What is there to do in Seattle?

[William C. Maune]

My fiance and I are looking into possible honeymoon locations and one of them is Seattle. I know they have a fish market, the Mariners and Nintendo nearby (although I don't know if they give tours), but because neither of us have ever been there, I don't know much else. I know Toon Zone has some Seattle folks though and I imagine others around here have at least been there. Does anyone have any thoughts on where to go or what to do, etc.? Thanks for your help!

[Chad Bonin]

I don't believe Nintendo gives tours, except to the press... GAMING press.

Come to Atlanta.

[William C. Maune]

Come to Atlanta.

But then I'd have to take my shirt off and twirl it around like a helicopter. That'd just be ludacris.

[Tienshin]

Protip: Screw CONUS and find a nice all inclusive package to the Caribbean.

[William C. Maune]

Protip: Screw CONUS and find a nice all inclusive package to the Caribbean.

We are looking into that area also, however we may save that for another time, since CONUS might be cheaper.

[TimTwoFace]

Uhhh...hmmm. I dunno, man - I live up in Vancouver so I take a lot of what's in Seattle for granted, because it seems so "normal" to me.

No one's mentioned the Space Needle yet, and that's like the symbol of the city. And yes, don't forget the Pike Street market, the Mariners (or Sonics if you dig b-ball), and Seahawk stadium. Apparently that stadium's awesome.

And let's not forget the amusement park, Enchanted Village - and if you go during the summer, the Wild Waves waterslide park. :D

There's also plenty of water-tours you can do in Puget Sound and the San Juan islands, I'm sure. "Nearby" mountains are Mt. Rainier (of which there is a named beer!) and Mt. Baker, good for skiing and just scenic all year around.

There's also a ferry that goes over to Victoria, BC, and that could be a great day-trip too, as it's a very British little city. And if you want to drive up the I-5 two hours you'd be in Vancouver BC, and being my home town, there's plenty I could suggest to do there, too.

There may not be as much to do in the city as you could in say, Los Angeles or New York, but outside the city, if you're a nature person, there's plenty to do in this part of the world.

-Tim

[guinaevere]

Not only does NOA have headquarters up there, but so does MS Xbox. :D But even as a veteran gamer, I don't think I'd plan my honeymoon around visiting Video Game headquarters...

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

If you're into rock, the Experience Music Project is out there, too. It would be a much cooler place if the building weren't such a completely hideous Frank Gehry melted aluminum SERIOUSLY utt-bugly monstrosity that causes nightmares in small children and can, on particularly sunny days, turn people to stone.

Also, the little tricorders they give you seem to work less than half the time. But hey -- they run on Windows CE, so I suppose we should be thankful that they don't infect your laptop through osmosis :).

Once you get past those, though, it's a pretty fun place to be and even vaguely educational. Best spots in it are the music rooms where you get to learn the basics of various instruments, from guitars to drums to DJ scratch pads.

-- Ed/Ace

[Kaner]

I may have mentioned this before, but I live a couple blocks up from the EMP and Ace is sadly correct. The building is freakin' nasty looking on the outside (made all that much worse by the outrageous cost of building it), but the inside is pretty neat in a funky sort of way. Along with the museam tour there is a gift shop, a bar/club called the Liquid Lounge, and a larger concert type area that features bands. I think the Gin Blossoms are playing sometime next week and Joan Jett was there sometime last week.

The freakin' awesome news is that starting in June the EMP will start sharing its space with the ESF....Experience Science Fiction. Awww yea! Here's a link explaining some of the exhibits:
http://www.sciencefictionexperience.com/int.asp?ctype=2
I must say I'm looking forward to the post-apocalyptic exhibit.

As for other stuff to do in Seattle, lets see........ If you're down at Pike Place Market to watch the fish throwers, the Seattle Aquarium is only a couple blocks away. Highlights include: giant pacific octopi, recreated tide pools where you can touch anenomes and such, the sea horse grotto, sea and river otters, a group of seals, and a sort of reverse fish tank with humans on the inside and sea life on the outside.

