Seattle, WA
 

My husband and I are planning a vacation, and the likely destination right now is Seattle. On the list to see are Mt. St. Helens and Pike Place Market, and possibly some kayaking. Any other recommendations?

Uh, yeah. Be careful around
Mt. St. Helens. :eek:

Sure emplive, Mt Rainier and Olympic National Park.
Olympic has Spanish Moss...I swear, Spanish Moss! :biggrin:

Take the ferry to Bainbridge Island. Beautiful views of downtown, and lots of cool stuff to see.
See http://www.TychoUnder.com/Alaska2004/index.html (first two days and last four days) for our pictures of Seattle from last June.

Enjoy your trip.
- Pie

Here's a few

- Eat at the Scaleburger in Elbe on the way to Mt. Rainier
- Visit Paradise Lodge on Mt. Rainier
- Hike around Paradise Lodge
- Take the Boehm's candy tour in Issaquah
- Space needle - especially nice at sunset
- Walk along the piers
- Eat at Ivars on the pier
- Walk around Pioneer square and thereabouts. Lots of neat gallerys and stuff.
- Snoqualmie falls
- Northwest railway museum in Snoqualmie
- Take a tour to watch the whales
- Take a tour to catch salmon.
- Air museum in Renton
- Take the tour at Chateau St. Michelle winery

Take warm clothes when you go to Mt. Rainier. My kids played in the snow - during the first week of August.

Snoqualmie Falls

Sunset on a hike near Paradise Lodge

Wow, thanks everyone!

Seattle is a city of music and wonderful fresh seafood. I agree with dar on Ivars on the pier. Space neddle is unique. Snoqualmie pass is cool, If you like snow and beutiful lakes. Also if your sports fans, you got the mariners, seahawks, supersonics etc... For me it was the taverns with live music and the olympia beer. whenever you go make sure to take umbrellas. I don't think their is a state with more rain per year than Washington...... Have fun!!!!

How is the music scene up there these days? Any favorite bands?

Pics like that make me want to move there. Tomorrow. One of these days, I want to spend at least a month checking out the area between Seattle and Vancouver.

And, oddly enough, Los Angeles has more rainfall (32 inches) than Seattle (16 inches) this season.

kayaking ideas
 

A couple of years ago I went on a week long kayak expedition through the San Juans out of Anacortes. It was the paddle of a lifetime! We have some of the most beautiful, rewarding paddling options in the world. Here and here are links to a typical outfitters in the area. This account is an excerpt of a trip through the San Juans, and the part about Deception Pass is really exciting. The tidal currents there run up to NINE KNOTS!

For more urban trips, I have enjoyed in-city trips in both salt and fresh water, sometimes in the same trip! I will never forget my trip through the Ballard Locks! A couple of good places to put in are 14th street boat ramp, Golden Gardens park, and on Lake Union at NWOC, you can rent a kayak and start your paddle there. These guys rock, but they don’t let you take their boats through the locks, though. Another cool trip from there is to head north and west through the ship canal and the Montlake cut (watch out for the clapotis under the bridge if there’s any other powerboat traffic) into Lake Washington.

Mt St Helens
 

I've been to Mt St Helens several times, since the eruption, and the evidence of the awesome power of the devastation is almost unbelievable. There's one campsite we go to near Ghost Lake and it's on the fringe of the blast zone and you can see trees that are still standing that have been scoured smooth on the mountain facing side and intact on the opposite side. The level of Spirit Lake rose 600 feet that day. There is a raft of logs of downed trees that wanders about on the surface of the lake like a little swirl of foam on your mocha, but it's hundreds of giant logs. If you make a trip to the park, be sure to go all the way to the end of the road and stop in at the Johnstone Ridge Observatory center. It is extremely informative and entertaining.

It's not "Seattle" exactly, but an incredible trip, very worthwhile. Highly recommended.

Um, question
 

What kind of things do you want to see/do? City, country? Indoor, outdoor? Eat, watch, walk, listen, etc?? I've lived here about for about 15 years now, and though still an import, I'm and informed import.

If you give me a more specific topic, I can give you example, mileages, costs and maybe even a review--I love my city and enjoy showing it off. I've done lots of the "tourist-y" things myself. I know a lot about the city proper from spending most of my time here.

