DESTINATION : SEATTLE

THINGS TO DO IN SEATTLE

THREE DAYS IN SEATTLE

May 2019, and I was 10 days into a midlife career break, that was meant to last for a year and is currently still ongoing!

Adventure number one on my solo travel list was being badged as a trip to “Alaska”, but very few of the trips I had planned were going to be one stop holidays.

So in actual fact the first real stop on my travel journey was going to be Seattle, Washington, in the United States of America.

I had three days to explore Seattle, a perfect stopping place en route to Alaska. Some things had been pre-planned. Some I had at least researched. But there were also some spontaneous activities along the way.

There are lots of things to do in Seattle. This is the tale of what I did.

GETTING THERE

My journey from home in England to the hotel in Seattle took me almost exactly 25 hours. They all happened on the same date as I crossed 8 time zones gaining extra hours as I travelled west.

There was a stop off along the way. I had a three hour layover at JFK airport in New York. That’s where you enter the USA, pass through customs, have your finger prints taken, ESTA checked and get your passport stamped.

Then I transferred to the domestic flights terminal, which involved far less admin. Flying is routine across America. The internal flight from New York on the east coast to Seattle on the north west coast, was 6 hours long in its own right. An instant reminder that North America is a big place!

After a very long day I checked into my hotel just before midnight. Perfect timing really as I went straight to bed at the end of their day. The only cure for jet lag is to get into your destination’s time zone as soon as possible.

I had things to do in Seattle, but they would wait for the morning.

New York, New York

Seattle, Washington

NUMBER ONE THING TO DO

Without doubt if you only do one thing in Seattle it should be to visit the Space Needle.

Built for the 1962 World’s Fair, it was once the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River. And when I see a tall building, especially a famous one, the only thing to do is go up it!

An interactive screen told me I was visitor 63,450,663 since it opened in 1962. Its been popular over the last 60 years or so.

SPACE NEEDLE VIEWS

From the top you are treated to awesome views not only of the city of Seattle, but across Washington state.

Washington was the 8^th US state I was checking off my list. It was nice to be seeing as much of it as possible, even if I never left the city.

Seattle is surrounded by the Cascade Mountain range on one side. Mount Rainier is both the highest mountain in the state and the mountain range, so is an unmissable landmark. Its also an active volcano, like Mount Baker, the state’s third largest mountain, which is also in that range.

The tour guides were happy to tell us we were lucky to see them, as cloud cover often restricts visibility. I must have picked good weather as I spotted them a few times during my visit to Seattle . But the best of those views was from the top of the Space Needle.

On the other side of the tower you can look out over the Puget Sound, and maybe spot a cruise ship or two. For cruise fans this is one of several departure points on the Pacific coast for an Alaska cruise. Not the place I would sail from, but that’s a story for another day.

Also fun was the rotating glass floored walkway, that you could stand on and look down as the tower turned. At least a couple of friends said just seeing the pictures made them feel sick, but I loved it!

I enjoyed a beer and a snack from the bar at the top, before adding to my souvenir collection on the way out through the obligatory gift shop at the exit.

An experience I would highly recommend.

---

TOP TIP: I saved buying a 4 way ticket covering the Space Needle, Monorail, Chihuly Glass museum and the Science Park. Various other combination tickets were available.

---

CHIHULY GLASS MUSEUM & GARDEN

I must confess I had never heard of Dale Chihuly until I visited Seattle.

He’s an American glass artist, whose career has lasted at least as long as I have been alive. Now I seem to see his work everywhere I go.

However in Seattle I was a bit undecided whether to visit this museum located in the park surrounding the Space Needle.

But I had time to spare so why not. I do like art.

Well, my description at the time was “an unexpected gem”.

His work is fabulous.

Multi coloured glass in swirling shapes remind you of an ethereal undersea world or weird alien flowers.

These weren’t little glass vases, but sculptures six feet tall, and more, towering above me as I wandered around the darkened, but strategically lit, gallery.

In the conservatory a huge flower like installation filled the space under a glass roof that was looked down on by the Space Needle.

Then outside other sculptures lined the paths around a small garden.

Not at all what I had anticipated when I walked in. This really is a place to see if you have the time. It satisfied all the things I liked about art, plus learning about an artist too.

And if you don’t consider yourself an art fan, well its just beautiful and colourful to look at as well.

Another highly recommended thing to do on a trip to Seattle.

SIGHTSEEING

Formal things to do are all well and good, but I like to walk around a city. That’s how you spot things to see that never make the top of the list in a guide book.

Seattle Spheres

Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in Washington state and now has its headquarters in Seattle. Located in this area are the Seattle Spheres, a series of geodesic domes created by Amazon as indoor gardens for their employees to use.

They are apparently open to the public at certain times, though not when I was there, but I did visit a small exhibition in the Understory there while passing.

Monorail

The combination ticket I bought at the Space Needle included a ride on the Seattle Center Monorail.

Another relic of the 1962 World’s fair the trains still had a late fifties feel about them. They passed through the city and I got off at a mall fairly close to my hotel. You can get a shopping fix there too if that’s your thing.

If nothing else its a fun thing to do and another way too easily see more of Seattle.

DAY TWO THINGS TO DO

The monorail was actually quite cheap so I bought a round trip ticket on day two, not least to save my legs which were aching after all of the walking I had done the previous day!

This took me back to the park surrounding the Space Needle which has a few other things to see.

PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER

My 4 way ticket included the Science Center. Its the sort of thing I’m interested in generally, so I was happy to visit.

