Posts: 158
Joined: 3/4/2009
Location: Burlington, WI USA
I'm heading to Seattle for a wedding at the end of September with my wife. I was out there once about 20 years ago (I was about 10-12) and don't remember a whole lot. My wife has never been out there. We were planning on staying 3-4 days after the wedding to sight see. Any "must see" or other suggestions would be appreciated. Planning on spending one of the days at Mt. Rainier. Pretty flexible the other days.
Posts: 1504
Joined: 7/27/2016
Location: Snohomish, WA USA
Seattle itself:
-Pike Place Market
-Space Needle (not sure if they’re done by September with construction)
-Waterfront (restaurants, great wheel, aquarium etc)
Greater area:
-numerous hiking/MTB areas in the mountains
-wineries
-several ferries, both in Seattle as well as north of Seattle. Edmonds (city about 30-45 min north) takes you out to the Olympic peninsula. Anacortes (about 2.5 hrs north of Seattle) takes you to the San Juan Islands. If you want to explore the San Juans, hit me up, I was raised out there. You’ll need reservations for those ferries, I can get you the info.
The Moto scene (other than private tracks) has been pushed south of Seattle and to Eastern WA. Not much in the Seattle area like there used to be.
Posts: 3235
Joined: 3/11/2013
Location: San Clemente, CA USA
Posts: 7911
Joined: 4/1/2008
Location: Lake Chelan, WA USA
I haven't been there since they changed the name, but the Museum of Popular Culture (MoPOP) the former Experience Music Project (EMP) should be worth some time if you are anywhere near downtown.
If you're a coffee guy, the Starbucks Roastery on Pike (Just E of I5, not down towards the water) is pretty cool to see. It's like a big brewpub except with coffee and you can get coffees there that aren't available at any of their other retail outlets. Parts of it look like a science lab as they make some of their new stuff for you in beakers, etc.
Don't get offended, but I'd also recommend that you eat a big bag of Dicks. But before you curse me out, Dicks is the iconic hamburger stand that has 5 or 6 locations around the area and it's cultish in it's following.
If you are staying down by the airport, I'd recommend taking the light rail up into Seattle. The transit system in Seattle is reasonably good, parking in the city sucks, and the construction that is always going on in the city makes driving down there a terrible thing if you don't have a lot of reference from past trips. If you do drive into Seattle, I'd recommend parking at the Pacific Place building and walking out from there. It's pretty central and you can catch the monorail close by to get to the Space Needle and MoPOP.
I'll think of more after a little coffee!
Posts: 1864
Joined: 11/19/2011
Location: Escondido, CA USA
What's the best month of the year to visit Seattle?
www.alljackedupinc.com home of the Switch Hauler®
Posts: 673
Joined: 12/7/2010
Location: Kalispell, MT USA
Posts: 158
Joined: 3/4/2009
Location: Burlington, WI USA
I was looking at all the ferries (how do you choose with that many options!). Are those two you recommended the best ones to take? Can you make a day out of visiting San Juan Islands? Is it worth it to try and go to Sidney, Victoria, and Vancouver? Too much hassle? Thanks for the reply
Posts: 158
Joined: 3/4/2009
Location: Burlington, WI USA
Posts: 26
Joined: 8/28/2017
Location: Menifee, CA USA
Mt. St. Helens is definitely worth the visit, the Olympic Peninsula Rain Forest, and if you're out that way the Olympic Game Farm is amusing, Snoqualmie Falls, are all pretty cool.
Then there's the Coast, out in the Westport/Aberdeen area
As far as tracks go;
Riverdale (Toledo/Winlock area)
The Ridge (Shelton)
Moto West (Bremerton)
Thurston County/Gray's Harbor ORV Park (McCleary) which I believe is operated and managed by RV2
Posts: 1724
Joined: 2/18/2017
Location: Antioch, CA USA
x2 on the San Juan Islands. You can definitely spend a day island hopping from one to the other. Seattle to Whidbey to San Juan to Orca. Great trip.
Posts: 3671
Joined: 3/26/2011
Location: KS, USA
It's a crapshoot on what type of weather you'll get. I was there in May of last year and it was sunny for 3 whole days with temps in 60's, cloudy/misty 50's the other two. Went back in June and it was low 50's with on/off light rain damn near the entire time.