What kind of things do you want to see/do? City, country? Indoor, outdoor? Eat, watch, walk, listen, etc??

Um... all of those things? I don't know. Outdoors is great, but I'm afraid rain might keep us from too many of those types of things. Music is probably last on the list, simply because my husband and I could never agree on what type of group to go see. :) Walking/seeing things mostly, I guess. And eating too... I have very fond memories of the Boeing factory tour that we took when I was a kid, do they still do those?

wellll...
 

um, I guess...in Witchita!

no, I'm not bitter... :mad:

A clarification
 

The rain in Spain--wait--sorry. The rain in Seattle has a justified reputation for it's near-omnipresence (sunny today though), but really, you don't get wet, it's just really light rain, really often. Your head and shoulders will be wetter than your shoes probably.

Another thing, when do you intend to visit? In the summer, we have much less rain, and droughts and lawn watering restrictions are not uncommon. I can't think of any reasonable activity that is substantially inhibited by the rain here. I camp in the rain, walk in the rain, visit the parks in the rain, etc. Little league games have been rained out I confess. But if I had to depend on dry skies for outdoor fun, there'd be a whole lot less fun.

For my outdoor fun I keep this in mind: There are no unfavorable conditions, only inadequate preparation. For Seattle in the winter, layering is key. Fleece, and Gore-Tex and a hat will be adequate for most all situations.

The proximity of the city to the water means our temperatures are pretty well moderated so we don't have the lake-effect snow I saw in another thread.

Kayaking is certainly the wettest propostition mentioned yet, and all the other land or boat/ferry options are much drier prospects.

I guess the factory closed? It was a long time ago, I admit...

We'll probably be going in late March.

In-city ideas, part 1
 

In the city... hmm. A really cool tour is called Underground Seattle. Seattle had a terrible fire over 100 years ago and the rebuilding took place on top of the burned remains (kinda). Much of the old stuff can still be seen at the original grade level on this tour.

Bruce mentioned EMP, the Experience Music Project. I know you said listen was low on your list, but if minimal musical taste overlap is the reason, you can both be satisfied here, I promise. I know it's an awful/wonderful pun but this place ROCKS!!

Adjacent to EMP is the Seattle Center, site of the 1960 World's Fair, and home to the Space Needle. It's a cool but expensive trip to the observation deck. There's also a restaurant that revolves once per hour. Verrrrry swank. You can see forever from up there. Speaking of seeing, you know, Seattle (and this local area) is the only place in the country where you can stand in one spot and see three different National Parks! The Cascades National Park to the east, the Olympic National Park to the West and Mt Ranier National Park to the south. We have an embarassment of riches when it comes to natural beauty.

There's a ton of stuff to do at the Center, IMAX, fountain, bite of seattle, pacific science center, planetarium, laser light show, seattle supersonics, opera house, thunderbirds, squaredancing, Butterfly exhibit and the Monorail to name a few. (Hey, sorry, I was gonna try to give you links to alllll the above, but you're smart, just check out the seattle center link. You can get the info there, and beaucoup more)

Ride the monorail and ride the waterfront streetcar. The streetcars were imported from Australia(!) The Seattle Aquarium and the Woodland Park Zoo are family favorites. We have annual memberships to both.

Sports? Tbirds are the junior hockey league team, the SuperSonics are first in the West for the NBA, the Seahawks play in the winter and the Mariners, my favorite, play in the spring and summer.

Take a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island. You can walk on too. The views of the city on the eastbound trip are killer in the low angle light of the afternoon.

Wow! Thanks a ton, BigV!!

Witchita has been sold. :mad:

My knowledge of Seattle is predominately about it's parks and schools.

The Ballard Locks is one of my favorite places here, and whenever friends or family visit for the day that's where I go. You can watch the Locks ebb and flow as the ships go through, and you can walk across to the other side of the canal. On one side is the neighborhood of Ballard :) and on the other side is Discovery Park.

If you want a great view of Seattle that includes the Space Needle, go to Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill.

Walking around Green Lake in the afternoon before the sunset is very popular. =]

Hey! Wish me luck!
 

