Long back the day I watched "Sleepless in Seattle", don't know why I knew I would go there one day!
Months passed by and the time came when I had to move to Oregon. One of the few thoughts that made me happy (as I was immensely sad to leave my extended family in Connecticut) was it's proximity to the "Rain City".
It goes without saying that the first trip I made from Oregon was to Seattle!
Though not a big fan of travel diaries, Seattle being always special to me and fulfilling my dad's wish of reading my blogs more frequently thought of penning down my visit to this city of my neighboring state.
Specially, there were three areas that I planned to visit in and around Seattle:-
1. Seattle downtown: I parked my car in Pike Place Market Parking and walked to the following places:
- Pike Place Market, a bustling place just above the parking. Watching the fish vendors over there was a sheer fun.
- Seattle Aquarium (covered by City Pass), the home of some sweet sea otters, couple of octopuses and many others was on the opposite side of the road. It was great to see the octopuses having dinner!
- Seattle Great Wheel (same road as aquarium), the largest observation wheel on the west coast. With fully-enclosed gondolas and a covered waiting area, the rain can't stop the wheel from spinning! Four complete revolutions with excellent views of the bay, the islands (if boarded in daytime) and the city.
- Argosy Cruises Harbor Tour (nearby to wheel and covered by City Pass), a narrated 1-hour sightseeing tour of Seattle’s vibrant and historic harbor, with never-ending skyline views of the city.
- Crab Pot, the heaven for sea food lovers where I had lots of Dungeness crabs after waiting for an hour and believe me it was just worth. Because of the wait time I planned it for dinner so that I could indulge myself fully into the food after a full day of touring around! Way to the cruise being thru the restaurant saved the time to go extra mile in search of a restaurant.
- 15 minutes walk to 1st Avenue for Bill Speidels Underground Tour, a leisurely, guided walking tour beneath Seattle’s sidewalks and streets which I enjoyed thoroughly being a history lover and it became more thrilling and entertaining because of the guide we had.
- Wanted to go the oldest Starbucks as well which was nearby but could not make it :(
- Wanted to go the oldest Starbucks as well which was nearby but could not make it :(
City Pass also includes Space Needle for which I parked the car just across the street. Using the pass the observation tower could be visited twice within 24 hours. I visited both during the day and the night as views were completely differently breathtaking.
For the night, I went after the street parking became free as the deck was open till 11PM and what I beheld could only be translated into three words - "Sleepless in Seattle"!
For the night, I went after the street parking became free as the deck was open till 11PM and what I beheld could only be translated into three words - "Sleepless in Seattle"!
2. Museum of Flight also covered by City Pass, the biggest privately run air museum was actually extra special to me since I was waiting to board an Air Force One and trust me it was such an honor! As I had to drive down to Portland I went there on my way back. It's good to have minimum 3 hours to explore the entire museum otherwise one would have to run around like me due to the lack of time.
3. And the last but of course not the least was the Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour located approximately 25 miles north of Seattle. I took one of the 90-minute tours (opted for the first one in the morning so that the rest of the day could be utilized sightseeing the downtown!) of the Boeing plant and had the lifetime experience of watching 747s, 777s, and 787s being assembled right before my eyes. In the next hour I explored the interactive exhibits and displays in their Aviation Center Gallery.
Went to Bellevue downtown as well to meet a friend of mine and it turned out to be a very lively and pretty city and just worth visiting.
During my visit the weather was chilling as I was there from Dec 26, 2014 to Dec 28, 2014. However, the days were sunny without rains which was a real big bonus from the "Rain City"!
