"Emerald City of the Northwest" a Seattle Travel Page by glabah

Crammed into a narrow strip of land bewteen Lake Washington and Puget Sound, Seattle is the commercial center of the Pacific Northwest (at least on the USA's side of the border). With the Cascade Mountains on one side and the Olympic Mountains on the other side of Puget Sound, and Mount Rainier and other peaks visible from a number of locations, the city is certainly in a prized location.

If it is a clear day, I certainly suggest taking at least one ferry ride, which for a fairly small price (as this is written $6.70 for single walk-on passengers going to Bremerton or Bainbridge Island and return) offers great views of Seattle and the surrounding Olympic and Cascade mountains.

There are a number of tours and tourist operators with basic Seattle tours, but one of the more unique ones is offered by Ride the Duck, which has taken old "amphibious Duck" military craft and rebuilt them to operate in tourist service.

Another clear day activity is the Columbia Center Sky View, which for $5 allows you to see a 180 degree view of Seattle southward, including the port, Tacoma, Mount Rainier, and the Cascades and Olympic mountains. Northward views to Mount Baker are obstructed by the offices on the north side of the building. Located on the 72 floor, the sky view is higher than the top of the Space Needle.

Though, if you don't mind climbing stairs and really want a cheap view, the Top Deck of the Watertower inside Volunteer Park has great views as well.

The Waterfront district is a popular tourist location, including Pike Place Market, an aquarium, and at the far north end the Olympic Sculpture Park and Myrtle Edwards Park, which is the start of a bike path leading north to several neighborhoods.

Two of the large once-busy piers on the Seattle waterfront have also been turned into an entire park, known simply as they have always been known: Piers 62 and 63. This gives the public a huge waterfront space, and at one time there were even concerts here.

There is one thing I can tell you about Seattle: by the time you read this, many of these tips may be out of date. This is because Seattle always seems to be changing. It has been like this for many years (read Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie" section about Seattle, written about the Seattle of 1960, to find out just how far back this state of constant change goes).

The space needle once towered over downtown Seattle, and now there are several buildings that make it look like a miniature.

Old residential neighborhoods are quickly being replaced with high density commerical development. This photograph is of the new headquarters building for Amazon, which will soon make these little houses that once occupied this area of the city look very out of place. Areas that were very safe have fallen into disrepair and disrepute, only to be redeveloped and turned into stylish new neighborhood centers.

So, it is safe to say that in Seattle, things will always be changing. They always have, and they probably always will. It just means that those of us who write about Seattle will have their writings quickly go out of date!

Artworks!

If you are rebuilding the city, you might as well redecorate as well, right?

I have already mentioned the Olympic Sculpture Park, but there is Eccentric Artwork Scattered All Over Seattle. The most monsterous of these is Gas Works Park, which is the old city coal gas manufacturing facility turned into picnic places, public art, and playground equipment.

Naturally, there is also Eccentric Artwork at the Seattle Center.

Despite the huge efforts at high density development, there are also some wonderful places to find natural beauty, even fairly close to the concrete jungle of downtown Seattle.

Places nearby include some fairly nice parks, including Volunteer Park and Discovery Park, which are accessible by city bus from downtown Seattle. Many of the islands in Puget Sound are less urbanized, and just catching a ferry across the sound to Bainbridge Island can give you a fine dose of nature. To the southeast of downtown there is Seward Park, which was identified as a significant opportunity for a park in 1903.

Ballard Locks were built for commercial and recreational shipping needs, but right next door to them are the Charles S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens.

Near the University of Washington campus (which has a few trails and scenic views in its own right), you will find the Washington Park Arboretum. Operated by the University, it features one of the most extensive plant collections on the west coast. Part of that facility also includes the largest remaining wetlands in Seattle, located in what some maps call East Montlake Park.

Even in downtown Seattle itself, there are such efforts to create natural refuges from the city, such as Freeway Park and a chain of parks along the waterfront from the Olympic Sculpture Park through Myrtle Edwards Park and to Elliott Bay Park at the north end.