Each year one of the local seafood restaurants runs a fun promotion called the Oyster Olympics. I am the returning champion in the Oyster Slurping Contest, 2004. You thought all those "You SUCK!" remarks were insults, didn't you. Heheh, nope, they're right, I do. Well, slurp is more like it. And fast too. Think of it as oysters as performance art, on fast forward.

They bring you the obligatory seafood bib with the restaurant logo on it and an enormous platter covered with crushed ice, with a dozen oysters on the half shell, already cut from the shell, resting obliviously in their own delicious juice. You are permitted to arrange the oysters on the platter to your liking, (condiments, anyone? I like mine naked) then your hands go behind your back and you wait for the starting signal. After the signal, the first contestant to get all the oysters down, and stay down, with no hands wins!

One Friday last March, I called up MrsV and asked if she wanted an after-work cocktail, and we decided to meet at Chinook's. We went to the bar and as we were reading over the appetizer menu the waitress handed us the "Oyster Olympics" menu, filled with several different kinds of oyster dishes. They looked delicious, but kind of expensive for just a trifle before dinner. There was a commotion at the end of the bar and when asked about it, she said it was the contest starting up. Wow, they give you a free platter of oysters? Cool! They had room for one more, so I signed up.

The contest proceeded as I have described--my platter came and I arranged my treats in two concentric arcs. I planned to start on the upper right and move to the left, inhaling as I went and swallowing as I needed. At the end of the row, I adjusted downward a couple of inches and continued my motion. The round trip took about 4 seconds, and I threw my hands in the air: First Place!

I got a paper crown, my picture, a $30 gift certificate for lunch or dinner, an invitation to the championship round at the end of the month, and, of course, free oysters. Not a bad deal for a minute's worth of work.

The championship round was the following Friday, (I had qualified in the last round--lucky), and the process was repeated. All the winners from the previous 4 Friday competitions lined up, leaned over, and followed me across the finish line. I'm told I looked like a duck pecking up crumbs, dart, dart, dart, gobble, glug. Another crown, picture, gift cert, and free treats. Ahhh.

So, this afternoon, I am trying to qualify for this year's championship round. The show's at 6:00 at Chinook's at Fisherman's Terminal. Please cheer me on, from wherever you may be (come on down, if you can!). I'm excited, but not stressed. I can honestly say winning isn't everything. There's free oysters, too.http://www.cellar.org/images/smilies/yumyum.gif

Well good luck you big slobber snot sucking so-n-so !!!!!!

Just mess'n with ya , i like my oysters with a dash of hot sauce and a sprinkle of lemon , swich and slurp !!!! Ahhh , life is GOOD !!!!!

Well, it's 8:30 now... didja win?

Is this you BigV? ;)

Naa here's the big V , the one on the right !!!! :D

Aw *shucks*, he's cute! :D

owie.

The only problem with such a contest is that you actually have to eat raw oysters drenched in oyster piss.

I don't think so.

Perhaps this should be in that foreign food that scares you thread ...

But I do have to ask ... BigV, did MrsV reap the benefits of your oysterage?

WINNAH!!!

By the time I finally got to sleep, I was thoroughly bushed...

Changing the subject slightly,
 

This is the view last week up and down my street. Beautiful, don't you think? The cherries broke their slumber early this year, very early, some blossoms in early January even. But this reckless showy exuberance always gladdens my heart. And January or March, their ephemeral beauty makes me remember that Winter does not reign.

more pretty tree pics
 

First pic down the street a few days later. Can you see the effects of the wind? Drifts of flower petals line the streets and sidewalks!

Second pic is of one of my favorite Saucer Magnolias in the neighborhood, a couple of blocks away. The canopy on this tree reaches to the ground almost and could easily envelope the two cars in the foreground, and a couple more besides.

Nice, first signs of spring! I was wondering where all that 'global warming' was going on I keep hearing so much about.

And here in CT we're waiting on another snow storm coming in sometime this morning. :(

We're having sleet or so I'm told. I'm not going out in it.

We are having what we always have winter and early spring: Suicidal Skies--Grey, grey, a little white, and lots more grey. Feels like the sky is right on top of my head.

