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Things to do when in Seattle
Every once in a while when friends from out of town are visiting Microsoft they ask me for things to do in the Seattle area. Normally I reply with one or two items off the top of my head and leave it at that. This time around I asked a friend, Amy Bellamy, for some advice. She was asked for advice for a friend of a friend who was visiting Seattle with a 12 year old daughter who loves sports and music. She gave me so much great information I felt compelled to post it here so I could refer friends to it in the future. Here it is:
http://www.museumofflight.org/ : very cool
Pacific Science Center www.pacsci.org
Woodland Park Zoo www.zoo.org
Woodland Park Rose Garden** http://zoo.org/zoo_info/special/rose.htm : just outside the zoo's south gate, free, 2.5 acres with 280 types of roses.
Seattle Aquarium www.seattleaquarium.org
Argosy Cruises** www.argosycruises.com
If you want to go to most or all of the above, you might want to buy a City Pass www.citypass.net
Other locations of interest:
- Experience Music Project **
http://www.emplive.com/ : expensive but worth it if you're interested in music history, especially jazz, blues, and early rock & roll. Check for special exhibits which are particularly cool.
Seattle Art Museum http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/ : boring unless there's a good special exhibit
Seattle Asian Art Museum http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/visitSAAM.asp : much better than SAM, $3 admission, and in a beautiful park with views from an old water tower, good bakery nearby called North Hill Bakery, on 15th Ave E and Mercer a few blocks south of Volunteer Park. bakery is closed Sundays.
Ferry from Downtown to Bainbridge Island http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/
Fremont neighborhood** http://www.fremontseattle.com/center_frameset.htm : eclectic neighborhood with cool outdoor art (statue of Lenin from USSR, troll under Aurora bridge, etc), good restaurants, original Red Hook brewery, Adobe software offices
Fremont Sunday market www.fremontmarket.com/fremont/
Fremont outdoor cinema http://outdoorcinema.com/seattle/
Pike Place** http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/ : farmers market, original Starbucks, and some nice boutiques in post alley and along first avenue
Mariners game at Safeco field** www.mariners.org
Summer Nights at the Pier concerts** http://www.summernights.org/ : great small outdoor concert venue on seattle waterfront
Gorge Amphitheatre concerts** http://www.hob.com/venues/concerts/gorge/ : great large outdoor venue, several hours east of Seattle but worth it for the right band
Zoo tunes** http://www.zoo.org/special_events/zoo_tunes/tunes.htm : outdoor concerts at the zoo, after regular zoo hours
Seattle Peace Concerts http://www.seapeace.org/ : I've never been to the concerts, but Gasworks Park is nice and has a great view of the city
Paramount Theater http://theparamount.com/ : good indoor venue for plays, music, etc. If you're interested in other live music, pick up a Seattle Weekly (free in coffee shops and in newspaper street boxes, published on thursdays) or check it out online (http://www.seattleweekly.com/) and find listings for music in bars, coffee shops, and other outdoor locations.
Nice parks to visit are Gasworks Park, near Fremont, Golden Gardens or the Ballard Locks in Ballard, Alki Beach in West Seattle, Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill.
If you're a fan of Bruce Lee, his and his son's graves are in the cemetery next to Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. The cemetery gates are on 15th Ave E just north of the Volunteer Park entrance.
Neighborhoods that are nice for a walk and some shopping are Fremont, Wallingford, Madison Park. Personally I would avoid Broadway on Capitol Hill and the U-district. Pioneer Square is sketchy at night but during the day there are some fun shops and galleries, also a cool monument to firefighters. The International District (also called "Chinatown") is near downtown, lots of great Asian restaurants and a good Asian grocery (Uwajimaya) near Seahawks Stadium; I'd go during the day, not at night.
For other shopping I would try University Village and downtown around Nordstrom.
Thursday, April 22, 2004 9:51:09 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
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