Personally as an adult solo traveller it didn’t really do a lot for me. It was very interactive and would certainly be good for families with children.

There were definitely interesting exhibits though. There’s an IMAX cinema, but films were at an extra cost over the ticket price and I wasn’t really there for the movies.

My favourite part was actually the butterfly house, which was full of butterflies of all shapes, sizes and colours. I liked that a lot.

MUSEUM OF POP CULTURE

I’m a big fan of the architecture of Frank Gehry, who designed the building for Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture, but I’ll save gushing about that for another post. However there was no doubt I was going to visit this place.

Prior to my visit, Seattle existed in my head only from references in popular culture.

It was the place that Matthew Broderick chose to nuke in the 1983 WarGames. I’m showing my age, but its a great film! Then the words “Sleepless in Seattle” are imprinted on my consciousness, even though I don’t think I’ve ever seen that film.

Whilst touring the MoPOP museum I discovered Seattle was the birthplace of the legendary Jimi Hendrix as well as the 90’s band Pearl Jam. Both had a deserved their tribute in the museum. The music section generally included guitars, costumes and stories of various legendary artists.

Being a bit of a nerd I enjoyed a lot of the science fiction sections. There were Daleks, a Terminator, Star Trek and Star Wars props, as well as Mork’s costume from the TV series “Mork & Mindy” (yep I’m ageing myself again!)

This is certainly a thing to do if you like nostalgia.

PIKE PLACE MARKET

Fish

Where I used to work we did some customer service training based on a video called “Fish”. It was based on an actual fish stall at Pike Place Market in Seattle.

As I said, I’m a nerd, so I wanted to go and see if it was really like the video.

Turns out they were just the same. Cheerful banter with the customers as fish went flying from one end of the stall to the next, whilst crowds of onlookers filmed it on their phones (I don’t remember that bit in the training video!)

I was pleased I had taken the trouble to find it, but it turns out Pike Place Market is actually worth a wander anyway.

The stalls are not all that different from anywhere else, but there are neon signs overhead and a bustle about the place that’s just nice to see.

Starbucks

A short walk down the road you can also see the Original Starbucks store, another business founded in Seattle, which opened in 1971 and is now as much a tourist attraction as a coffee shop.

SEATTLE WATERFRONT

For my final day in Seattle I headed back down to the waterfront, a bit further along from Pike Place.

Here there are various piers lining the harbour of Elliott Bay, which heads out into the Puget Sound.

The waterfront is a pleasant walk, and each pier has various shops, food stalls and attractions. I opted for fish and chips as I was at the seaside.

Wings over Washington

One of the seafront attractions is The Seattle Great Wheel. Having already seen the city from the top of the Space Needle this didn’t seem quite so exciting, so I didn’t bother at this point.

But next to it was the “Wings over Washington” ride. This was a combination of ride and film. You sat in a movie theatre with the full cinematic 4D experience of flying over the state of Washington. I genuinely felt like I was flying.

I was only passing the time waiting for my next activity, but this turned out to be a short, but fab thing to do.

Harbour Boat Cruise

I had been waiting for my hour long boat cruise, having arrived just too late for the departing one.

Sailing on the “Spirit of Seattle” we went out into the harbour, with commentary on local sights.

The Space Needle was the obvious landmark, but the industrial sites from one of Seattle’s other main industries, Boeing aeroplane manufacturing, got a mention. In fact I think these can be toured as well, but it wasn’t on my list.

Once again Mount Rainier came into view as we sailed up and down Elliott Bay. Then there was the varied skyline of Seattle, which we saw from different angles on the water.

Its another one of those things that I enjoyed a lot.

---

Helpful Hint: Boat tours take place at timed intervals. Buy your ticket and then explore the piers while you wait.

---

GO MARINERS!

I’m not the World’s greatest sports fan, but if you’re going to enjoy American culture you have to try sports.

Before I left home I had checked online to find that Seattle Mariners would be playing Oakland Athletics at baseball. I’d never seen it before. So I pre-booked a ticket.

The ticket site suggested that a lot of the stand I had picked was sold out. So I was a bit confused that it wasn’t full when I arrived at T-Mobile park for the game. Chatting to some locals I was sitting next to, who arrived late and left early, I heard a lot of season ticket holders just come and go as the games can be quite long.

I stayed for the whole game. While they left as their team were losing 4-1, they’d have got home to find it was a 10^th innings thrilling victory for the Mariners! I was hooked.

Not knowing anything beyond the name, and that you hit a ball and ran, I had brushed up on the rules before I came. So I actually understood what was going on in the game!

The atmosphere, just like on TV, was over the top American, and fantastic to be part of.

Up in the back of the stands were food and drink sellers and merchandise stalls. By chance I had a top that was sort of the team colours, so opted for a souvenir baseball cap. Well if you are going to buy one it might as well be for an actual baseball team. Even better now that Seattle Mariners are my official team!

If you want something different to do in Seattle, add this to your list.

SEATTLE AS A DESTINATION

I had three days in Seattle, which with hindsight was a good length of time to explore this city. I generally find three days is enough for any city break.

The hotel I chose was fairly central and that meant that the city was quite walkable.

Even so the monorail to the Space Needle or the Metro to T-Mobile Park gave my legs a much needed rest too.

There were plenty of places to eat nearby. I never quite found the nightlife, not that it mattered as my jet lag was having none of that.

Seattle is an interesting city to visit, with so much variety of things to see that there was no chance of being bored.

I packed loads into those three days and that was only the start of not only my Alaskan adventure, but also a whole bunch of travels around the World.

As starts go it was a very good one!