Seattle vacation - what shouldn't we miss?

Parent Cafe
21

“I wouldn’t visit Mt. Rainier if it’s cloudy either.”

First of all, the weather on the mountain is everchanging, and could be drastically different from the weather below. Even on a foggy, cloudy day, the mountain is breathtaking.

For a ferry ride, I recommend the Mukilteo Ferry to Whidbey Island. You can probably combine it with the Boeing Tour because the Boeing plant is actually not that far from the ferry (again, important: if you avoid the afternoon rush hour traffic going on the ferry, you are good). I recommend going for the tour in the morning (traffic going North from Kirkland is usually good) and then going on the ferry before 2 pm. You can drive through the island, have lunch somewhere, visit Fort Casey, and come back via Deception Pass/ Hwy 20/ I-5 route.

http://parks.state.wa.us/505/Fort-Casey

22

There was a thread about Seattle a month or so ago.

Anyway.
The Boeing tour is fine. After 30 years at the company, I finally had a trip to the factory, but not the formal tour. If you aren’t an airplane or manufacturing buff, you can pass, but that’s just me. The Museum of Flight, which is 40 miles south of the factory tour at Boeing field, is really showing its stuff. The WW2 exhibit is fantastic, and the outdoors, covered displays are great. If you were taking in a Mariners game, it would be a worthy detour. I get to walk past it at lunchtime.

Make reservations for a Theo tour. They might not be needed, but it would be a shame to wait/not get on one. Follow up with lunch ((Brouwer’s, though a bar has really great food and is a block from Theos). Walk around and enjoy the shops in Fremont, then eat cake at Simply Desserts. You can also take the cake home. H is partial to the chocolate fudge, younger D loves the raspberry, and I get the salted caramel or amaretto. Better than home baked.

Kerry Park at the top of Queen Anne Hill is the best free view around. All the prom and engagement photos taken there.

BB suggested Daniels in Bellevue. Great happy hour and view.

If you like wine, go out to Woodinville, which is north of Kirkland. Chateau Ste Michelle has daily tours. Have lunch at the Hollywood Tavern or the Russell’s at Molback’s nursery or The Willows Lodge. There are lots of wineries to visit (I like Brian Carter Cellers, we’re in the wine club, DeLille is next door.)

I like the Pike Place Market. Ignore the fish throwers. Buy a bunch of flowers to have on your dining table. Go to Cafe Compagne and feel like you’re in Paris. There are a couple of Tom Douglas places right there for a nice lunch, too. I love, love, love Watson Kennedy which is above Cafe C as well as their larger store south on 1st Avenue. Cheesecake at the little cheesecake place. Ellenos yogurt, or buy some at the grocery store. The original Sur la Table is right there. Ignore the Starbucks and go someplace else for coffee.

Flagship Nordstrom. Enough said.

See what the Seattle Art Museum has on offer or go up to the museum in Volunteer Park and conservatory.

Take a ferry to Bainbridge (walk on). Eat an ice cream at Mora’s and get back on and head back to town.

Like BB also said, watch the morning news for the traffic reports and then go to the DOT website for the latest. It is usually a nightmare mornings and 3-6 or 7, especially if it rains.

23

We lived there (Redmond) for seven years back in the late 80s-mid 90s. I’m not a city type so my recommendations would be:

  1. Mt St. Helens (one-day roundtrip). Spectacular views of the crater and damage from the eruption. We always came in from the northeast side by Spirit Lake. Giant fir tress snapped and splayed around like toothpicks miles away from the cone. If you ever want to be humbled by Nature, this is it. They built a second viewpoint area on the north side (hwy 504) but we've never been there.
  2. Mt Rainier (another one-day roundtrip). Go to Paradise Inn/Lodge on the south side of the mountain at 5400 ft. Spectacular views of the glaciers hugging the peak. Along the way you'll be able to see Mt St. Helens, Mt Adams, and even Mt Hood in Oregon.
  3. Orca/Killer Whale viewing in Puget Sound. I don't remember if September is a good time or not. If your boat tour goes north and near the shore you'll see Bald Eagles in trees all over the place.
  4. Salmon watching (might be a little early in the season). You can go east to the various rivers and see salmon swimming upstream to spawn. Huge groupings in the pools below rocky spots. Just driving into the mountains one day we saw an eagle fly by with one in its talons (fish's nose pointed into the wind, cool!).

My only concern is the weather in late September. It starts getting rainy somewhere around then, so your views won’t be as majestic. On a sunny day in Kirkland alone you’ll be able to see Mt Washington, the huge Mt Rainier, the Cascades to the east, and the Olympic mountains to the west. The Seattle area as a whole is pretty magical on a sunny day.

24

Don’t miss Chihuly.
Eat at a Tom Douglas restaurant. Save room for the coconut pie for dessert.

25

“The Boeing tour is fine. After 30 years at the company, I finally had a trip to the factory, but not the formal tour. If you aren’t an airplane or manufacturing buff, you can pass, but that’s just me.”

