Seattle, WA is a city full of so much culture and endless local coffee shops around every corner, and no visit to the PNW would be complete without a trip to The Emerald City! During our trip to Washington, my husband and I spent a couple half days in Seattle. So basically we knew that the city was going to be too busy and expensive (accommodation wise) for our liking, so we popped in at separate times over 3 different days during our vacation in Washington and Canada. Seattle is a bit in your face, especially coming from Mt. Rainier and the smaller towns of the Cascade area where everything is at a much slower pace…check out my first post here which features other parts of Washington, including Mt. Rainier National Park. But that’s also the cool thing about Washington – the diversity you get just 1-2 hours away from one of the busiest U.S. cities!
The schedule of our trip might seem a little weird, but we basically planned everything around our round trip flights at SeaTac Airport, a family visit, and cheap Airbnbs and hotels. My husband works for Hilton Corporation, so we can usually snag $35-$45 rooms around the U.S. when available, and we like to plan our trips around these stays! Beside having a great vacation, our second most important goal is to always stay on budget while traveling.
During our first half day in Seattle, we checked out Gas Works Park and Pike Place Market area. Gas Works Park quickly became my favorite area in Seattle! The close proximity to the city, but yet not being smack in the middle of the hustle is really what I enjoy most…kinda like admiring the crazy from afar ha! You get a perfect view of downtown (including the Space Needle) and the planes landing in Lake Union. The park contains remnants of an old coal plant, which make it a super unique piece of urban landscape design. And best of all – it’s FREE!
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Pike Place Market…was it worth it or a bunch of hype? I’m leaning more toward hype…but it’s listed as one of the top Seattle attractions, so we decided to give it a go. By the time we got downtown, all the food stalls were packed up, so we didn’t see any of the iconic fish throwing merchants or flower shops. But we still walked around the boardwalk area, which was nice because it wasn’t very busy.
Right next to the Market in Post Alley is the Seattle Gum Wall, the first of our weird Seattle encounters. It’s literally an entire alleyway covered in chewed gum! Evidently it was started in the early 90s and has since become a local landmark.
Of course anyone would say a trip to Seattle wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Space Needle, one of the most iconic monuments in the city…but it felt more like an obligation really, and you get views of the Needle from all over the city anyway. So we opted for the Seattle Great Wheel at the end of Pier 57 instead and got about a 20 minute ride overlooking Pudget Sound and downtown! It’s in the same area as Pike Market, half the price of the Needle, and had no line to ride! I’d say that’s a “win!”
Instead of the Space Needle, we opted to go see the Chihuly Garden & Glass, a museum/showcase honoring American glass artist Dale Chihuly. I was already slightly obsessed with his work and have seen his pieces in London, Denver, CO, and Fayetteville, AR too. Check out the pics below!
One of the coolest parts of the exhibition was this huge glasshouse conservatory with a view of the Needle. The Chihuly Exhibition is part of the Seattle Center, which is located in the Uptown area and also includes The Space Needle, Museum of Pop Culture, a science center, and an arena.
Another park with great views of the city is Kerry Park in the Queen Anne neighborhood. It’s really only a sliver of grass alongside a road, but it has one of the best views of downtown (and Rainier on a clear day!) in my opinion. And again…FREE! You’ll be battling a ton of other tourists, but the views are worth a visit!
SEATTLE DRIVING/PARKING TIPS:
The traffic in the city isn’t as bad as I expected, but the traffic getting into the city is a nightmare! It’s one of the largest cities in the U.S., so you just have to suck it up and deal with it. We stayed about 30 min outside downtown, and we just had to give ourselves extra time to get places.
Most parks will have free parking with a certain hourly limit, but most of the parking in the city center is PAID during the week and normal business hours. We found that going a block or two away from a major site (or going out in the evening) was a great place to find free parking. Also my husband has pro navigation and parallel parking skills, so I’m always thankful to be traveling with him!
Also bike culture is a thing here. You’ll see them everywhere, and they usually have the right-of- way! Our first 10 min in the city we almost ran over a 60 year-old-biker…oops… Also driving in the bike lanes is frowned upon (not that we accidentally did that or anything).
If you’re looking for more weird Seattle, then check out the Fremont Troll under the George Washington Memorial Bridge…shiny metal eye and all! The Troll was created in 1990 to draw people to the area under the bridge – which had become known for some sketchy happenings. It’s definitely serving it’s purpose because there were a ton of people there.
Day Trip to Whidbey Island
On our last day around Seattle, we decided to take a ferry over to Whidbey Island and spend a couple hours there. Looking back, I would have chosen to check out another island because Whidbey was a bit sleepy…but it’s one of the those things that you don’t know until it’s already done…but it was worth it just for the ferry ride!
We managed to get some pretty pics of the coastline (between the crazy fog), stopped for a delicious slice of pie at Whidbey Pies (local organic farm), and drove over Deception Pass Bridge.
We actually had consistently good weather in the city while we were there. I was expecting the dreary, overcast sky that Seattle is notorious for, but we had bright sun-shiny days and no rain the entire time! I’m thinking we just got lucky because we visited in July?
I still prefer beautiful mountains and lush scenery to the concrete jungles, and this is how I feel about Seattle. It has many unique places to offer travelers, but several things can overshadow this…umm hmm…like the ton of homeless folks and smell of weed on the streets. And also the lady in the doorway of a store lighting up her crack pipe…there’s that too…of course this isn’t all that’s in Seattle. It has a very diverse culture and tons of free things to do too (festivals, outdoor plays, etc.).
Be sure to stick around and check out my Canada blogs – coming soon!
Down the Highway My Way 
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