David S. Cargo's Seattle Favorites

Important Things to Know

1. Timing your trip with the proper season is important. From a tourist's standpoint Seattle has two seasons, wet and dry. The wet season is from September through April. The dry season is from May through August.
2. Water is very important to Seattle, past, present, and future. Water constrains Seattle geograhically, with Puget Sound to the west, and Lake Washington to the east. A canal between the two divides the city, so that trips north to south require knowing where the bridges are. This squeeze on the city leads to the next important thing.
3. Traffic in Seattle is as bad as they say it is. If you haven't heard, rush hour seems to start as early as 3pm. I believe I read in an old issue of National Geographic that Seattle has as many commuters as Manhattan, but only three ways for people to get in instead of 12. (You can check traffic there yourself using this link: WSDOT - Seattle Metro Traffic Flow.)
4. There are many things to do in Seattle. Depending on your interests, there may be more things to do than time to do them. Given that Seattle is near Microsoft's headquarters, it would be surprising if there weren't lots of on-line about Seattle.

   Local Info

   Seattle (Washington) Links

   Native Seattle : Secrets & Favorites of Western Washington

5. There are even more things to do outside of Seattle. If you want to visit the Olympic Rain Forest, Mount Rainier, Beautiful British Columbia, the San Juan Islands, or eastern Washington, you will have a beautiful trip, but you will have less time for urban adventures.

I only lived in Seattle itself for about five years. (I've lived in Minnesota for over 22 years.) I still get back every year or two, and it's like being a tourist. So, I have included below my list of favorite places and things to do.

Seattle Waterfront

• At the north end, you can part near Pier 69 and watch the water traffic.
• Near here is The Old Spaghetti Factory, which I consider to a great place to eat.
• You can catch the trolley (imported from Perth, Australia) here. I think it runs on old freight rail lines, allowing public transport without taking up any of the automobile traffic lanes.
• There once were shops in some of the northern piers, but I haven't been there lately. Pier One used to have a store there.
• Pier 59 is the Seattle Aquarium, which has one of the IMAX theaters in town. One of the exhibits has the visitors in a hemispherical tank looking up and around at the fish.
• I don't remember which pier it is, but the Washington State Ferry Terminal is down here somewhere. You can take a round-trip ride to Bremerton or Bainbridge Island for a reasonable price.
• One of the cross streets by the piers leads up hill to the Pike Place Market, six levels of variety, including very fresh produce, handicrafts, vintage clothing, teas and spices, and much more.
• Not far from the south end of the waterfront are some other places of interest.
  • Pioneer Square is a National Historical District. Seattle had two conflicting plans for street designs, one parallel and perpendicular to the coast, and one with north-south and east-west streets. They collided at Pioneer Square (which is a triangle).
  • The International District would be known as Chinatown in other places, but that's not the only ethnic group represents. Keep your eyes open for the telephone booths.
  • The AMTRAK station is near here, in case you were travelling by train.

Seattle Science and Industry

• The Seattle Aquarium (mentioned above) is great fun. There's a petting zoo there, too.
• The Seattle Museum of Flight is south of Boeing Field. If you drove into Seattle from SeaTac, you might have seen signs for it. The building is much different from the other airplane museums I've seen (in San Diego, Oshkosh, and Washington, DC). Imagine airplanes hanging from the ceiling in the bedroom of a teen-aged airplane buff; now imagine them hanging from the ceiling of a real building. I particularly like the M-12 and its drone.
• The Seattle Center, and the Pacific Science Center are places I have visited ever since it was the site of the 1962 World's Fair. I have not been there lately, but the exhibits at the Pacific Science Center change, maintaining their freshness.
• The Burke Museum of Natural History (and another link here), located on the campus of the University of Washington, also has a variety of exhibits. I don't get there often, but the last time I was there they had an exhibit based around the work for Gary Larson, author of The Far Side.
• Also associated with the University of Washington is its Arboretum. This is located south of the University campus and the ship canal, near the shore of Lake Washington. You can drive through it, but of course you should get out and walk, too. It has a formal Japanese Tea Garden.
• West of campus, on the north side of the ship canal, is Gas Works Park. The remains of the Seattle gas works is still there. Be sure to climb the hill and see (and use) the sun dial. It's not visible except at the top, because you stand on it to cast the shadow to mark the time.

Odd Places in Seattle

• There's a troll under the Aurora bridge on the north side of the ship canal. You have to look for it in the shadows. It's not too far norteast and up hill from the Fremont Bridge.
• Right by the Fremont Bridge is the bus stop with the statues of people waiting for the bus. There are other sights of interest in the Fremont area.
• Archie McPhee's is a novelty store (which is kind of like saying that St. Peter's in Rome is a church). They have a catalog, and do mail order. If you ever need 4-inch, or glow-in-the-dark cockroaches, or fighting nun dolls, or a gross of plastic ants, this is the place to go.

If you have any additions or comments, you can send email to me at