Looks like the Mrs. and I will be taking a trip to Seattle for a couple of days @ the end of August. Does anyone have any recommendations on the best place to stay? Downtown? Bellvue? Alki Beach? Any restaurant, activity or sight-seeing recommendations are welcomed as well. Thanks.
Go see the music museum and go see jimi hendrix's grave. Take wax paper and charcoal and get a print of the tombstone and frame it.
I love staying at the Ace Hotel! Small, trendy, cool, fairly inexpensive, and in a great location. http://www.acehotel.com/seattle
Couple of restaurant recommendations: -Local 360-incredible breakfast, local organic farms, great service, casual. http://www.local360.org/ -Zoe-higher end, incredible service and food, great atmosphere. http://www.restaurantzoe.com/ -Quinn's Pub-casual, great food and beer, cool area, wild boar sloppy joe AWESOME! http://www.quinnspubseattle.com/ If you're into the beer scene I know the best beer bars to send you to, just let me know. Hope that helps and have fun! cmiller
Just got back from a week in Seattle, I enjoyed it. Stayed in downtown at the waterfront Marriott (which I wouldn't recommend - it's out of the way from every attraction) and the Hotel Andra (pricey, but very modern and wonderful). One of the good things is that you can easily walk the entire downtown/Seattle Center/stadium core. I would advise against going to the Experience Music Project, unless you're a big fan of Nirvana/grunge. It's easily the focus of the majority of the exhibits. For food, I really enjoyed Tavolata (sp.?) in Belltown.
I second Local 360 for sure Din Tai Fung is a great dumpling place in Bellevue--one of 2 locations in the US (and there are 4 or 5 others around the world) Facing East in Bellevue is also a great Taiwanese restaurant if that's your kinda food Purple is a wine bar that most people like. It's fine Lot No. 3 (again in Bellevue) is a good bourbon bar. I'm a fan
Came back from there and Vancouver about 2 weeks ago. Go to Paseo Caribbean Restaurant (http://www.yelp.com/biz/paseo-seattle); messy but amazing sandwich. Besides that, I'd highly recommend spending a day at Mt. Ranier. Absolutely gorgeous up there and was one of the highlights of the trip. Oh and pay homage to the Key Arena, lol
I went last year and stayed 2 weeks at the Hyatt in Bellvue. I was there for work so my time was limited, but the area was nice with a lot of restaurants and bars within walking distance. The one thing that really blew me away was the women there were amazingly beautiful. It was ridiculous. I did go to the music museum in Seattle and that was a really cool experience, so I'd highly recommend that.
Take the ferry out to Bainbridge Island. Nice ride through Puget Sound, and the island is pretty nice.
I was contracting at Microsoft for the past six months and spent lots of time in Bellevue. A few people already recommended EMP (the "music museum"), it does highlight Seattle area music (Hendrix, Cobain) but it also has a fun horror movie exhibit too. You are right next to the Space Needle there which offers a great view of the city and beyond if its clear. You are also near Key Arena. The art museum is also nice, and that gets you close to Pikes Market. Bellevue is a nice city, has a great mall called Bellevue Square (the wife will like that) and some very nice restaurants and bars. Purple was already mentioned. Pearl is another good one, as is Daniel's Broiler (good steaks, and great view). Tangerine is a decent Thai fusion restaurant in downtown Bellevue but a really good and affordable Viet/Thai restaurant in nearby Factoria is called Square Lotus. And if hamburgers are your thing, you have to try Lunchbox Laboratory... http://lunchboxlaboratory.com/
Bellevue Pikes Market Trip to Vancouver Waterfall not far from Bellvue can't remember how to spell it but starts with Shenoque (sp?) Try to get a view from the Bank of America building if you want to see Seattle at a higher view than the space needle.
Years ago, our family took the Ferry from Seattle to Victoria and it was fairly inexpensive ad we ate onboard the Ferry on the way. Victoria was beautiful (as is Seattle). http://www.clippervacations.com/ferry/seattlevictoriaferry Not sure if this is the exact one but it's close. In Seattle, you've got to hit the Nightclub scene in Pioneer Square and of course go by the Fish Market.
How is that desecrating? When I lived up their people did it all the time. The caretakers didn't have a problem with it. But if it offends you I guess he can just take a picture of it. Would that be ok?
If you like light hiking, here are some places I've been: Robe Canyon Historical Trail - Nice path down to a river where you can walk along what was an old mining trail. Snoqualmie Falls - You can drive to the falls and see them from the observation area. You used to be able to walk down the hiking trail to the base but it is apparently closed until 2013. Tiger Mountain has a lot of paths. Some are super easy (just a nice stroll in the woods but apparently there are some very challenging hikes as well. You can also go to the Boeing Museum of Flight. When I was there they had an SR71, F4U Corsair plus a ton of other cool things. For a day (or even overnight trip) we drove (and drove and drove and then took a long ferry) to Orcas Island (in the San Juan Islands) and up to the top of Mount Constitution for some nice views. You could also probably do some hiking around Mt. Rainier or even Mt. St. Helens (if you wanted to drive that far - probably a day trip or an overnight trip) Finally, there are several wineries and microbreweries in the area. I'm actually heading to there on Sunday for work so I won't get to see much although one co-worker says he wants to go to Muckleshoot Casino.
