Visiting Seattle
I have a couple of clever, pretty visitors coming to town this weekend from Florida that I am trying to convince to move to Seattle. This means that I’ll be dragging them all around town on the samantha Seattle tour, pointing at things and going, “Isn’t that neat? Don’t you totally want to move here now?” As a result, we’ll certainly be visiting (among other places):
Uwajimaya, for peculiarly flavored chips and candies, Elliott Bay for creaky wooden floors, the Columbus statue at the waterfront, the Old Curiosity Shop, the Market, and Lenin, for obvious reasons, and the Central Library for sexy architecture. We’ll also be making a stop at the Sunset to see Tullycraft, because Tullycraft is the best.
These things end up on my tour because they are Seattle for me; they’re the little places and experiences that help make up the reasons I love living in this town so much. So it got me to thinking: What’s Seattle to you? What’s the one place that people have to see when they come to visit you?
I would take people to one of the beaches (Carkeek and Discovery parks are my favourites), preferably as the sun’s starting to set.
Considering most of my visitors are from Dallas, I make sure to show them the things they’re missing in flat, flat Central Texas: the water and the mountains. And of course, great sushi.
Take them Kayaking from Agua Verde and have tacos and margaritas afterward!
Sunset at Golden Gardens!
I tried kayaking once and took to it like a duck to investment banking. I prefer my boats with motors and margaritas onboard, and am just lucky that I had a then-boyfriend in the kayak with me…otherwise I’d still be out there trying to paddle to shore, two years later.
A lot of my friends like to take people to the beaches. It’s not something that ever occurs to me because until I moved to Seattle I lived in beach towns in Florida. In my head beaches are just sort of a given.
I thought I was the only person who insisted on dragging everyone to Uwajimaya. If it’s not school season, I take people on a tour of the UW campus and I usually try to take them to either Sandpoint or Discovery Park. And then I have a whole series of bars and coffee shops, but that’s so my visitors understand where I spend my free time.
I also try to make sure my visitors remain visitors; even with the people I love I’m actively hostile to the idea of anyone else moving here, but the place I’ve taken people that has most required me to suddenly spout the reasons they should stay living wherever they live is actually Madrona. I give them a brief walking tour of the neighborhood and then we go down to Madrona Park and that’s inevitably when they decide they’d really like to live here.
i have to show people the fremont troll myself. that and gasworks always make the list.
Oh yeah, the troll is always on the tour too. Sometimes the UW campus is also, just because it’s bigger than the town I went to college in.
how about the underground tour in pioneer square?
The Ballard Locks. It’s neat to see the water fill up or empty out, and when it’s salmon season, the fish ladder is another unusual sight.
Also, we take them for granted (or curse them for slowing down our commute) but draw bridges seem to fascinate out-of-towners. If you happen to be in Fremont when the arms go down and the bells start ringing, encourage your visitors to run over and watch the bridge go up. They’ll think that’s neat, too.
Discovery Park gives you, within a 3-mile walk, forest, beach, bluff-and-water view. Finish it off with a drive toward downtown on the Magnolia perimeter. Point out Palisades restaurant and hope they offer to buy dinner before they see the prices on the menu.
the troll is always good. also if they’re music fans take ‘em by kurt cobain’s old house–that never fails to impress. then you can also show them the arboretum (gorgeous) and maybe rent a boat from uw’s waterfront activities center if it’s a nice day. paddling around the water lilies is pretty seductive.
then again, if you want to convince them of the greatness of the NW, take a drive to snoqualmie falls (20 min) for some natural majesty. on the way back, have a burger at xxx rootbeer in issaquah and all will be right with the world.