum we visited on our Seattle trip was the Museum of Flight. I have to admit, I thought it would be pretty small, but it turned out to be enormous! I also expected the kids to get bored quickly, but we ended up spending at least three hours there, and they could have stayed even longer.
The museum had so much to offer. The front section focused on space and exploration, which they had a blast with. There was also a great exhibit on fighter jets and World War II history, and a massive section dedicated to commercial airliners. We got to walk through some amazing planes, like the Concorde, various Boeing models, and even the original Air Force One!
My two kids were constantly eager to explore all the different planes and check out the cool things inside each one. They especially enjoyed seeing the World War II fighter jets—though they don’t know a lot about that era yet, they found it super interesting. On one of the top floors, there was a kids’ section where they could play with model airplanes and control different parts of a plane, which they had a great time with.
We got to visit a spot where we could watch small commuter planes taking off and landing, and there was even a screen displaying all the flights traveling across North America and around the world.
They even had a model of a car-plane prototype that was never put into production. Honestly, I’m not sure how people could have been safe with something like that!
We actually did a lot more in Seattle than just visit the museums—like checking out Pike Place Market, riding the Ferris Wheel, and exploring various parks. Covering all of that would double or triple the length of this post, so I’ll save those adventures for another post. For now, I hope you enjoyed reading about our visits to the three museums and the Space Needle!