How to See Seattle in One Day, at Little Cost
Posted: Saturday, March 06, 2010
by Joel Black
Education Leadership Dynamics
See Seattle in One Day, for (almost) Free
(One of a series of articles on seeing the Northwest. See also What to See in Washington State, Enumclaw-the next Vail, and What to See on Puget Sound)
If you ask me, there are only two cities in America. Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington. Asia and Europe have several, but the cities of the USA , and I have seen all of them, (yes, that one too.) I can "take 'em or leave em." Preferably the latter.
My background: Besides traveling and gardening, I teach social studies, and in taking the students through the years to Seattle to learn about its beginnings, I have found the hot spots, and the freebies. This day-trip has become immensely popular with students and their families.
Seattle is a walking city, almost as tourist-friendly as Florence or Rothenberg. Seattle prides itself on its trails, parks, waterfront; and kayaks, bicycles and segues are common. The views are wonderful. The perpetual rain is warm. The flowers are prolific. The streets are green-both from the moss in the cracks, and from the hemlocks and firs stretching to forever. The air is delicious, except on the roads, and you won't run into any pick-pockets or muggers. Take the kids and enjoy it. And people on the street smile, and give accurate directions when you ask.
How to spend the day:
Start in China town, under the dragon gate, about 8 in the morning, by the King Street Station ( King Street and 5 th ). Wander around. Drop down to Jackson and Second Street to the Klondike Museum , which is actually a national park located in Alaska . Most folks don't realize that Alaska is Seattle 's biggest suburb, but they'll be happy to explain that at the museum, which, being a national park, is free.
Then walk one block up Second to the waterfall, one block west on Main, one block north again, to Pioneer Square, the site of the original Skid Road (Row), and the home of the Infamous Underground Tour ($12-15) where you can see Seattle as it was, and still is. Learn about the " Seattle Way " ("When you discover you are doing the wrong thing, by all means, keep it up"), and learn about the criminals who founded, built, and still run this paradoxical city. And be prepared for the ripest collection of "blue" and "brown" one-liners ever compiled. I recommend you take a long ace bandage to wrap your splitting sides. It is worth every cent.
About now you will need to make some decisions. While my students are always raring to go, the parents want to hang out in the dozens of antique, jewelry and coffee shops. Seattle is world-famous for its coffee-probably because it isn't for its cuisine. If you like walking the waterfront, and grazing until you burst, that is called San Francisco . In Seattle food is fuel so you can climb the next mountain. Those who want to sit and gaze, meet new friends, and soak up the ambience have to choose from among five world- famous coffee chains, three of which started here, and over 100 smaller, private concerns.
Assuming you are ready for another short walk, drop to the waterfront and walk about 5 blocks north to the strangest shop in America -Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. You can find the usual tourist kitsch, but that isn't why you go. Walk in, and look UP. The ceiling is festooned with every weird thing that ever floated into the harbor, and lots more that had to be "borrowed" from other museums all over the world. Mermaids, 4-headed pigs, over-sized geoducks (pronounced gooey-duck-that's right! No one in Seattle can read or spell either.) The list is endless. And next door is the restaurant (if you dare call it that) that made Seattle famous-Ivar's. Grab a clam chowder-not because it is the best in the world, but because this is Seattle . Then sing the song; it's catchy.
You could, at this point, backtrack a couple of piers and catch the ferry across the Sound and back-a wonderful, relaxing way to see the city, the mountains, the birds, and maybe a whale-then again, maybe not. The ferry seems something every tourist has to try, though the locals get enured to it, just as we do to the floating bridges. Anywhere else such a construction would be an engineering marvel. Here they are a pain in the backside.
So you will have to choose: Ferry, or north, or east. Three more blocks north, up the waterfront, is the not-quite-yet-world-famous StairClimb. The advantages of the StairClimb are many: an international sporting event, the only staircase with a name, a pedigree and a webpage, the nation's only vertical public park, which leads directly into Pike Place Market (more on which later), and anyone who can run from base to top without stopping is sure to work off all those calories you just got at Ivar's and the coffee shops. And several more. For those skeptics from the flat, Midwestern cities-yes, it really is a Seattle tradition to run up all fifty seven flights of nearly vertical stairs in one go. You almost have to. If you stop and look down, the vertigo will kill you. (Now you know why we look so much younger than we are.)
