Seattle – Day 1

Given our success getting a good hotel cheap in San Francisco we decided to test our luck again by using Priceline to book rooms in Seattle. Priceline is an internet service that you can use to name the price you want to pay, the area where you want to stay and the star rating of the hotel. You put in this info and then it searches for a while and tells you whether your offer has been accepted or not. In San Francisco we got great rooms at the Hyatt. This time we were lucky again. Our price was accepted for two nights at the new Marriott right on the water (Alaskan Way).

After getting excited about our new accommodations we packed up quickly in Kelso and drove the 100 or so miles to Seattle. We arrived mid-day and the room wasn’t quite ready. We got to see the hotel and Roby said “Dad, this hotel is too nice for us”. We left our bags with the porter (one of about 10 people milling about to help fragile travellers). We headed up the stairs behind the hotel and within a few blocks we were at Pikes Place market. The market was in full swing with hundreds of vendors. There were beautiful flowers, fruit, clothes, and of course fish mongers. The kids enjoyed seeing the huge salmon, shrimp, hallibut, and even a monk fish. Everything is huge in the pacific northwest. One fish market puts on a show for the crowd by throwing salmon and crabs across the counter (about 20 feet) as people order them.

We had lunch and then tried to take the monorail over to the space needle. There had been some kind of fire on the monorail so we ended taking a bus (which was fine). We decided to visit the “Experience Music Project” which is right next to the space needle. This is a new museum that has exhibits for all types of music and musicians and interactive kiosks where you play various instruments. The kids like the contemporary room that had music and outfits by Eminem, G Unit, and Michelle Branch. They even had the candy-apple read outfit worn by Brittney Spears in her “oops I did it again” video (which, when you see it in person, is hard to imagine any grown person fitting into it).

The other feature exhibits were on the Beattles and Jimi Hendrix. The kids were less interested in these old timers but didn’t complain. The final part of the tour was a hands-on area. Were were lucky to get 10 minutes in a “recording studio” in which we all could play an electric guitar, electric bass, electric drums, and an acoustic guitar. It was a lot of fun to jam together.

Next we rode up the elevator to the top of the space needle and saw a reasonably good view of Seattle but it wasn’t clear enough to see Mount Rainier.

By that time we were tired from walking and went back to the hotel for a swim. The Marriott has a nice indoor/outdoor pool that the kids loved.

We finished up the night with another sushi dinner just up the street from Pike Place market.

Comments are closed.