The view of Seattle skyline from Elliot Bay
Every year, my daughter and I take a vacation together. We’ve had this tradition for several years now. And we’ve been to places like San Francisco, Denver and the Grand Canyon. This year, we decided to visit the Pacific North West. We broke the first day of our trip up by staying overnight in Boise, then completing the drive up to Seattle the next day.
view of Yakima valley
We almost always drive, so we can see the sights along the way. And since my daughter had never been to Washington state and Oregon, this was a great opportunity for her to see those states. On day two, we made the trek to Yakima, where we stopped to see how big the valley is there.
Once we reached our hotel, we planned to meet with Grant Ruby and Brandon, who I had never met before, at a brewery in downtown Renton. I had just seen Grant at the Foster The People show in May, but Brandon was much taller than I expected. Great guy and hope to have future meet ups.
Pike Place Public Market
We had an entire day in Seattle and wanted to make the most of it. So with the help of my friend and fellow writer Catherine, we got many tips, directions and hints about how to navigate our way through the downtown Seattle area.
Catherine and Marty
This was my first time meeting Catherine and it was as great as I expected it to be. She showed us the area surrounding the Pike Place Market and lead us down to the waterfront, where my daughter and I took a harbor cruise. Turned out this was Tiffany’s first time on a boat, which was awesome.
view from the boat
view of Space Needle from boat
West Seattle
Tiffany with Washington Mutual building in the background
After our harbor tour, we then explored the city, walking around and making our way to the Space Needle.
Space Needle from the ground view
This was Tiffany’s first visit here to the Space Needle, and my second [I was here in 1989 with Tiffany's mom]. The sky was clear and visibility was excellent. Earlier, it was a bit cloudy, but as most coastal cities are, it burns off before noon.
Space Needle view of the city
We spent a good amount of time at the top of the Space Needle. The City Pass we got included a day and a night visit, which made it nice to know we could see the view from both day and night.
Tiffany and Marty at the top of the Space Needle
Experience Music Project Museum
We visit the Experience Music Project, which we wished we had more time to spend in. We were there almost two hours and felt like we barely touched on what they had there. The Nirvana exhibit was very detailed with a wonderful history of the band.
THe Underground tour
After dinner at Fado, a great Irish eatery, we headed to the Underground Tour, which was pretty cool to see all the of history of early Seattle.
Space Needle ground view at night
Then we went back to see the Space Needle at night. Again, the skies were clear and we had wonderful views of the city all lit up.
City Lit Up at night.
I was really blown away how great the city looked all lit up.
And that’s the first part of our PNW visit. I will post the second part very soon, which includes our drive down the 101 on the Oregon coast.
The Pacific North West 2011 – Seattle by Banal Leakage, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Still so bummed I didn’t get to meet up with you guys… happy the weather was so nice for you though!
Yes, would have been fun to meet up. We’ll have another Dave-themed event again.
Oh, man! Seattle is one of my favorite cities! Great pictures!
Seattle is a great city. I need to visit there more often.
Excellent write up, great shots of the city too. Seattle is one of those cities I’ve never been to but have always wanted to go to. One of these days.
Thanks, Kevin. You will love Seattle once you visit. Great city.
Marty, it was such a joy to finally meet you & Tiffany! You were lovely company. I completely enjoyed both meals with you guys, and it was a pleasure to help you get oriented & help you find your way a little bit. I only hope we have a chance to do visit again sometime. I’m so glad you like my city and that you enjoyed your stay here, brief as it was. Please give Tiff an extra hug for me & tell her again what a great girl I think she is. Talk to you soon!
Thank you for the awesome comment, Catherine. It was so great to finally meet in person and for you to give us some guidance to wander the city. I will be sure to give an extra hug for you. Hoping the next visit will be soon and not as short.
Oops, strike the word ‘do’ from ‘I only hope…’ sentence. : P
That looks like so much fun. Katie and I still really want to get up to the Pacific NW, but it hasn’t happened yet. Glad you had a good time!
Hope you and Katie make it there someday. It’s a great city to visit.
It looks like a great trip! I still have never been to Seattle despite numerous opportunities. I need to make it a priority because I love your pics!
Another person that hasn’t been to Seattle yet. You should visit. Between KevinIL, KevinAZ and yourself being avid photo bugs, this is one city you will enjoy.
Hi there, Glad you enjoyed your Seattle experience so much. If you’d like to share your story and photos, CityPASS has a new travel community, City Traveler. Other travelers would love to hear from you I’m sure! http://www.citypass.com/citytraveler.
Thanks
Melissa
Melissa, thanks for the link. Once I get caught up, I will go out to the City Travler site and upload some pics and my visit.
[...] on August 24, 2011 by coopertrooper While I’m still fuming about not being a part of my Hairless Wampa’s Seattle trip, I did find my way out of the luggage confines in a quick trip to Vancouver, [...]
Wow! It looks like you had gorgeous weather! I love that you do these trips. I went with my dad to Spain in 2002 and we had such a great time. I cherish all of our one-on-one time!
Yes, the weather was so nice. Clear, warm and wonderful to walk around in. And I love my trips with my daughter. It’s time together that I treasure. Glad you have travel memories with your dad, too.