Travel Tuesday: Seattle, WA

  Today I am going to take you to a place I have always wanted to explore.  I use the word explore rather than travel or visit because I have already been there.  My family and I went to visit friends many years ago in Seattle.  I was young but I remember how beautiful the outskirts of the city were and how much fun we had during a day trip downtown.  So much fun in fact that I have always wanted to go back especially since my husband and I are huge music buffs and Seattle has birthed some of the best musicians in history. Including some of my favorites; Alice in Chains, Band of Horses, Bing Crosby, Heart, Temple of the Dog, Jimi Hendrix, Modest Mouse, Mother Love Bone, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Postal Service, Quincy Jones, Soundgarden to name a few. Soundgarden actually got their name from a sculpture titled "a sound garden" The sculpture is situated along lake Washington and when the wind blows through "a sound garden" it is said to wail like an electric guitar. Seattle is also home to the Experience Music Project or EMP, which is a music museum containing a lot of grunge memorabilia. EMP was created by the co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen.  In addition to it's rich musical history Seattle is also home to the set of some of my favorite movies, Singles, Sleepless in Seattle, Groundhog Day, 16 Candles, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, When Harry Met Sally, While you were sleeping, Ferris Buellers Day off, Risky Business, A League of Their Own, Adventures in Babysitting (guilty pleasure) and High Fidelity to name a few. I can promise you their is no lack of entertainment when visiting the city. There are six suburbs of Seattle that I am going to mention visiting along with what to do in each one.

West Seattle:

Home of Boeing's Museum of Flight. Boeing was founded in Seattle in 1916 and the company turned their old headquarters into a beautiful museum that is fun for the whole family. Children can spend the day climbing in and out of the old aircraft and Boeing transformed their Red Barn, which was their original airplane factory, into an exhibit of flight.  

picture credit: Google images

West Seattle is also home to the Junction Murals located on various walls between restaurants, shops, and local businesses.  There are 11 total spread throughout West Seattle's business district.

picture credit: Google images

You can end the day in West Seattle by visiting Anchor/Luna Park.  From here you can view the breathtaking Seattle skyline.There is 300 degrees of view out over Puget Sound from the port of Seattle in the South all the way around to the southern end of Bainbridge Island.

Seattle Center:

While in the center you can't miss the Monorail which is near a half century old.  The Monorail is a raised shuttle train that travels about half a mile south of Seattle Center.

picture credit: Google images

Another site you can't miss is the Space-needle.  This was built for the World Fair in 1962 to withstand earthquakes and lightening storms.  The needle contains an observation deck and a slowly rotating restaurant in the tower of the space-needle. The view from the deck is gorgeous, you can see the Seattle Skyline, Cascade Mountains, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Elliot, and Elliot Bay.

picture credit: Google images

Seattle Waterfront:

The Viaduct is located here and stretches about 1 1/3 miles along Alaskan Way.  The Viaduct looks out upon Elliot Bay on the East side of Puget Sound.  If you feel like a stroll it is a 30 min walk from end-to-end.

picture credit: Google images

The Seattle Aquarium is also located on the Waterfront.  A 120,000 gallon tank of sea creatures along the Washington Coast is located inside along with 2 massive touching tanks filled with Jellyfish, Octopus, Seals, and Sea Otters. It's fun for the whole family.

Renton:

Jimi Hendrix is buried in Greenwood Memorial Park in this city.  His grave is a popular visitors attraction.

picture credit: Google images

Fremont:

If you visit during the summer be sure to catch the summer nights outdoor movie showings which started in 1992.

While walking through the city you may notice Kiosks scattered throughout the district.  These kiosks are called "Fremont Historical Markers".  Each marker contains traditions about the area.  Walk the district and get a history lesson at the same time.



Sources: 
The Seattle Times
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle
http://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/Facts/history.htm