Visiting Seattle
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Visiting Seattle
November 2005
My husband and I (without the kids!!) will be traveling to the
Seattle area over Veteran's Day weekend, somewhat on business
(we're considering a big move) and also as a belated
anniversary celebration. We will spend one or two nights with
friends in Kent (35 min. south of Seattle) and would like to
spend one or two nights no more than 2 hours driving time from
Kent. Can you please recommend either a B&B or other romantic
lodging place? Thanks
Tiffany
Our daughter applied for early decision to University of Puget
Sound in Tacoma, WA (she didn't get in -- all to the good,
ultimately), and when we visited the campus we stayed in a
nearby B&B that was charming as heck! It's called Chinaberry
Inn and here's their website: http://www.chinaberryhill.com/
Tacoma has a lot of fun places to visit, and it's a quick drive
into Seattle.
When we stayed there, many of the people we met over delicious
breakfasts in the dining room were repeat customers, including
Washington State locals who just love it for a getaway!
Becky
Check out The Inn at the Market in downtown Seattle - a few
blocks (or just one?) from Pike's Place Market. I'm dying to
stay there. They are probably booked, but maybe you can get a
last-minute cancellation. Bonus: you'll be able to explore all
of Seattle on foot and public transport. If you want to check
out the out-lying areas, it will still be convenient. A side
comment, since you mentioned you are thinking of moving there,
don't be scared off if you don't like Kent, where you mentioned
you'll be for a few days. I grew up in a small town just next
door to Kent and while it has some things going for it, I
personally think there are far better (more attractive, more
interesting, etc.) areas within the greater Seattle area... so
as I said, don't let yourself be scared off initially. Poke
around! If you can stand the grey skies, it is a MARVELOUS
place to live.
Sarah
We stayed at the Crescent Lake Lodge last fall (with our kids).
It's in the Olympic Nat'l Park and is gorgeous!! On that same
trip, we stayed at the Paradise Inn in Mt. Rainier Nat'l Park
and that too is fabulous. Neither is cheap and I'd say Crescent
Lake's accomodations were nicer, but you can't beat the scenery
at either place. Both offer upscale, good restaurants.
There's also the Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls. I think
that's even more expensive, but very romantic also. And their
restaurant is top-notch--one of the best meals I've ever had.
anon
August 2004
I have checked the website, but the postings are old and not exactly what I am
looking for. We are hoping to go to Seattle & environs in late August (prior to Labor
Day weekend). I would be interested in recommendations for (a) lodging that might
have suites, (b) fun things to do and see with our 6 year old daughter, and (c) child-
friendly places to eat. Also any recommendations for what to do/where to go
around Seattle would be great! Figure we'll be there a week max. Thanks much!
Lori
A few of my favorite Seattle restaurants, both in Wallingford:
Jitterbug on 45th. Great for all 3 meals. Fine with kids and
delicious food from burgers to california-cuisine style food for
dinner. The second place is Essential Baking. It's at about 35th
and Woodlawn, just above Gasworks Park (fun park to fly kites,
etc). The most amazing bakery with delicious lunch food also.
Luckily my mom lives 4 blocks away so we make a daily pilgrimage
when we go up to visit.
We were just up and found that they have an incredibly easy bus
that gets you into downtown for $1.25 in 30 minutes. Bus
connections are fantastic there, we walked one block and got on
another bus to Wallingford, free because we got transfers. Not
sure what age kids have to pay,our 4 y.o. was free. Our original
plan was to take the monorail to the children's musuem at the
Seattle Center, but turns out there was a recent big fire on
monorail system so it was out of service indefinitely.
I would also recommend staying for part of labor day weekend if
you can. Bumbershoot festival at the Seattle Center is FANTASTIC
(tho you do have to be okay about crowds). You pay a flat fee
(in my day it was about $6, but I'm sure it's more now) and have
access to an incredible range of music from big (and I mean BIG)
name rock & roll bands to great local musicians. Tons of dance
performances, literary events etc.
former seattleite
May 2004
For our five yr anniversary, we are thinking of flying to Seattle
then driving to Vancouver. I'd love to hear advice from others
who have done this. We have never been to Seattle or
Vancouver so all comments are much appreciated. We will
be taking our one year old so child-friendly things will be
useful. As for time frame, we will be doing this in six days.
Thanks so much.
- traveling man
I grew up in Bellingham (half way beetween Sea and Van) and have
visited a couple times with my two young boys -- now ages 4 and
2. The border wait can be up to an hour wait or more. And I
think they require passports etc.. now (used to be like crossing
into another state). There's a train that goes from Seattle to
Van. that we've ridden part of the route just because my son
LOVES trains. It's a beautiful ride along the coast! In Seattle
there's the Space Needle, GasWorks Park, the Aquarium and whole
waterfront area along Alaskan Way and Pikes Place Market.