Along with Enchanted Village and Wild Waves, the Seattle Center has a few rides to check out (nothing major). There's also Woodland Park Zoo, a couple beaches, pretty good shopping (Westlake, NorthGate, and Bellevue Square Malls), sailing tours on Puget Sound, the previously mentioned sporting events, great seafood, and last but certainly not least are the seriously sweet sunsets (yaaa alliteration!) best seen from a little park/observation area just past the end of Pike Place Market.

Whewww. After a post like that you'd think I'd like living here more. Anyway, if you have any other questions about Seattle feel free to ask.

[Tanooki]

you're going on your honeymoon and you're looking for things to do?!? :eek: well, i would imagine you'd have plenty to do, mr. maune, if you catch my drift... *wink wink* you know...honeymoon... yeah

Hero

[Conekiller]

I just went on a personal vacation up there, so I can tell you some things.

The Experience Music thing is nifty and the building looks like a Giant vomitted colored metal on a cool museum of rock, but other than that it's nifty. the Guitar vortex is worth it alone (a cool art piece)

The Space Needle: come on, you haveto go, it helps that it's RIGHT NEXT to the EMP.

In the same area you can check out the Underground Tour which takes you on a tour of Seattle , underground. a nifty and quirky history lesson that puts an interesting perspective on the term "founding fathers"

Also try to check out the Chihuly Glass Museum which is just short of breathless (also try to walk the bridge that leads from the museum to the rest of downtown, there are many neet pieces on display there as well) the museum also has live shows of Glass Blowers preparing future gift shop peices. very entertaining and educational. The other art museum there wasn't anyhting all that great tho IMO.

the only thing is, all that stuff cna be done in a day or two, leaving the rest for...honnymoon stuff.:D

BTW, congrats, again.

[FredNash]

you're going on your honeymoon and you're looking for things to do?!? :eek: well, i would imagine you'd have plenty to do, mr. maune, if you catch my drift... *wink wink* you know...honeymoon... yeah

Hero
A wink's as good as a nudge to a blind bat, eh?

[Mysteryinfoman]

But then I'd have to take my shirt off and twirl it around like a helicopter. That'd just be ludacris.
I think that'll be NC, well if you are refering to the rap song in which they say that, it is in NC. :anime:

In Seattle, well I have not been there in there well in...never been there. Maybe you too can spend the night on a boat or something, wait is Seattle near the water, if it is that's what you can do.

[Caffeine King]

But then I'd have to take my shirt off and twirl it around like a helicopter. That'd just be ludacris.
That's North Carolina. And no that'd be Petey Pablo. :p

I've never been to Seattle either so...you're outta like with me. :shrug:

Try Expedia.com...

Click on Seattle and then click on Attractions and Events (something like that...)

:sweat:

[Lord Dalek]

Try Pike's Place Market, watching people throw fish at each other is very hypnotic. The first ever Starbucks (with a brown logo!) is also across the street. It's been a while since the last time I was in Seattle so many of the attractions seem to have drifted away from my feeble little brain. It is a really cool city however.

[Obi]

Go to Qatar. Then you can say "Haha! I've been to Qatar before!"

[UberMonkey]

As far as I'm aware, Nintendo does not give tours to the general public. Although... if you ever get a chance to (I got to go when I went to a summer workshop at DigiPen, which shares space with Nintendo) it's really pretty sweet. The actual tour is so-so... although for a Nintendo fan you'll get a chuckle at some the signs marking the different parts of the offices (I recall a metting room named Wario's Woods, Mother Brain Ave., Something about Hyrule) or checking out the cool merchandise people will have in their cubicles. The main highlights, though, are there's a booth where they have all of their systems out for you to play, and then the store/museum, which is at the end of the tour. Here they have a bit of history of Nintendo (cases with Nintendo playing cards, Game & Watch, NES - basically one for every piece of hardware they've ever sold). There's also practically almost every peice of software they've had, too - most of it's dedicated to games, boxes, and just general merchandise they have for show. In the store, you can get most current games (and some older ones) brand new for really cheap, as well as some cool employee-only merchandise (I have a Nintendo of America, Est. 1980 T-Shirt I'm awfully proud of). Make sure to ask to see a list of refurbished hardware/games, too... you'll find awesome deals there. I picked up both Zelda Oracle games for only around a buck, for example. They're in perfect playing condition, and usually still have the manuals and stuff - you just get it in a bag instead of a box. I also picked up a bunch of old Nintendo Powers for free, as well as a bunch of batteries that were apparently used when testing Game Boys and stuff like that. Which was pretty funny. The receptionist I talked to was very nice.

