Just returned from my brief trip to Seattle. Weather forecast for Wednesday when I was packing Tues evening: 50 degrees and drizzly. Actual weather Wednesday afternoon: 60 degrees and sunny. Score!
This thread was such a great resource! Thanks to everyone who contributed tips. Unfortunately, due to my own lack of planning, I still arrived unprepared. I'd intended to go carefully through these suggestions and map out things I wanted to do/see so I could maximize use of my limited time. That didn't happen, so I ended up doing a lot more walking and a bit less seeing than I otherwise would have.
The light rail from the airport was super easy and convenient. My hotel was just under a mile from the airport rail station, so I had a brisk walk to get warmed up before sitting on the train. Arrived at University Ave station about 1pm (an hour after leaving the hotel - would have been less, but a train was pulling out of the station so I had to wait 10 min for the next one).
I wanted to check out the library, but my east-coast stomach demanded food, so I headed over to Pike Place (with a stop at the multi-level city-Target to replace some travel toiletries that I'd depleted on my last trip). Wandered around and around the market, finally found the chowder place, and had a yumy bowl of seared scallop chowder. Continued wandering around the market, looking for Market Spice so I could restock on some yummy tea that a friend had brought me several years ago. Along the way, I found lots of food samples: pickles, apples, pears, marionberry greek yogurt, chocolate pasta, tea ....
From Pike Place I made my way down to the water and walked north to the SAM sculpture garden. Very cool park that zig zags over top of some rail lines and a highway. Then uphill to gawk at the space needle up close.
From there, I'd thought about going up to Queen Anne, since it was a great day to enjoy the view, but I wasn't sure I had it in me to do that extra uphill walk. With better planning, I think I could/should have done it. Here's where my lack of planning bit me in the butt .... I remembered reading that Columbia Tower had a nice view, and $3 at starbucks like a much more economical view than space needle admission. I also thought I remembered reading that this building was on 5th ave near the space needle (and now, rereading all the posts, I've no idea where I got that idea). Well ... it is on 5th, but not anywhere near the space needle. I walked down 5th, looking for a tall building. I walked and walked, the whole time under the monorail that goes between the park and Westlake station. Really wished I'd figured out the location of Columbia tower in advance and taken that rail (if I'd planned to do that, I would have also been able to go up to Queen Anne ...) I eventually figured out the location of Columbia tower and resigned myself to walking the whole rest of the way. I will say that Belltown seemed like a nice downtown neighborhood. I could have skipped that whole shopping district I passed through after that - not much interest there for a mustachian-in-training!
I did finally visit the library toward the end of that walk. That place is amazing! I've been to a lot of libraries, but I'm pretty sure this is the best thing ever. So more walking around the spiral stacks, etc. My feet have never been so happy to arrive at Starbucks on floor 40 of C.T., where I purchased an iced chai and sat for half an hour. The view from there was nice, but not high enough to get a big picture of the city.
I decided I'd have an early dinner in the International District. I was ready for some noodle-y pho! I took the light rail one stop from Pioneer Square to ID, since I had a day pass (same price as a round-trip from the airport). Looking at a map later, it might have been shorter to just walk between those two stations, since they are so close. Would certainly have saved me some stairs. I had a nine-block walk from the station to my pho shop of choice (Pho Bac had been recommended by someone, somewhere). I stopped in a bunch of grocery and produce markets along the way. I'd missed the recommendation for the big Uwajimaya, but still enjoyed looking at all the "exotic" fruits and vegetables in the smaller shops.
Back to the rail station, I got on an airport-bound train about 6pm. Took the hotel shuttle from the airport (where I happened to run into a colleague) back to the hotel. So 5 hours in downtown Seattle and 6.4 miles of walking. Pretty sure I was in bed by 730.
Now I just need to plan a return visit!
Edit to add summary of expenses:
Food (chowder, tea, pho): ~$20
Transportation: $5.50
Shopping (tea, toiletries): ~$8
