This video is about our amazing trip to Seattle. I love Seattle. It has so much character and so much to offer. If you've never been do yourself a favor and go. Below is some info on what to do and what to see. Enjoy!
Pike Place Market
This historic, beloved downtown public market has been in business since 1907. It’s a year-round farmers market and a visual riot of vegetable, seafood, cheese and flower stalls along with handicrafts and tourist-friendly knickknacks. And, of course, the flying fish. Vendors at Pike Place Fish Market gleefully toss salmon to each other and crack jokes, always drawing a crowd at the fish stall by the market’s main entrance.
Info: pikeplacemarket.org
Space Needle
This vertical icon of the city is so kitschy it’s become cool, and it gives a great view of the city from the top. Built for the 1962 World’s Fair, it’s 605 feet tall and looks like a spaceship on stilts, towering over Seattle Center (seattlecenter.com), a cultural complex where you could easily spend hours at the Pacific Science Center, Chihuly glass display, food court, theatres or simply watching kids frolic in a giant outdoor fountain.
Info: The Space Needle is open daily, including evenings. Admission starts at $19 (adult) for the elevator ride to the observation deck, 520 feet up. Or get a meal with a view at Skycity Restaurant. spaceneedle.com or 206-905-2200.
Washington State Ferries
Ferries shuttle all around Puget Sound and they’re a key, and the prettiest, part of Washington’s transportation system. You can have a fun, quick and cheap sightseeing boat ride as a walk-on passenger (adult fare is $7.70 round trip) on the Seattle-Bainbridge Island ferry. If it’s clear, you’ll even see 14,410-foot Mount Rainier looming to the south on the 35-minute ride. “The Mountain,” as locals call it, really does exist, although it’s often shrouded in clouds.
Board the ferry at Pier 52 on the downtown Seattle waterfront, get off at Bainbridge and walk into the friendly little town of Winslow — its restaurants, cafes and shops are a 10-minute walk from the ferry landing on the main drag of Winslow Way.
Info: wsdot.wa.gov/ferries or 888-808-7977; For Winslow shops, restaurants and more, see bainbridgedowntown.org
The Museum of History & Industry’s new home on Lake Union features the famous Rainier Beer “R” and Boeing’s first plane, the B-1 seaplane. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)
The Museum of History & Industry’s new home on Lake Union features the famous Rainier Beer “R” and Boeing’s first plane, the B-1 seaplane. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)
Museum of History & Industry
This museum doesn’t have the most enticing name (although it’s known locally as MOHAI, which at least is shorter). But don’t miss it. MOHAI reopened in late 2012, with new galleries and multimedia displays, in a new location in Lake Union Park at the north edge of downtown. Its exhibits on life in Seattle and Puget Sound cover everything from the maritime past to cutting-edge culture. (Adult admission is $14.)
Stop at the Seattle Aquarium to see what lives in (and beyond) the local waters (adult admission, $19.95). Ride the Seattle Great Wheel, a 175-foot tall Ferris wheel with enclosed gondola-type cabins, for a view from on high of the city, Elliott Bay and the Olympic Mountains to the west (adult ticket $13).
Info: seattlewaterfront.org, seattlegreatwheel.com and seattleaquarium.org
This gate on South King Street at Fifth Avenue is an icon of the multicultural Chinatown International District. (Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times)
This gate on South King Street at Fifth Avenue is an icon of the multicultural Chinatown International District. (Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times)
Ballard Locks
See the essence of the Pacific Northwest at the Ballard Locks, where you can watch salmon and boats — from fishing boats and tugs to kayaks and yachts. The locks carry boats up and down, letting them travel between Puget Sound and Seattle’s freshwater waterways (about 20 feet above sea level). A fish ladder lets salmon swim up past the locks to their freshwater spawning grounds; glass viewing windows let people watch them.
Info: nws.usace.army.mil (click on “Chittenden Locks”)
Boeing tour
See Boeing‘s “Future of Flight” exhibits (and design your own jet digitally) and see jets being made inside the Boeing factory, about 25 miles north of Seattle in Everett. The Boeing plant is the biggest building by volume in the world — 472,000,000 cubic feet — and holds the production lines for various Boeing jets, including the 787 Dreamliner. Adult admission for the exhibits and 90-minute guided tour is $18. (Children must be at least four feet tall to join the tour.)
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