I had an opportunity to do the production floor tour arranged by one of my classmates at UW. Oh WOW. The private group tour that they would not allow any non-US citizens on (unless they were buying a plane, LOL). The regular tour now looks bleak to me, too, but I guarantee that it will still knock the socks off anyone who has never seen an airplane being assembled in real time. :slight_smile:

Forgot about another great dining experience with a view… Ivar’s Salmon House by UW. The views are to die for, and the food is great. Tips ARE apparently now included in the price, so do not get scared by the pricing. :slight_smile:

The UW campus is lovely, too. Suzzallo Library always lands on the “most beautiful college buildings” list. If the weather is great, you will be able to see Mt. Rainier in the distance above the Drumheller Fountain vista. Here are a few random images I found on the web:

http://www.loydheath.com/UniversityofWashington/Rainier-Vista/i-w7TnmSm

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My tour was a special one for my work group and great. I get to see planes modified every day almost from my desk, so it is easy to forget what it might be like for others. Spoiled.

Ivar’s Salmon House has a good happy hour and good salmon.

There’s an Anthony’s Restaurant in Kirkland, I think. Not high cuisine, but they do have good sources for their seafood.

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Ohhhh… spoiled indeed! We had a blast on our factory floor tour! It is apparently the tour given to anyone who buys an airplane. Because we were B-school students, the focus was on kanbans, moving production lines, etc. Fun! :slight_smile:

Water view dining in Kirkland. Definitely Anthony’s. Or Bin at the Carillon Point.

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@BunsenBurner, that link had lots of nice photos of UW.
http://www.loydheath.com/UniversityofWashington
Thanks for finding and posting it.

If you visit Pike Place Market and would like a quick bite, go to the “Piroshky Piroshky” Russian bakery next to Starbucks. Potato cheese, apple cinnamon and cinnamon cardamon are among our favorites.

29

We have done both of these in the past couple of months. Going to be honest… the Seattle Art Museum didn’t do much for us, and we like art museums. I think the west coast just was slow off the mark in looting the rest of the world compared to east coast museums. Although the museum in Volunteer Park is smaller (the Seattle Asian Art Museum), it is a lovely collection – “small, but mighty” was D2’s opinion after our visit. Also probably easier to get to, since you don’t have to go downtown to see it.

I forgot to mention the Bellevue Botanical Garden, which is on the east side where you are staying, and a very nice location for a stroll. You can do something long or short, depending on how your mom is feeling.

30

Goofy and totally silly but just took the family on a Duck tour.
I really liked understanding the different neighborhoods and especially the Google and Amazon
areas.
Also a great way to see the houseboats and floating homes.

31

We saw Seattle Underground tour–it was fun and under $20, I believe. It was a pretty easy walk.

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“We park in a parking garage near the Seattle Center and take the Monorail downtown and walk to points of interest from there. It’s hilly coming back up to the Monorail station from the Pike Place Market so your mom might do better parking downtown.”

There are no hills on that walk. It is two city blocks and flat - I walk it quite often. But I agree that parking downtown makes more sense - paradoxically, it is easier to get out of downtown during the evening than getting out of the Seattle Center Area via Mercer Street (when Amazon employees aka “amazombies” pile out of their garages, the flow of traffic on Mercer just stops).

33

Following this thread and considering a visit to Seattle for summer 2017.

We’ve never done AirBNb but if we did, what neighborhood or suburb is convenient to getting around, either by car or by public transportation? We’d most likely want to visit Pike Place Market, the Boeing factory, possibly a drive to Mt. Rainier, and definitely a ferry ride to somewhere.

34

If you want to be in the city, look into residential areas of Queen Anne closer to bus lines and, if you are renting a car, with a place to park it. Parking in the city can be an issue.

Avoid West Seattle and Magnolia - they are charming, but getting to and from those areas is a nightmare.

I would also look at Kirkland and downtown Bellevue as options. Bellevue has awesome bus connection to downtown via the Sound Transit bus 550 with stops conveniently located in the tunnel delivering you to the center of Seattle in less than 30 min and no need to pay for parking.

35

Anthony’s in Kirkland has great food and beautiful water views. The peach slump (basically peach cobbler on steriods) is fabulous. They have huckleberry slump when the huckleberries are in season and it is so delicious. I like desserts.:slight_smile:

36

Thanks, @BunsenBurner

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I am a big museum person and agree that the seattle art museum. the annex of asian art, and the frye (which is free) are not really up to snuff with other big city museums. They can be interesting depending upon the rotating exhibit on display when you are there. The Sculpture park (by the water) is OK - also free- I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit it.

Chihuly is beautiful both day and night and in the summer when they are open late they stamp your hand and you can return at night that same day. If you plan on doing the various attractions in the seattle center - consider buying the admissions together for a discount.

38

If you like airplanes, go to the Museum of Flight on a weekend day and have lunch there–all kinds of old planes take off and land at Boeing Field (because they’re hangered there and only flown on weekends).

The Klondike Gold Rush museum (Seattle branch) is fascinating, if you like histories of very small moments in time. https://www.nps.gov/klse/index.htm

When DH and I lived in Seattle and wanted to persuade someone to move to Seattle (he recruited people from the east coast to work for him), I’d take the spouse and the kids to Cutter’s Restaurant at Pike Place Market–great views, good food–and then walk through the Market. The Giant Shoe Museum was always a big hit (it takes about two minutes to see). (Don’t google it, you’ll ruin it.)

39

Here’s the thread from just a couple of months ago.http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1897863-seattle-p1.html My son moved to Seattle last September and loves it!

40

We live near Green Lake where Ravenna comes in, and it has very good bus service to downtown and the university. You could catch a ferry out of downtown, too. So that is a possible AirBnb area.