Things to Do in Seattle, Washington (part 2)

I love that Seattle has so many interesting things to do for everyone of all ages, abilities and interests. I mean, we were a teenager and two “mature, young at heart” 😉 people, and we really enjoyed our time in Seattle. We really embraced our role as ‘tourist’ on this trip (no shame, I tell ya)! This post is just a wrap up (part 1 here if you’re interested) of a few more things to do that we experienced and highly recommend.

Pike Place Market
The iconic Pike Place Market was high on my list, simply because it seems like it’s a ‘must do’ when in Seattle. When I asked people if they had any recommendations for things to do in Seattle, there was usually an “of course, Pike Place Market” in our conversation. …but of course. We went here two days, once on a Thursday and once on a Saturday. It was so much easier to walk around on Thursday. The lines for everything were crazy on Saturday! So, if you can visit during the week (and between meal times), it’s so much easier to maneuver, and especially with more manageable lines in case you want to buy things. Pike Place Market was a fun place to sample all the delicious local cuisine, but I can’t fit food into this post. So, I guess I’ll have one more Seattle post about our favorite bites. Because Seattlonians?, Seattlites?… Seattle people know how to do food right!

The Edgewater Hotel
We spent our last night at The Edgewater Hotel, and this hotel was a destination in itself. This hotel is built on a pier (Pier 67), so the rooms are directly over the water. When this hotel first opened, the guests were allowed to fish directly out of their rooms. You can imagine how quickly they figured out that this was a bad idea when the guests dealt with the fish they caught (fish guts and all) in their hotel rooms. Mmmm… fishy smelling hotel rooms. Not these days, the rooms were beautiful (and nice smelling!) and I came home wanting to copy some of their design elements. We spent many hours one afternoon just staring out the window, snacking on our Pike Market finds, and watching the ships and ferries going about their business on this active bay. It was like watching a movie (granted a slow one, but still entertaining). The weather changed drastically that day from pouring sheets of rain to sunny and then back to all the types of rain in between. This hotel is conveniently close to the Seattle Aquarium, Olympic Sculpture Garden and cruise terminals when you’re ready to tear yourself away from the view.

Electric Boat Rental on Lake Union
Renting an electric boat on Lake Union was one of our favorite activities in Seattle. Hubby made a reservation through The Electric Boat Company on Thursday afternoon for that night from 6-8 pm (sunset was a little before 8 pm). We arrived a little before our rental time at their office on the west side of Lake Union, signed some papers, paid, and was put into an electric boat at our rental time. Driving the boat was pretty easy, but it does take a little time to get used to the controls and just feel comfortable maneuvering. This is an activity you can do even when it rains since there is a roof and clear side covers. Actually, because of the intermittent rain, there weren’t many other boats on the lake. We didn’t get off the boat during our time, but there are a few places to dock as shown on a map you are given. The map was very handy as we were able to give ourselves a “tour.” We brought our own food and just cruised around the bay looking at the sights. You can actually fit a large group, we had plenty of space in the boat. We passed by a guy cruising around in his boat (uncovered) when the rain was pelting with the song “Raindrops keep Falling on My Head” blasting. How awesome is he?! Also, a number of crew teams were working out on the lake in the rain, like it ain’t no thang. In Seattle, you embrace the rain.

REI flagship store
This was something my hubby wanted to do, but once I was there I was really impressed with the place and glad I visited the store. We picked up a few small items, but shopping wasn’t high on our list when there was so much to look at in the store.

Olympic Sculpture Garden
This park was just a short walk from The Edgewater Hotel, so we wanted to make sure we checked out this 9 acre park created by the Seattle Museum of Art. They had some interesting pieces nestled throughout the park, a gigantic red sculpture piece in the middle, called The Eagle, was an eye catcher.

I’m so glad I finally got to experience some of Seattle and understand why people talk so highly of this city. Seattle, thank you and we hope to be back someday.

If you’re interested, check out the first part of our trip and our favorite foods we ate (Things to do in Seattle, Washington, Part 1 and Our Favorite Seattle Bites).