Driving North on I-5, there's the House of Pie's right off the
freeway in Marysville -- that was always a favorite stop for us
as kids -- then there's Mt. Vernon in the Skagit Valley which is
home of the Tulip Festival (but that's in the spring). Mt.
Vernon is a cute little town but I don't know what's there. you
might want to check out the websites for Skagit County and
Whatcom County. In Bellingham, there's Fairhaven which is an
historic town from turn of the century that was reconstructed.
They have a doubledecker bus and the Alaskan Ferry, among other
things. The area by the Ferry is fun for kids to run around
since it's right by the water, you can see birds, seals, the
gift shop (key for my son), etc.. This is all 5-10 min from the
Freeway. There's a great park too (Waterfront Park?) that
stretches along the shoreline from Fairhaven north. The
Bellingham Marina also has a cute little hands-on mini-aquarium
for kids. There's some good restaurants around there too but
it's a little further off the freeway. Further north, there's
Lynden which is a re-creation of a Dutch town. And also the
Roeder Homestead (can't remember how to get there but it's near
Lynden) which is great for kids. It's an old farm. June 10-11
they have a big Highland Festival there. I haven't been any
further north than that with my kids. Vancouver has hundreds of
fun things for kids, but that's another topic. Have a great
time. We had a trip planned up there with the boys for first
week of June but had to cancel for medical reasons, sadly. This
makes me wish I was going.
Mary
Feb 2004
Hi - we're contemplating a short (4-5 day) vacation in Seattle
with our 3rd grader in June. Saw the web site postings, but
looking for more recent information. What's ''not to miss''?
We'll be on public transportation. Can you see salmon in the
summer? Parks or activities/museums that are fun for a kid
that age? Any and all recommendations (or: things to avoid!)
welcome. Thanks.
Hope to visit Seattle
I'm from Seattle and please don't miss the Woodland Park Zoo. It
is a small manageable zoo with really, really nice exhibits.
Natural environment. My friend says it's the best zoo he has
ever been to and he's spent a great deal of time at the San
Diego zoo. It's also very accessbible on the bus. The bus system
is great! Reliable and clean.
I also recommend going to the top of the space needle which is
at the SEattle Center. Also at the center is the pacific science
center which is also fun.
louise
Seattle Center rocks for kids...not only is there an amusement
park, merry-go-round, and ice rink, but the Seattle Children's
Museum is there...think Habitot with a bunch of Microsoft money
for swanky exhibits. In fact you can get in for free if you are
a Habitot member at the $100 level.
Downtown is also fun...my daughter loved watching the horse-
drawn carriages at Westlake Center.
Michael
September 2002
We're thinking of driving to Seattle with our 2 kids (ages 7 and 3) to
spend Thanksgiving with friends. We'd take off the whole week, so have
a couple of days to travel each way. Are we nuts? Has anyone done
this, especially with kids near these ages? If so, was it horrible? Ok?
Great? If it was great, where'd you stop along the way? (We're
particularly nervous because of the time of year; If it was summer we'd
plan to camp and do outdoor things along the coast.)
J
We regularly drive to Vancouver, BC, which is 3-4 hours longer
than the drive to Seattle. It takes us about 16 hours of driving
time to Vancouver (less if I'm the one who is driving :-) ). We
do the Vancouver trip in 2 days, stopping mid-Oregon
(Eugene/Springfield has lots of choices), although you might want
to stop sooner (e.g. Ashland - the factory outlets are good
there, and there is no sales tax in Oregon). If you just want to
get it over-with, you could drive to Seattle in one long day from
here. We find that taking I-5 is best. Although the coast is
more scenic, the driving is slower.
We've done the drive to Vancouver starting with a crawler, who is
now 8. Although we don't like the food, we find that stopping at
McDonalds or Burger King with Play-places really helps. There is
a good one in Weed. Depending on the weather, there are also
lots of rest areas with grass along I-5. If you bring a frisbee,
that helps to burn off energy, too. However, the fast-food
places help if it is rainy.
We find that books, cd's, books on tape, etc help. Our son has
been through the long drives so much that he can entertain
himself. However, last summer, I read Harry Potter: the first
book on the trip up, the second on the trip down (plus time to
finish each at the destination). We find that staying
someplace with a pool helps, too. There is a Holiday Inn Express
in Springfield that is good. They also provide a good breakfast.
Barbara
Re: Driving to Seattle. We just drove from San Francisco to
Seattle in mid-August for our one-year sabbatical. We have
two kids, just about 4 years old and 6 months. We had a
great time, mainly because we took the following steps:
1) Give yourself enough time. Perhaps with slightly older
kids you can get away with more time in the car in a single
day, but we decided that 6-7 hours of driving was the max
our kids (and us) could take, so we budgeted three days.
