Seattle

[srw]

I've been invited to a conference in Seattle in a couple of months time, and the flights I'm taking give me an extra couple of days in the city - if I manage to get over the jetlag. I may also be able to duck out of the conference for a few hours if there's a particularly yankee topic on the menu.

I appear to be staying slap-bang in the middle of downtown, half way between the original Starbucks and the estuary. Is there anything I absolutely must do? Is there a bar which serves beer that's neither GYP nor over-hopped West Coast IPA? Any decent music venues (classical or the more approachable end of jazz only)? The opera house and the symphony hall have got nothing of interest on - I've already looked.

 

[Speicher]

The Space Needle! I was there as the sun started to set.

 

[Debade]

I've not visited Seattle but I know people who live there and you cannot pry them out of town. They love it. It is high on the US bike ratings which means it is still far behind many European towns. However, they do have a bike share which might be a nice way to see the city http://www.prontocycleshare.com/

Here is a list of microbrewries. Looks like enough choices to keep you busy. http://www.beeradvocate.com/place/city/18/

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Belltown is the 'happening' area - lots of good restaurants and bars there. Haven't been there for a while, but I remember this place, Local 360, being really excellent. It serves almost entirely stuff made or grown within the region, including all the alcohol (beers, wines and spirits).

 

[vernon]

I can't recommend beer places as I only had a fleeting stay in Seattle basically being picked up from and dropped off at the Airport. If you like aircraft, the Museum of Flight and a visit to the Boeing factory are must do activities IMHO. Washington State in general is awash with bars that serve good beers you are guaranteed to find dozens - ask the locals. It worked for me in the towns across the state as I pedalled through it.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

If you like a bit of walking and some natural scenery Discovery Park is rather pleasant.



Also there's this

 

[Fnaar]

Nip down to Portland, and say hello to my friend Doug.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Take a good umbrella

 

[GrumpyGregry]

East Tiger. Hire a halfway decent mtb, ride out, ride back.

Well it is on my mtb bucket list....

 

[Fab Foodie]

Pike Place Market is good fun on a weekend, but no idea during the week. There's the bar featured in Sleepless in Seattle bar near the harbour and I used to like a slightly bohemian restaurant in Queen Anne by the radio tower called the 5-Spot

http://pikeplacemarket.org/plan-your-visit
http://www.athenianinn.com/
http://www.chowfoods.com/5-spot

The countryside is beautiful, there's glacier skiing not far away, the Tacoma narrows bridge, the Microsoft scene in Redmond and if you go up the coast road the Boeing Renton plant is mahoooosive!

 

[srw]

I'm on my way!

A colleague from a different company, who's going to the same conference offered to take me to the "ball game" (a type of rounders, apparently) tonight. Unfortunately it starts at the very odd time of 6:10, and I'm only due to land at 5:05. So I'll have to find another way of staying awake to help stave off jetlag.

 

[Milkfloat]

"ball game" (a type of rounders, apparently).

I prefer to describe it 'fat men wearing pyjamas trying too hard at rounders'.

 

[Firestorm]

Try and get to see the fish throwing at Pike market
The Boeing museum is meant to be good too.
I didnt get much time to have a good look around when I was there, I would love to go back.
My daughter has just spent three days courtesy of the local tourist board, but she isn't back yet so I cant get any tips

 

[srw]

Belltown is the 'happening' area - lots of good restaurants and bars there. Haven't been there for a while, but I remember this place, Local 360, being really excellent. It serves almost entirely stuff made or grown within the region, including all the alcohol (beers, wines and spirits).

I've got a reservation tonight. It won out over @Fab Foodie's suggestion by virtue of having analysed its tips subsequent to the introduction of a local minimum wage and having discovered a pattern with two overlapping bell curves. Which is appropriate for a group of actuaries at an actuarial conference. I shall hold you personally responsible if I have a lousy evening.

 

[srw]

It was horrible. Horrible, I tell you. Everything, from the local Sourdough and the mussels and claims fresh from the bay) (in a cream sauce with chilli and Thai basil), to the gussied-up Southern Fried chicken with grits and greens that three of us forced down us, to the terrible beer (see beer thread), to the chocolate puddings two of my companions made themselves eat while groaning with pain (at least I assume it was pain) and the creamy cocktail I had in lieu of pudding.

I may have to back to check that they weren't just having an off-day.