Seattle /Redmond

Kovaks

Mr. Poopybutthole
2,358
3,147
I'm going to Redmond WA for a couple days of training in may and then going to spend another two days downtown Seattle for fun, would love to hear suggestions on fun things to do. I'll have my 7 month pregnant wife with me so probably no drinking, but we love food, so those suggestions are much appreciated along with anything else.
 

Nevele

Silver Knight of the Realm
85
23
Pike Place Market in Seattle is a pretty typical stop. Tons of little shops and good eateries. Even has a brewery in there so you could get some good northwest microbrewed deliciousness. If you're into sports, Safeco field is a great place to see a ballgame. It's a newer stadium with lots of amenities, and is highly thought of as a great family-friendly atmosphere. Unfortunately I don't spend enough time in Seattle to remember the specific names of restaurants, but in a city this size you'll always have many options. Plenty of fresh seafood, if that's your thing. The Seattle-area people in general are a pretty amicable crowd. Be sure to bring some rain gear, as we won't hit summer until July 5th. Weather has been decent temperature wise, but it's been pissing down steadily, and that's par for our springtimes.

For the food choices, what's your direction? Fancy sit-down, friendly local pub, good old steak and seafood? Shoot us a direction to work with, and I'll see if I can't dig up some recommendations for you.
 

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,652
7,474
If you're a fan of music, theExperience Music Projectis a must. Blows the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame away. I cannot say enough good things about the EMP. Best museum I've ever been to. It even looks like they have an Art of Video Games exhibit right now. Sounds like it would be badass.
 

opiate82

Bronze Squire
3,078
5
EMP is a must.

Pacific Science Center can also be fun.

They have these Duck tour bus-boat-thingies that people seem to love (but I haven't done them).
 

Kovaks

Mr. Poopybutthole
2,358
3,147
Thanks, EMP sounds interesting, I thought the rock and roll hall of fame was a waste of time and money. Science museum sounds fun too.
 

Neph_sl

shitlord
1,635
0
Coffee and seafood are what I think about when I hear Seattle. Though not sure how that'll fly with a pregnant wife...

If she's up for either though, my favorite cafe wasVictrola Coffee Roastersand for seafood (oysters) wasThe Walrus and the Carpenter. But yea... coffee/oysters + pregnancy don't mix, so maybe someone else will take this recommendation. But the Walrus and the Carpenter does have other food other than oysters, so you might be able to go there.
 

Jorren

Maximum Derek
<Bronze Donator>
1,429
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In addition to the above

Seattle Underground tour
Palace Kitchen for a good sit down meal. They supply many of the other restaurants with desserts. They are really excellent.
Vivace upon Capital Hill for Espresso/Cap/Latte
Freemont and Ballard are kind of cool areas to wander
Gasworks Park is an interesting place to kick back for a few
Green Lake is also up in that area
 

MrBelding_sl

shitlord
143
3
Not quite Seattle, but near...

Any people in the region familiar with Olympic National Park? Am thinking two days is good enough for hiking through various parts - any suggested lodging in or near the park?
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
25,365
33,032
No lodging suggestions as I camped, but Olympic park is pretty good and so is North Cascades National Park for sightseeing.
 

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
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Bumping this one rather than a new thread...

In August we'll be traveling to Seattle for The International 2015 tournament which takes place at Key Arena. Trying to get some feedback on whether or not we'd want to stay downtown close to Key (walking / monorail distance) or stay further outside and commute in each day. It looks like it'd be around $300 a night for something close to the Arena / Space Needle complex and would require getting quite a ways from downtown for hotels to drop down to say $150 - $200 a night and potentially offset the cost of a rental.

Mostly I think it'll just come down to our personal preference but I'm leaning towards just staying closer to the event rather than being significantly outside of the main area. The exception would be if there are enough things we'd want to do during our 4-5 day stay that'd take us away from there. Restaurants, etc...
 

jeffvader

it's only castles burning
402
33
seattle is the worst city other than maybe l.a. for public transportation so rent a car or stay close. i can't believe it's even possible to pay $300 a night. things have changed...

and eat ivar's fish and chips and get out on the lake!
 

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
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Well it is like $109 a night now, but it seems they've already adjusted for the event days trying to book this far out. If you look at the dates surrounding the first week of August it is significantly cheaper
frown.png


Is the monorail even any good? We could stay down by Westlake Park or whatever that area is for the same price if there are good activities and easy access via the rail. I need to check the Beer thread again and see if there's any brew stuff to hit up, because I'd certainly make exceptions for access to that.
 

opiate82

Bronze Squire
3,078
5
There is aTONof beer in Seattle. The Washington beer scene is kind of weird because even though we have a ton of amazing breweries they are all small so you probably have never heard of them before. There are probably 15+ breweries in Seattle alone in which their beer doesn't make it much past their own tap room but are totally worth checking out.Here is a pretty decent listof some WA/Seattle area breweries worth checking out (skip Elysian and Georgetown imo). A couple of my favorites are Fremont and Black Raven. If your time is limited you are better off finding a taproom vs trying to do a brewery crawl. The one I always recommend is theBeveridge Place Pub.

As far as transportation around Seattle, I'll second the recommendation to just rent a car. Public transit is pretty worthless around Seattle.
 

Pharazon

Silver Knight of the Realm
413
46
One bit I'll add - if you're thinking about going up in the Space Needle, just book a meal at the restaurant far in advance. You ride up and pay for your meal, get to enjoy the view as you eat. If you just go up on the viewing deck without eating, you have to pay like $15-20 a person anyways so you may as well eat for a little more $ and spend some more time up there.
 

Vinen

God is dead
2,789
495
Pike Place Market in Seattle is a pretty typical stop. Tons of little shops and good eateries. Even has a brewery in there so you could get some good northwest microbrewed deliciousness. If you're into sports, Safeco field is a great place to see a ballgame. It's a newer stadium with lots of amenities, and is highly thought of as a great family-friendly atmosphere. Unfortunately I don't spend enough time in Seattle to remember the specific names of restaurants, but in a city this size you'll always have many options. Plenty of fresh seafood, if that's your thing. The Seattle-area people in general are a pretty amicable crowd. Be sure to bring some rain gear, as we won't hit summer until July 5th. Weather has been decent temperature wise, but it's been pissing down steadily, and that's par for our springtimes.

For the food choices, what's your direction? Fancy sit-down, friendly local pub, good old steak and seafood? Shoot us a direction to work with, and I'll see if I can't dig up some recommendations for you.
Avoid the Brewery there. It's rather lackluster. You can get plenty of beers on tap from West Coast breweries close to it.

Id actually avoid Pikes place in general unless you want to pay twice the cost of Seafood.

Wish I could remember the place... was near Pikes but it was an excellent bar I got shit faced at so my wife had to call a cab since I couldn't walk back to our hotel.