2)
Have a daily destination. We planned to stop somewhere
interesting each day to hold out as a carrot for the kids. The
big treat was to visit Crater Lake in Oregon. Unfortunately,
the smoke from nearby forest fires prevented us from
actually seeing the lake itself (but having been there before I
HIGHLY recommend going - call ahead to get conditions.
There will definitely be snow by Thanksgiving, so not sure
which roads will be open). The other thing we did was to
make reservations at motels that had a pool for each night.
That really helped to release steam at the end of the long
driving day. Having prior reservations helped to avoid
anxiety in the car, too, as we didn't have to worry about trying
to find a place to sleep. The internet has plenty of options,
just pick a city on the map and look it up.
3) Be sure to drive
along the coast for some portion of the trip, but don't try to
take Hwy 1 all the way - it will take too much time. We took
101 up to Crescent City, CA, then drove inland using state
roads over to Crater Lake, then over to I-5 and up to Seattle.
But if you're not going to go to the Lake, then I recommend
taking I-5 through California and moving over to Hwy 1
through Oregon, where the coast is simply astonishingly
beautiful. In summer it can get clogged with RV's, but in
November it should be easy, although be prepared for cold
and rain.
4) You may need to budget more time for the total
vacation, if you're going to drive both ways. Or make the way
up the slow drive and the way down the quick one. If you
took I-5 the whole way, you could probably do it in two days
and one night.
5) Consider Amtrak. There's a sleeper train
that goes from Emeryville to Seattle in about 24 hours or so.
It's pricey, but if you're looking for something special I think it
would be great, especially for the kids. You could take the
train both ways, or do a one-way train/one-way plane trip.
I'm pretty sure Amtrak and United have some sort of
package for this. 5) Regardless of car/train/plane: pack lots
of things for the kids to do, especially have new things they
can open and enjoy.
Have fun!!! It was great to get back to my roots of road trips
with my own family as a kid. Feel free to email me if you'd
like more ideas, or specifics on places to stay.
Gretchen
Long, long ago, my parents took my brother and me (then 4 and 7)
to visit grandparents in So Cal. We drove from Seattle in a tin-
box Fiat with no air conditioning and black vinyl seats. It was
a heat-wave summer. And although I'm told by my mother that we
drove them crazy, we both remember loving it. At least you won't
have to put up with the heat! The trick my parents used was to
start VERY EARLY each morning, bundling us into the car in our
pj's, so we slept. Then, around 7:30 or 8, and 100 miles down
the road, we'd stop for breakfast at Denny's or some such place.
It felt like such a huge adventure! Lots of stops kept things
interesting; if you take the most direct route, I-5, there isn't
as much to see or do along the way, especially until you reach
the California/Oregon border. On the other hand, once in Oregon
there's plenty, and don't forget to stop at Mt. St. Helens once
you get to Washington State. What could be cooler to kids than a
recently exploded volcano?
Alexa
I just did the drive with my sister and two small children (5
and 6 months) from Oakland to Seattle last weekend and I will
NEVER do that again -- at least not in the same way.
Based on our trip planning research with AAA, OnStar, and
MapQuest, we estimated the trip would take around 12 hours, but
it was more like 17! I quickly learned that those trip planners
are not reliable for planning the actual timing of long car
ventures because, as you can imagine, with the need to stop for
meals, bathrooms, diaper changes, gas, rest, etc. additional
travel time can add up.
My kids did as well and even better as one could expect for such
a long journey. Although after arriving in Seattle, I was
heartbroken to find that my daughter's bottom was red and chafed
from so much sitting in the car seat. During the return trip I
was wiser and excessively powdered her bottom and that did the
trick.
While my five year old alternately slept, played car games,
workbooks, puzzles, those got old after a while and we were not
prepared for the additional 5 hours. So there were some moments
where we just had to pull into a rest stop so he could just run
to let off steam and energy.
The upside is that we both found the drive itself to be easy and
very beautiful. The road conditions were excellent and traffic
was minimal because we did a lot of driving during off-peak
times.
If we chose to drive again, I would definitely rent a RV and not
be so ambitious about getting there so quickly. In retrospect, I
would have much preferred to spend the night at some point to
break things up. It also would have been nice if there was time
to explore some of the quaint, historic towns along the way.
Rue
Regarding the comment that mapquest etc. give too short times: Of
course they will only quote the driving time not including any
stops. How long it will take you including breaks depends on how
many and how long breaks you take. With two or three drivers and
stops only for getting gas you'll probably need not that much
more time than the quoted 12 hours. Of course, if you travel with
children, you will need more and longer breaks.