Today I saw posted pictures of flowers fom CA, NC, Netherlands and Israel. Three days ago I noticed I have crocuses, uh, croci, pushing the deutrius up. :thumbsup:

I took this picture of some really determined croci at the end of Febuary outside of the butterfly museum.

test
 

test :eek:

This post was composed and posted while onboard the Bainbridge Island ferry. It's cool to read and post completely wire-free.

I also took a couple of pix, but I couldn't get the browse button to appear, and consequently could not attach the file. :mad:

I wonder if I can use the other img tools.

Hey folks,

Ideally, April and I want to go to Seattle and Vancouver for our honeymoon. What we're thinking is...flying to Seattle, spending a couple of days there, driving to Vancouver, spending a couple of days there, then flying back to St. Louis from Seattle.

As far as things we'd like to do, well...we like food and art and quirky shit. We like tourist stuff, but we also like the stuff that isn't in the pretty brochure.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Gracias.

Seattle is an awesome seafood town. If it's like it was a decade ago, you can go downtown and head to any of the restaurants at the edge of the sound, and get awesome seafood.

The Chateau St Michelle winery is not in France, it's just north of Seattle. A winery tour is a great way to spend a little time and learn about how they grow grapes in Eastern Washington and ship them to this place to make some of the finest, most consistent fine wine, year after year.

The view from my front porch
 

early in the morning.

I can see this mountain from my house
 

but not this perspective. This is Mount Rainier. Gorgeous.

down the road a stretch.
 

Granite Falls native, doin what comes naturally.

Olympic Peninsula, on the Hood Canal
 

a barn swallow, doing what comes naturally, even if it is rarely captured! They're soooo fast and sooooo agile and so beautiful!

A mile to the west
 

the Olympics from Golden Gardens park.

bee-u-ti-ful! Thanks BigV

Nice! I'm land-locked and usually hot. These kinds of images make me feel like I'm on a vacation. Thanks Big V!

typo ;)

Taken from the balcony of our hotel room earlier:

http://thebosque.us/images/10222007.jpg

http://thebosque.us/images/102222007.jpg

http://thebosque.us/images/102232007.jpg

Me getting a $56 jaywalking ticket from a member of Seattle's Finest on 2nd Avenue in Belltown earlier today:

You can take the guy outa Philly...:headshake

See today's Manifesto...I can laugh about it now, but I was so fucking pissed earlier today.

I just read it...I sure hope you guys keep laughing, and enjoy the rest of your trip!

Is this the Space Needle?

Actually, that looks like the CN Tower in Toronto. Not sure who the boobs belong to though...somebody out there is very lucky. :)

It's been a few months now but I've got some photos and a message to post here today.


Before I flew out here to the Philippines there were several other stops made. One of those stops was in Seattle.

I knew that I'd have some time available to meet someone from the cellar out there during the stopover. A quick search listed BigV as being there in Seattle.

I PMed him about the possibility of getting together for a few hours. He had time available at the time and we made plans to meet at the airport.

The flight landed and all my BIG boxes were collected and ready for the next flight or for someone to stash in the truck of their Caddy. :)

BigV met me there at the airport and we took a short tour of Seattle. It was getting late but there were still things to see there and I was glad to have the tour, not having ever been there.

For those that have never met him, he's a very BIG guy and every bit as nice in person as he is here on the cellar.

As we parted at the airport I told him that I'd surely post something on the cellar about the micro GTG. Little did I know.

After I arrived in Manila my desktop died shortly after downloading the photos from the Seattle, BigV event. The laptop was used as backup but the photos were gone and I kept putting off posting something about Seattlle since the pics were unavailable.

NOW, after screwing around with the desktop and endless technical BS, I have the photos and I'd like to post a few and tell BigV thanks very much for the tour and the foods.

If we happen to meet again, I'll buy. Fish if I remember, would be your preference.

And to anyone here at the cellar with any doubts, BigV is truly a friendly helpful guy. :)

And....you just woundn't believe this but I composed this post a half hour ago and my computer crashed again. :lol: It seems that there is some unseen force that doesnt want this comment posted.

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A biplane? Does that mean it can go either way?

I recognize that red building.