Just don't really expect to see much top secret stuff. Still cool, though.

But yea - EMP, Space Needle, Pike Place market.... Head to GameWorks if you want videogames (big arcade), but you'll probably spend a lot of money there (go for the time cards). See the Mariners, if you like baseball. Check out the International District if you want (just walking around in Uwajimaya is pretty amusing). The places others have mentioned are good too.

[wrenchien]

the grocery stores in the suburbs, man! so few tourists cruise there! it's an uncharted frontier of soft drinks from canada and america... aisles full of grocerys people in your original home town have never seen.. even neat decor. something new and interesting to enjoy, MMM.

[Karl Olson]

-On Gameworks: If you're willing to get out to the suburbs, Illusionz in Issaquah is a better arcade. More of the latest games from Japan, better old skool games, and everything in between, Laser Tag, Magic Shows and good prices on Time Cards. If you want to do some honeymoon LANning, Lanwerks in Bellevue is excellent.

-Shopping Ideas: In the international district, Kinokiniya has a very considerable bookstore filled with import manga and artbooks, while Uwajimaya is probably one of the best asian groceries/eateries/more import stuff I've seen.

-Touristy Ideas: The EMP and the Seattle Center are a given. If you pick the right time of year, you could catch the Cherry Blossom festival, the Folklife Festival, the large multistage music concert Bumbershoot, or you just clubbing at the nearby retro club whose name I'm forgetting. Pioneer Square is chalk full of clubs, stores, live music and all sorts of other neat stuff. The Seattle Art Museum might have something high brow and interesting, or you could go the silly route, and check out seattle's oldest weird novelty, junk store, Archie McPhee's. You could a take tour of the Seattle Underground, you could visit the Woodland Park Zoo and Aquarium, you could visit the first Starbucks, you catch an IMAX flick at the Seattle Science Center. There are, of course, a plethora of lovely parks all around the region, Gasworks being one of the more noted ones, though Marymoor Park in Redmond has a place in my heart (and it's near Redmond Town Center, a very unique outdoor mall type thing with some decent eats.)

-Toonzoners in the Neighborhood you may want to visit (or assassinate ;)): I'm across the lake from Seattle in Kirkland, Hyper Luigi's directly north in the Lynnwood area, CCSama is south away's, but not impossible to visit and.... I guess that's everyone.

That's all I can think of, but as a person living in the area, I've not done much of the touristy stuff.

[Kaner]

-Toonzoners in the Neighborhood you may want to visit (or assassinate ;)): I'm across the lake from Seattle in Kirkland, Hyper Luigi's directly north in the Lynnwood area, CCSama is south away's, but not impossible to visit and.... I guess that's everyone.
What am I? Chopped liver?

Anyway, the retro club you mentioned isn't there anymore. It went through a couple transformations (the club neither of us can remember, Club Maui, and some before that) until its current manifestation as Club Sky. Now it's an all ages club that I believe only opens on certain weekends. I also doubt that they play retro music anymore since they seem to be marketing themselves to a younger crowd these days.

-JerkBox

[Marvel_Knight]

I live in Olympia so I'm like an hour away from Seattle. I got here a little late I guess but I'll say stuff anyway.

Entertainment:
Gameworks definently
Try finding out if any good cons are in town. I just went to the Emerald City COmic con. I think there are like LOTR or Comicard cons.
I haven't been to any but I know there are a lot of clubs (I listen to the radio)
In downtown Seattle, it's like our little New York sort of. Lots of fancy stores.
There's the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

Food
There's a little place on Broadway (yes Broadway) where they sell burgers, fries, hot dogs and really good ice cream.
In downtown, there's an incredible restaraunt called the Cheesecake factory
In Chinatown, go to the Ocean City restaraunt for good Dim Sum
Also, what Seattle's famous for, there's a Starbucks at every corner!

Oh, and listen to Kube 93 and Kiss 10.6 fm!