Ina
March 1999
Our daughter (also 4 1/2) has really enjoyed the Seattle Center
(formerly the site of the World's Fair). There are two good
museums (Children's and Science), and there are often
activities in the big indoor food court area (this place is also
great for the little cars and trucks they leave out for kids
to scoot around in while parents finish a more leisurely lunch).
There are also some standard amusement park rides (not
sure if these were permanent or temporary when we were
there last).
Pike Place Market is interesting to see, but pretty crowded
and an easy place to lose sight of an overly mobile kid. It can
quickly turn into one of those "look out for that (whatever)" or
"don't break that (whatever)" kind of experiences. Plan
on using a backpack for the baby if you can. There's also a nice
aquarium right on the waterfront below the Market.
Finally, Seattle has lots of great parks. Of course there are the
big ones. The Olympic peninsula is beautiful if you have a full day
for driving and hiking (you can take a loop route and work a nice
ferry boat ride into the trip). There are also lots of nice city parks.
My in-laws used to live in Leschi (a district by Lake Washington)
and there were several great beach parks on the lakeshore.
You're picking a great time to see Seattle. Have fun!
-Jeff
We just spent a week in Seattle with a 9 yo, 5 yo, and 3 yo (visiting two
families with a 5 yo, 7 yo and 7yo) and the favorite activity was the
Children's Museum which is at Seattle Center. There is quite a fountain show
outside at 5 pm also. The Science center would also be fun for your 4 yo. Its
expensive but you can bring your own food (and should). We saw a IMAX movie on
Beavers that they loved. The Everest IMAX is suppose to be spectacular but
centered a lot around some of the deaths that occured on that trip.
We also went north an hour and went inner tubing in the snow. There are some
places that take reservations but we just found an area to play in. There was
a lot of snow this year.
Our children really like going on the Ferry. We took a longer trip this year
to Whitby Island which involved more driving than Ferry, but the trip to
Bainbridge is a good distance to enjoy the ferry ride, and you can get on
downtown. There are shops to browse and an ice cream store and a park at the
other end. There is a Whale Museum on Friday Island that is kid friendly but
again you will need a rental car and the trip is several hours long by car AND
ferry. We did not see any Killer Whales while we were there but there had been
some earlier that same day migrating.
The zoo is nice and you can get a combo pass for it and the aquarium. There is
a park at the north entrance.
I really liked Pikes Place but the children were bored.
Hope this helps and Have fun!
Carolyn
Seattle has a terrific zoo, and I understand their children's museum is
pretty good, although we didn't make it there. Lots of good recommendations
can be found at http://www.child.net/seakids2.htm.
Lysa
Seattle has an excellent Aquarium (on the waterfront)--much better than
Steinhardt, but not as good as Monterey, I'd say.
Additionally, the Pacific Science Center (where the Space Needle is) is not
to be missed. They have a butterfly room, where you walk in and are
surrounded by butterflies of all kinds. They often land on your head and
shoulders. And they have a special toddler and small child area set up
with a bubble wall, water play, and other child friendly exhibits. My two
year old loved it.
Dawn
Yay Seattle! It's a terrific place to take small kids. I was there with
two free weeks and a 2-yr. old a few years ago, and we had a marvelous
time. Really don't miss the Children's Museum & the Science Center. We
bought a year's family membership at the Museum, and we went so much in a
week we saved money. It's about the best Children's Museum anywhere I
think (& don't miss the potties in graduated sizes in the restroom!) The
Science Center has a super section for small ones. There is also a
fabulous, fun & free thing to do in Seattle - for all ages! - so fabulous
that when my husband used to talk about moving up there I could almost
agree just by remembering what a great time we had. That's the wading pool
on the north end of Green Lake. It's fed by a tiny stream & it then
funnels into the lake, so it has fresh water all the time, though they do
load in some chlorine or something every day. It's nearish to the street &
traffic so it's not as though you're at Lake Anza, but there's something
really wonderful about it. Maybe bc it is so urban, or festive, or
comfortable. There's a very shallow end as well as a slightly deeper end.
I think it's much more fun for tiny kids than the "beaches" on the lake
itself, right nearby. Remember to bring some water toys. There's a place
to rent skates nearby if you want to skate around the lake, and there's a
super bakery/cafe just across the street & maybe down a block. Good food
nearby too. Another place that can be fun is Archie McPhee's, a "novelty"
store that sells amazing things. You may want to skip it with kids, but if
you're used to taking them to Mr. Mopps, it's not that different. The only
thing that's unimproved over the years is that I think they now manufacture
in China many if not most of their own "novelty" items. They're just not
all classics any more. Ah well. (They have a website of course:
http://www.mcphee.com/) Have fun in Seattle! (Yes, I would move there,
except it would mean moving away from here...)
Leah
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