Friday 8/18/00
Day 1: Seattle
(This will be an accumulation of many three day weekends that our family has taken to explore Washington last year. I will try to transition each trip into a two veek vacation for anybody thinking about visiting Washington. There may be times when kids are mentioned and other times I am by myself. We will begin the trip in Seattle and do a circle eight tour of the state to cover all of the area.)
I
waited until around 8:00 today to go into Seattle so that the rush hour traffic
would not be so bad. One thing you don't want to do is be in traffic jams
in Seattle. It compares to LA, NY and the Bay Area as worst in the country.
It's supposed to be 75 degrees today as July thru September is usually the
best time to visit Seattle for weather. It's usually drizzly rain from October
until July 4th but Summers are great. I take Interstate-5 into town and then
go down to 2nd and Pike where the Pike Place Market is at. This is one of
the more popular markets on the west coast as it was started in 1907. Every
day there is fesh seafood, vegatables, arts and craft and a great view of
Puget Sound water. There are also two lower levels of small shop and restaurents.
I first stop at Starbucks to get some coffe where it all began 2? years ago.
The owner had a small store in Pike Place Market and now has hundreds of international
shops. There are also many little ethnic shops that include italian, turkis,
greek, mexican,and many more to choose from. I buy myself a focaccia bread
with topppings on it for breakfast and then sit at a table watchingthe ferrie
come it.
After
eating I go down to the waterfront where there is alot of construction going
on. The city itself is changing their own skyview with new condos, baseball
stadiums, and other skyrises being built. It is a very healty community right
now with the internet/technology companines having a large impact. Down at
the piers you can go to the aquarium, tour shops, restaurents or take a ferry
into Puget Sound. Duringthe summer they also have concerts on the piers and
are very popular. One of my favorite restaurants in Seattle is at the Fisherman's
we go at least twice a year. Ivar's restaurant also serve the best clam chowder
I have ever had. Must try a cup of it if your at the waterfront. If you continue
down theAlaskan Way along the Piers you will come to the Edgewater Inn which
has been here since theWorld's Fair in 1962. Everybody talks about it because
this is where the Beetles stayed during their 65 tour. It now caters to a
older/conservative generation but is still a nice place to go for a drink.
At Edgewater we turn right and go up the hill to Belltown
which ha salso been remodeled in the last five years. It now has new condos',
many good restaurant to eat at and allot of little alternative shops for keeping
up with the new trends. Our favorite restaurants here are a Brazilian(Western
Vine) and Asians (Noodle Ranch) restaurant. We also go to the Lava Lounge
bar sometimes on Friday nights where it is a different enviorment as it has
the old tropical atmosphere and smokey rooms. Crocodile cafe is also in the
near vicinity as the place used to be a grunge alternative bar for bands getting
started.. We won't go to the Space Needle today as we'll wait until a couple
weeks to go there during Bumbershoot weekend. I do drive past the Space Needle
and go next to LakeUnion area which is an inlet of water that is about a mile
from downtonw Seattle. There is a yacht club here along with many night clubs
and good restaurant to eat at. Cucina Cucina is a good Italian restaurent
here and also has a good view of thewater. I take highway
99 driving north along the Lake Union and will go into the Freemont community.
This is away from downtown and is a cute little neighborhood that has many
restaurant, book stores and also the Redhook brewery. They show movies outside
on Friday night for locals during the summer and many good places here to
eat. If you drive a couple miles out of the Freemont neighborhood you will
come to the Ballard Locks which let boats from Lake Union have access to the
Puget Sound. This little community of Ballard has a europoean heritage. There
are Scandavian restaurents here and also little stores that have foods imported
from the region
It's already afternoon and I will drive across I-5 to go to
University of Washington campus. One of the nicer campuses in the Pac-10,
it is a couple miles north of downtown. The university is very important to
the city as it has a strong medical practice and is known internationally
for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer center and University Hospital. They don't
have to bad of a football team either. I walked along the 15th street and
went to local bookstores, record shops and cafes along the area. There is
a very good Greek restaurant called ????? that Cindy and I go to up here.
Down on Lake Washington near the football stadium there is an arboretum park
where there are many different kinds flowers and trees. From UW I take I-5
back to downtown and will go up the hill to Broadway on 'Pill Hill'. This
is where all the hospitals are as per the nickname There are also many small
shops and good restaurant up here as it is very cause to Seattle University
Catholic school. 
I
continued south on I5 and would take a right to go to West Seattle. This area
is the south side of Seattle and you get a different view of town from Alkai
point. You are out of the downtown area and driving around the peninsula as
the ferries come in and out from the Bremerton, Bainbridge and Vashon Iislands.
We went up to the West Seattle community near Alaska St. and stopped of at
some used book stores and then went to get a ice cream cone at Husky store.
They also have all kinds of Italian food here and great homemade ice cream.
Next I go down to where the baseball stadium is at and where they are putting
up new high rise buildings. This is where they blew up the Kingdone earlier
this year to replace it with a football stadium. This whole south side of
town is being rebuilt. They are also putting in new shopping stores and trying
to make the train station more accessible to out of town visitors who want
to visit on weekends. Which brings up the new transit system that will be
running in a couple years that will connect Everett, Olympia and Seattle .
They have needed it for twenty years and is finally going to happen. There
is also an International district a couple blocks away where you can have
any kind of Asian food. There is a Uwajimia store that serve fresh sea food
as we go there when wanting to make sushi. We walk about five blocks to 1st
and James and end up in Pioneer Square which is a historical part of town
and a nice place to visit. The buildings are made of brick from the 20's and
have the old atmosphers as you walk inside these buldings. The most intewresting
building is the Smith Tower which was builkt in the 30's. Go to the observatoyr
and see a 360 degree view of Seattle. Pioneer Square is also very popular
among the younger generation as there several clubs that have live music on
weekends. You pay $8 cover charge for the night and can go into all the clubs
during the evening. You can find anything from grunge, alternative, rhythm
and blues and jazz at theses bars. New Orleans and Larry's are two places
that we like to eat at in Pioneer Square.
It been a busy day and I would go home tonight before visiting south Puget Sound tomorrow. For hotels in the area I would recommend towns between Tacoma and Seattle. There are many hotels near Southcenter shopping mall near Tukwilia. The towns of Renton, Kent and Auburn are also good centreal locations for staying at hotels while visiting in the Puget Sound area. The closer you get towards Sea-Tac airport the more expensive you will be paying for hotels.