Looking for some tips from folks familiar with fun things to do in Seattle with an 8 and 12 year old. Got some good tips for my Winter Break road trip to the Bay Area so I’m tossing this out there looking for ideas.
I love to take trips with my kids and give them memories to hold onto forever and this is the latest one. Plan is to take the train up to Seattle in a first class sleeper car, spend 3 nights in Downtown Seattle hotel and then fly back. The Space Needle and Pike Street Market are the obvious choices.
What else should we try to squeeze in? Do we need to rent a car?
I was only there once before on a fly in-fly out business trip so I havent a clue what to do there.
We used this http://www.citypass.com/seattle to do tourist stuff.We stayed at Westin downtown, walking distance to everything and a nice indoor salt water pool. There is a monorail nearby but we didn’t use it. Plan around the rain.
[quote=sdrealtor]classic! actually have a friend who lives in one of those far flung lizard infested suburbs (Snohomish) though visiting her is not in the plans.[/quote]
I would bet that not many lizards reside in the State of Washington.
Its all about the kids though I have always dreamed of taking a long train trip in a sleeper car. The route looks awesome up the coast and then into the wilderness and past Lake Shasta. The train tickets alone are very inexpensive, its the sleeper car that is the killer but you only live once.
[quote=sdrealtor]classic! actually have a friend who lives in one of those far flung lizard infested suburbs (Snohomish) though visiting her is not in the plans.[/quote]
In honor of the far lung lizard infested suburbs of Western Washington State we present the Western Fence Lizard (also commonly found in the far flung lizard infested suburbs of San Diego County)
Of all the tourist things I have ever done, The Seattle Undergound tour is one of the best values ever. Hilarious and well-priced. Almost as good as The Cosmos of the Black Hills.
I like spending time on the water. Definitely a ferry across to Victoria or one of the other islands. There isn’t a heck of a lot to do, but I would do it just for the boat-ride. The kids will like driving the car onto the boat.
There is a national park across the way, though it is one of the less interesting ones.
Go see a Seattle Sounders game if the kids are into soccer at all. It is the loudest, most exuberant soccer environment in the US.
Eat crab and Salmon.
Pikes Place market is a must-see. Something for everyone there. I like the place with the tiny little doughnut maker, if they are still there. I could watch it for hours.
I think they have a children’s museum there, or a science center or something like that. We were in a rush so we popped in and out but I think it was pretty cool.
[quote=sdrealtor]Its all about the kids though I have always dreamed of taking a long train trip in a sleeper car. The route looks awesome up the coast and then into the wilderness and past Lake Shasta. The train tickets alone are very inexpensive, its the sleeper car that is the killer but you only live once.[/quote]
Is the train between LA to Berkeley running now? It was out of service a while back when I checked. I think you have to get off the train, then on an bus in Bakersfield, then back on the train.
The train would be fun – just double-check that it is available without the bus.
One more thing to add – check into a short cruise. Sometimes they have 1 to 3 day “cruises to nowhere” or cruises from Seattle to Vancouver on big cruise ships just to fill spaces in the schedule. Could be fun.