Posts: 7911
Joined: 4/1/2008
Location: Lake Chelan, WA USA
Are you sure you are talking about June 2017? June last year in Seattle didn’t have any days with a high below 60 and historically low rain in June also. High of 91 later in June, which seems more like 120 to Seattle natives.......
September is usually a pretty nice month in Seattle. Definitely more sunny days than rainy days on average, but if it does rain it usually isn’t a torrential thing that time of year. Obviously early September has better odds of being warmer.
Coming from the E side of the state, Seattle winters can definitely suck. But their summers are awesome!
Posts: 4780
Joined: 8/24/2006
Location: JPN
"But their summers are awesome!"
Posts: 158
Joined: 3/4/2009
Location: Burlington, WI USA
Posts: 7911
Joined: 4/1/2008
Location: Lake Chelan, WA USA
Yeah, the crazy part is that during the most beautiful time of the year for the Seattle folks, is the time they all try to leave that side and come over here!
For Boxvan, here's a graphic showing last September's weather in Seattle. Every year is obviously different but it also shows averages too. Keep in mind that rain numbers from .05-.10 inch seems to usually be overnight rainfall and clouds burning off through the morning, etc. I didn't live in Seattle as long as many of the guys on here, but that was my anecdotal experience anyway. During late spring and early fall, if the rain was light it just usually appeared as waking up to everything being a bit wetter than a heavy dew. Over .10 inch meant it usually rained at least some during "day" hours also.
One thing I forgot on my rambling list was that if you are into mountain biking, the Stevens Pass bike park should still be open in September. It's about an hour east of Seattle and they rent bikes. It's a pretty nice ski hill so you can ride the chairlifts up and pick winding trails or bomb a downhill. I think that the area is served by transit year round too, so you can indulge in some adult beverages after riding and not worry about the drive back.
Here's last September
Posts: 7911
Joined: 4/1/2008
Location: Lake Chelan, WA USA
If mtb is something that you're thinking of doing I'd rent a bike and give this place a try..........
https://www.stevenspass.com/site/summer/mtn-info/trail%20preview%20videos
Posts: 1504
Joined: 7/27/2016
Location: Snohomish, WA USA
Edited Date/Time:
Here is the link for the State ferry system. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/
The left side has a link to the schedules. You have to choose a route (Anacortes-San Juan-Sidney, Edmonds Kingston etc). In the pull down menu, the routes you’d likely be interested in are as follows:
Anacortes-San Juan
Edmonds-Kingston
Mukilteo-Clinton
Coupeville-Pt Townsend
The others are mostly short Seattle ferries for folks who live just across the water.
Not sure what is currently the case, but you used to have to call ahead to use the Sidney (BC, Canada) ferry from anacortes or the San Juans. The Anacortes-San Juan ferries use reservations. They only allow a little bit of last minute traffic. The good news is reservations are free, as long as you show up or cancel in advance. No shows are a 10.00 fee.
You could absolutely spend a day island-hopping. However, you’d spend a good chunk of your time on ferries instead of exploring, so you might want to pick an island, or stay overnight. Just keep in mind that most lodging on the island is b&b, ie there isn’t a holiday inn or something you could drop in last minute.
The schedule changes each season, so you’d likely need the fall schedule which will come out in the summer.
The Mukilteo-Clinton, Pt Townsend-Coupeville, and Edmonds-Kingston all take you to the Olympic peninsula, just different parts. If you are inclined to go, I’d recommend the Pt Townsend run. You go through deception pass, with a very scenic bridge (sounds dumb-trust me it’s cool), a park with trails, NAS Whidbey (free air show, lol), and when you get to the other side, Pt Townsend is pretty cool.
The San Juans have four basic islands:
San Juan-most “city” like, lots of food etc, county seat
Lopez-very rural, haven’t been there since I was very young so can’t say much
Shaw-mostly residential
Orcas-second behind San Juan for attractions, stuff to do. Has Rosario resort, where Robert Moran built his mansion, Moran State Park with lakes, trails etc, and a bunch of other stuff. I grew up there so I’m biased...lol
I forgot about the MTB options at Stevens Pass-that’s worth checking out.
Posts: 1504
Joined: 7/27/2016
Location: Snohomish, WA USA
Posts: 8434
Joined: 4/1/2008
Location: SD, CA USA