Or you could backtrack a block and walk up 2 blocks to Second Avenue . This option is much less inclined, and has the benefit of leading right to Benaroya Hall and the Seattle Art Museum ($5 to 7) on University Street . Both are beautiful buildings, and it costs nothing to step inside, gaze at the marble, and gasp at the $2,000,000, world-famous, Chihuly, blown-glass chandeliers. (You can get right up next to them). Then you can walk three more blocks up First Avenue to the Pike Place Market.
Where you will find everything. Don't miss the Lark in the Morning musical instrument shop, possibly the second most interesting shop in Seattle , while you are looking for the flying fish counter. No, they don't sell flying fish. They sell great, big Salmon and Halibut and Snapper and more, and when you buy one, they throw them around-30 feet through the air, and catch them, and throw them some more. All for free. And you thought the Cirque d' Soleil was entertaining. Flowers, food, curios and even a few useful items can be found in the hundreds of tiny, hole-in-the-wall shops. And the truly blue-minded can find the original Starbucks, not for the coffee, but for the original mermaid logo, in ALL her glory. If it is lunch time, you can graze on several international attempts at competing with San Francisco . All I can add, is that it will be quick, and filling.
From there, straight up Pine Street will take you to 4 th Avenue , the Westlake Center , and the Monorail. South of here is the Commercial District. Northeast is Lake Union and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center . North, somewhere, is Canada , but who cares? Nearly every bus route crosses here, so it is easy to catch one to the other Seattle hot-spots-Fremont and the troll who lives under the bridge (really), Ballard and the Locks, where the salmon, if they are running, put on a show, the Woodland Park Zoo, or the University of Washington, which is just as beautiful as it is liberal, and that is saying something. With three top-notch museums, ivy covered halls, an entire campus of flowering plants, and plenty of head-in-the-clouds professors and students, one can easily spend the day wandering around alone in the crowd, entranced.
Or you could just catch the monorail, that left-over, decrepit vision of the future from 1962, and go to the Seattle Center , which has two main attractions. Besides the Space Needle-Seattle's iconic landmark ($9 - 17), it has the Pacific Science Center ($13-18) with 5 exhibition buildings, a laser show, a planetarium, and 3 (count them, 3) Imax Theatres. There is another food court in the Seattle Center too, and several theaters. What we lack in quality we make up for in quantity, though, to be fair, Seattle has more arts, more music, and more theatre than any place outside of New York or London , at the price.
Myself, I prefer to end the day at the Needle. Usually we catch the Locks, the lake and the university, and we see enough of the city on the bus to satisfy even the most ardent country kid. The cost? It should be mentioned that when you call in advance you can find specials, coupons, family rates and group rates. School groups are usually about half price, and there is a city pass that will get you into everywhere-your choice of 6 places for a simple, flat $59 fee. While one can catch the bus in downtown at no cost (the ride-free zone stretches from Pioneer Square to within five blocks (an easy walk) of the Space Needle, walking is easy too. Bus fare is $3 (adult, peak) to the University, the Lake , the Zoo, the Locks, or your hotel, if you are not in downtown, and if you are only there briefly before continuing, transfer passes are good for an hour. So we can spend 12 hours, see enough of Seattle , have a great time, on about $20. Complete. Those who are afraid of heights and bring a lunch, can do it for under $10.
If you are here in the summer, when the days stretch an amazing 18 hours from dawn to dusk, there is time to take one more side trip, and see the un-heralded, un-sung natural wonder that makes Niagara Falls hang its meager head in shame, and crawl into the power culvert. Snoqualmie Falls is a mere 15 miles to the east, falling twice paltry Niagara 's plunge, and surrounded by scenery, not cement. A wonderful place to catch a sunrise, a sunset, or even (yes, you guessed it) a meal.
Selected routes and the website for the bus. Includes links to the rail-which will get you to the airport, or to many suburban communities, at little cost, and great convenience. (No one really wants to drive the Seattle roads if they don't have to.)
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/bus/neighborhoods/university_district.html
route # 5: Downtown to the troll, the zoo or lake Union
route # 43: Downtown to the University
route # 44: University of Washington to Ballard (Locks)
route # 215: Downtown to Issaquah
route # 209: Issaquah to Snoqualmie Falls
Joel D. Black, Ph.D.
Educationleadershipdynamics.com
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