Seattle Visit Itinerary, April
One of my good friends recently came to visit for a week, and wanting to show her the best of Seattle, I concocted what I thought would be the optimal itinerary for her trip, to show her the best of Seattle.
Day 1: Visit Snoqualmie Falls on the drive in, meet at Gasworks Park in the afternoon, take photos. Get guest settled in at apartment/hotel/etc. Have dinner at Chinook’s at the Fisherman’s Terminal.
Day 2: Drive all over the Olympic Peninsula, checking out the rainforest, beaches, etc. Get home in time to meet friends at Brouwer’s for dinner and beer.
Day 3: Go to the EMP, wander down to Pike Place Market, kayak around Lake Union/Portage Bay, go to Blue C Sushi for dinner.
Day 4: Let guest sleep in, quick tour of UW, including Safeco Tower and Suzzallo Library. Dinner at Smith at a Metblogs meetup. Visit the locks, preferably before it gets too dark to see the fish ladder. Concert at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard.
Day 5: Back downtown to have lunch at Pan Africa, check out more of the Market, visit Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, have some happy hour food at Ivar’s. Go to Hothouse Spa on Capitol Hill (well, unless you’re a guy, in which case… I have no idea). Drink some coffee at Caffe Vita, visit Kerry Park once it gets dark.
Day 6, weekend: Walk around Fremont, visit the Troll, have brunch at Silence-Heart-Nest. Go to Skagit Valley Tulip Festival on coldest, snowiest day of the year- take photos with frozen fingers. Visit La Conner and Mt. Vernon.
Day 7, weekend: Have brunch at Portage Bay Cafe. Visit Fremont Sunday Market. Head over to Ballard to check out Archie McPhee and other shops, eat a cupcake or two at Cupcake Royale, end the night at Zoka.
Granted, some of these ideas are seasonal, and some specific to my guest’s interests (And I should mention that I had grand plans to take her up to the San Juans camping the second weekend until that hailstorm from Hades blew in)… but I’m curious if anyone had any additions, subtractions or suggestions for any future trip itineraries- what’d I miss?
If they like antiques, Snohomish!
great selections, but I got exhausted just reading it. No wonder I always have to recover from vacation when I get back home.
At least you allowed time to sleep in on day 4.
wow. that’s an impressive agenda. I assume that the Metblogs meetup will be the most memorable highlight?
I would also recommend going up to Woodinville. There’s Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Crest, both with tours and tastings, and there’s Red Hook Brewery, with a nice tour and a $1 tasting that gets you a commemorative little glass and 4 separate 2-3 oz tastings of beer.
Josh- Of course the Metblogs Meetup was the highlight. I put it right smack in the middle of the week! ;)
Patricia- Oooh, that Red Hook tour would have been a good call. Should have thought of that on the way back from the snowy tulip fest ;)
Helluva cool shot of Seattle. Pretty!
great list - i just had my folks in town and this is what we did….
Saturday, drove to the Maltby Cafe up near Woodinville. Ate a 10lb cinnamon roll. Then drove to Woodinville wine country, hit some wineries and the Red Hook.
Sunday drove to the tulip festival then along highway 20 through deception pass, and into Coopeville and had an ice cream cone and walked around. Super cute little town.
We continued south to Langley (another cute little town) and had a late lunch at Prima Bistro - a great little restaurant.
Then we took the ferry back to mukilteo.
It was a great way to get a ferry ride in,without having to wait in long lines!
That’s too funny. I have a friend coming in, and practically have the same list of things I want to show her.
Except, I hate Cupcake Royale, and love Trophy. So we’re doing Rancho Bravo for lunch and Trophy for desert. Then walk around UW, since I’ve never seen that area too much myself.
Also, you forgot at least one ferry ride!
Neat! I like Trophy better myself, cupcake-wise, but the atmosphere at Royale is a little better.
I guess I didn’t mention that she took the ferry over to go see the Olympic Peninsula, but yeah, that would have been a huge oversight otherwise :)