Vacation in Seattle

We found a great deal on the Westin website when we booked our trip—stay 3 nights, get one free. This was our first experience with a Starwood hotel, and we were quite pleased.

This hotel is in a great location, just a few blocks from Pike Place Market, the Washington State Convention Center, shopping areas, and one block from the Monorail (which gets you to Seattle Center, where the Space Needle and The Experience Music Project are located).

The Westin is comprised of two towers. The North Tower is the one closest to the Space Needle, which we had a great, unobstructed view of. We also had partial views of Pugent Sound.

Our king room had a couch, chair, and a desk. The style was contemporary in calming earth tones: dark and light greens, and browns. The Westin claims they have "Heavenly Beds" and we would have to agree. While the mattress was a bit too firm for my usual taste, my husband thought it was just perfect. I loved the crisp white linens, they were high-quality and were very comfortable to curl up in.

The bathroom was larger than most, and continued the same earth tone color scheme. The Westin also claims a "Heavenly Bath". While I wouldn’t necessarily call it heavenly, I consider it one of the nicer hotel bathrooms I’ve been in. The bathtub was a bit over sized and the curtain was on a curved rod, which provided more elbowroom in the shower. The double shower head was a nice touch.

The room was clean and quiet. There was a mini-bar in the room; as expected, the prices were quite high. There were treats in the room (chocolate chip cookies, dried fruit mix, and nuts) that were not in the mini-bar, but they were on the price list—they aren’t complementary! The coffee in the room was free.

The Concierge was quite helpful, making restaurant suggestions and reservations for us. There are several personnel at the desk, but sometimes there is a line to get service.

We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Coldwater Bar & Grill, twice. The staff was friendly and apologetic when things took longer than expected. One time our waitress gave us our drinks for free due to a "long" wait that really didn’t seem that long to us. The food was standard breakfast. A continental buffet is available on the weekdays, with a full breakfast buffet on the weekend. They have a variety of á la carte dishes.

There is also a café on site, the Fifth Corner Café, offering pastries, beverages, and a few hot items for your breakfast and lunch on the go.

Starting this month, all Westin hotels in the U.S. and Canada are smoke-free.

The Westin Seattle has a great location, views, service, and accommodations. There is no doubt we will seek out Westin hotels in the future.

Seattle has an underground? That’s what I thought when I saw the ad for this quirky tour. I soon found out that the first floors of many of Seattle’s building are underground because the buildings and roads were built below sea level. They kept having (obvious) problems with sewage and water flooding the streets, so after a fire destroyed the settlement in the late 1880s, they raised the streets, leaving some bottom level floors of the buildings underground. It's definitely a tourist activity, but you get a good bit of history about Seattle with a dose of humor and a different perspective. Bill Speidel wrote the book “Sons of the Profits,” which is said to be the basis for the tour, which started in the 1980s. It’s his humor that is infused throughout the tour, mostly poking fun at the mentality at the people who settled the area. Many of the tour guides are local actors supplementing their incomes.

It is dusty in the underground; this isn’t a museum. The underground is condemned and you can only go there through this tour. There’s quite a bit of walking/standing, so wear comfortable shoes. Some of the stairways leading to the underground are steep and there are some close quarters, but as someone who is claustrophobic, I didn’t have a problem at all. The tour ends in Rogue’s Gallery, where there are displays and, of course, a gift shop. You can only get to the gift shop by taking the tour. The Underground Tour is located on Occidental Square in the Pioneer Square area, which is the oldest part of Seattle. Tickets are $11 for adults, $9 for seniors and students, and $5 for children. The tour doesn’t take reservations, so it’s suggested that you arrive 30 minutes early to secure your spot. On a Friday at 11am there was a pretty good group assembled. Don’t underestimate the popularity of this tour. Private tours are available by request. To get there from the downtown area, head down to Alaskan Way (the last street before you get to the water) and find the trolley. Or just walk and enjoy the scenery.