Company Party

The food! I think I gained 20 pounds in two days. Seattle definitely has the advantage with the cuisine.

Quick Tips:

Stay downtown. Everything is within walking distance so you don't have to have a car. Whether you like sports, shopping, or pubs, it's all downtown.

Best Way To Get Around:

Your feet! If ya got 'em, use 'em. It'll do you some good to walk off all that seafood.

Not your grandpa's Best Western, this is a true boutique hotel in a historic building in historic Pioneer Square. Well furnished rooms with comfortable beds and warm bathrooms, the Best Western was an excellent choice for my company to stay. It is small; no grand lobby, no swimming pool, just friendly staff and continental breakfast. There's only one elevator and it's awfully slow. We took the stairs to our fourth floor room, more exercise and faster. High speed Internet access in every room, which we took advantage of to download our digital camera each night. Location is prime: close to everything in Pioneer Square and across the street from the ferry; only five blocks from the football stadium. Although an expensive hotel, it's still far less money than any other place in downtown. Trust me, I had to call every one of them to get prices for 33 rooms! If you're booking for a group, talk to Kate Blazina, group coordinator. She'll take care of you.

Located opposite downtown Seattle on Puget Sound, Salty's on Alki has the best views across the water. With an outdoor deck and large picture windows to take advantage of these views, Salty's will have you gasping for breath. The fact that the food is just as amazing as the view is a bonus, but then again, how could they go wrong with the freshest catch in the West? We were served buffet style with baked salmon, crab cakes, and prime rib. While we ate we watched the sky grow darker and the city lights get brighter. After dinner it everyone headed out onto the deck to snap photos of the downtown skyline. With special views and special food, Salty's on Alki was a great place for our company to have an anniversary dinner.

To finish our trip to Seattle, a small group of us had brunch at the Sky City Restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. It's a revolving restaurant; I've never been in one of those before. It spins slowly, about once around each hour. I didn't even notice we were spinning until I went up to the observation deck afterwards, which does not spin, and kept wanting to lean to my left. The restaurant has excellent food and we started with fresh bread with honey oil and fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice to start the meal. While most everyone in our group was getting seafood, I chose the veggie frittata and what a choice! It was huge and cooked to perfection, just slightly brown on the edges, and even had little baby baked potatoes on the side. I only ate half of it, but was so full, I didn't eat anything else the rest of the day. I finished my meal with raspberry cheesecake, but could only manage two bites I was so full from the frittata. Too bad because the cheesecake was good.

Now get ready for sticker shock: The cost of Sunday brunch is $39.95 for one person (this includes the observation deck above). Yes that is a lot of bling bling to a poor slob like me, but after tasting how good the food was and how much food I was served, I can see a value in it. Also, when you consider it costs $13.50 just to ride the elevator to the observation deck, you might as well fork out a little extra to get a good meal. There is a dress code at Sky City, no sleeveless shirts or t-shirts, dress shorts are OK, jeans with holes in them are not, check the website for exact requirements. The Space Needle and the Sky City Restaurant are a must for the Seattle visitor.

My company rented a private yacht for a dinner cruise. I have three words to say about it: Swanky, swanky, swanky! Waterways Cruises has several private yachts for rent (see their website for choices) and you can choose to have a dining cruise, a booze cruise or just a lazy afternoon trip around the lake. Our yacht, the Olympic Star, held 50 people with a full bar service and open deck upstairs and dinner and live piano music below. As we headed out of the marina all of us landlocked people from Colorado couldn't believe how smooth the ride was. Several people even took Dramamine, but it proved to be unnecessary.

As we headed out on Lake Union, a local co-worker pointed out all the sites along the coast; the houseboat where Tom Hanks' character lived in Sleepless in Seattle, U of W campus and football stadium, and the showstopper, Bill Gates' house. Well, we couldn't really see the house, it was getting dark and I was told his house is actually built into the side of the hill so you can't see much, but we did see the two brightly lit boat docks that mark each side of his property.

For dinner, we were served more baked salmon and beef tenderloin strips with potatoes and cheesecake for dessert. The tenderloin was excellent, but the server was a little tight with the servings. Several of us had to sneak extra pieces when she wasn't looking. I have to admit, I also wasn't happy with the drinks. The bartender did not have what I consider top shelf liquor so my rum and coke and my tequila sunrise were both sub-par. Not the bartender's fault, of course, but I let her know I was unhappy. Considering how much we paid for this cruise, is a little Captain Morgan or Cuervo Gold too much to ask?

Putting pettiness aside, the return trip back to the marina was spectacular with the skyline of downtown Seattle in front of us. The views of the Space Needle were especially good. As we drew closer, everyone on board moved up to the front of the boat admiring the sight. As we docked, another Waterways yacht docked beside us and we could see wedding reception going on complete with dance floor and disco ball. I wouldn't have minded a cruise like that! Anyway, a great way to mix and mingle, Waterways Cruises was a fun and delicious experience.

We were bused to Lincoln Park in Seattle for a picnic lunch. Lunch was spread out over several park tables and there was a large shelter, which was shared by several group (ours was the only one with live music, however). There were two main paths around the park; one was at the top and cloaked in trees with the water peaking through in only a few places, just enough to leave you wanting more.

After lunch, several of us headed down the trailhead to the real attraction, the water. We had to walk a short distance from our picnic site to get to the trailhead and from there it was straight down along a switchback trail. Just like hiking in the mountains of Colorado, only wetter. At the bottom was another jogging path along the shoreline. The locals said there was a beach, but it wasn't a sandy beach, it was rocky and full of shells so don't take your shoes off. The cool, rainy weather didn't stop me from wading in the Sound, however. The locals told me I was crazy, but since there's no water in Colorado, I had to make the most of it. Our picnic was cut short because of a rain shower, which we could see approaching us in a large cloud across the water, kind of creepy, but cool at the same time. Still, a very enjoyable afternoon.

With only an hour before we had to leave for the airport, six of us went to the Science Fiction Museum next door to the Space Needle. (The Experience Music Project is in the same building, but it's a three-hour program.) The SFM is more of an exhibit of the history of SciFi, which geeks like me love very much. I have to admit, I've gotten away from SciFi since the X-Files went off the air, but seeing the books, movies and TV shows on display makes me want to go to my local library and check out a few books. The museum is divided into sections: The What If? section, the Metal or Mortal (robot) section, the Amazing Places section, Travel Technology (spaceships), and the "Out of the Ashes" (post-apocalyptic) section, just to give you an idea what you'll be getting into. Focusing mostly on books and authors, you get an in-depth view of a variety of writers and just enough snippets of the books they wrote to leave you wanting to know more.

The exhibits include movie and TV manuscripts and letters from various SciFi pioneers like Isaac Asimov as well as movie costumes and props and several tv monitors with interviews of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and George Lucas. The only thing missing was the X-Files. Must not have been able to secure publishing rights. Anyway, plenty of Star Trek, the Matrix and Terminator stuff for the casual SciFi fan, but the truly unique items are the first editions of classic SciFi books and the many Amazing Stories magazines from the 40's and 50's they have on display. Seeing where SciFi came from and how it both shaped and mirrored our current society at the same time was truly fascinating. Even if you don't like SciFi in general, anyone who likes a well-written story should check it out. Cost is $12.95 per person. Fun website also.