Seattle Weekend

The Underground Tour is a MUST DO. The tour of Pioneer Square by the National Park Service is excellent and I really enjoyed the Gold Rush Museum - the only National Park in an urban area. Pike's Market is wonderful and known for the flying fish. Go to top of Smith Tower too.

Quick Tips:

Seattle is coffee drinker mecca. So do as the locals and enjoy some java.

Best Way To Get Around:

You can walk or drive most places. We rolled into town with a rental car, then quickly realized we would not need it. We took it back to the airport that night and took one of those airport-hotel charter buses back to downton for like one way. We walked alot, but that is the best wasy to see everything.

The room was great. Small but very comfortable. The "Heavenly bed" was fabulous and comfortable just like home. We had a coffeeemaker too. The location was pretty good, near shopping. It was a little bit of a hike to Pioneer Square and Pike''s Market, but doable. The hotel has a Roy''s Restaurant.

Palace Kitchen uses the ingredients of the region to create great choices of fusion cuisine. We had lavendar infused goat cheese fondue as an appetizer. The service was good, not overbearing. The pork loin was great and my friend had roasted chicken. While the food presentation was lovely, there was also plenty to eat.

The lighting is low and a large u-shared bar takes up the middle of the large space. It looked like a great bar to take in a martini and watch the crowd.

The 90 minute tour, guided by stand up comics is one of those absolutely MUST DO things in Seattle. It is hysterical and very informative about the Pioneer era. Located in the Historic Pioneer Square District at 608 First Avenue, Bill Speidel's Underground Tour started as a one time deal for a newspaper story. People loved it so much it is in its 25th year or something like that. The Underground Tour actually goes beneath street level and introduces you to Seattle's frontier town history. It grew as an outpost to gather supplies as prospectors headed out to the Klondike Gold Rush. The governmet was so concerned about these folks they specified all the things the prospector must have before heading out. Original Seattle was much lower, so they just built a city right on top of the old one. On the tour, you will see the remnants of Old Seattle, some in remarkably good condition for their age - like old brothels, dry goods stores, taverns - all below current ground level. On the sidewalk, there are blocks of prism glass. These were installed at the time to let light into the then underground neighborhood. Eventually the storefronts all moved upstairs. Apparently the invention of the modern toilet plays big in Seattle's history - then they used gravity for plumbing and it got pretty stinky. We also learned that the term Skid Road was coined in the Pioneer Square neighborhood. The street was greased up and logs were skidded down to be loaded onto barges in the harbor. You will find not only tourists, but Seattle dwellers on the tour. It starts in a little museum/gift shop that includes a hall of shame where you will read about some of the city's founders.

Smith Tower is 42-stories and was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River when it was built in 1914. Fisr you pay for $5 per adult, then you begin your journey up in a person-manned elevator - These are the original beautifully ornate copper and brass elevators. The ride is remarkably smooth, but kind of scary. You go by floors of offices and my stop to pick someone up.

For the observation area, the elevator stops at the Chinese Room on the 41st floor. There are carved Chinese characters decorating the floor the sparse furniture is made of Chinese blackwood apparently carved by hand. It is available for private parties which would be cool, but I think the red carpeting needed to be replaced. I was also fascinated that above it, on the 42 floor is a private residence! How cool.

A main attraction of the Chinese Room is the 'Wishing Chair,' supposedly a gift from the Empress of China. Legend has it that a single woman who sits in the chair and wishes to be married will be a bride within a year. We could not get near it the day we were there. Two giggling 20 or 30-something girls would not remove their derriers from it.

The 4-sided observation deck has great views of Seattle, the Olympic Mountains, Mount Rainier and the Cascades if it is clear. The hours are sporadic, but if you catch it open (they will put out a sandwich-boarld type sign sign on the sidewalk), it is worth a ride up if your stomach can take the hand operated elevator.

This is a walking tour of the Pioneer Square neighborhood guided by a Park Ranger. You learn the history of the area and the affect of the Alaska Gold Rush on the Seattle economy. Learn where the term "skid row" came from. The Ranger tells the history of many old buildings and the story of how many were recently saved before the wrecking ball arrived to make way for more parking structures.