SEATTLE - THE EMERALD CITY

Seattle sits in the Northwest corner of the United States, nestled between majestic mountains, lush forests, and wondrous waterways, making it one of America's most beautiful cities.  Seattle began as a logging town over a hundred years ago, but now is more famous as the home of Microsoft, Amazon.com, and Starbucks. It presents a variety of interesting contrasts between the old style town built on sweat and the new town built on silicon and coffee beans. Pioneer Square is a perfect example with new businesses located in historic buildings that are now permanently preserved as part of a national historic district. 

Seattle skyline from the Space Needle

Our impressions: Bring a few types of clothes to Seattle - the weather is very variable. In one day we went from light drizzle to sun to cloud to rainstorm to sun to clouds and finally back to drizzle - all in about two hours. Fortunately Safeco has a retractable roof, so games will never be rained out, but it can still get pretty cold on an April evening, so make sure to have an extra layer in your knapsack.

The downtown core is not very big, but it is fairly busy on a summer weekday. However, after nightfall, there weren't very many people on the streets. Pike Place Market is a good place to do some shopping as well as pick up some half-price show tickets, but Pioneer Square is more for antique and gallery browsing rather than good shopping.

   Public Market Center at Pike Place            

On a sunny day, a walk down by the piers is very nice, looking out onto Puget Sound and enjoying the fresh air - sadly Highway 99 runs parallel to part of the walk, which makes it a bit noisy.

Public transit is affordable and buses are plenty in the downtown core. If you are there on a weekend or holiday, you can purchase an all-day pass from any driver for only $2. Downtown buses are free within a certain zone which is well-detailed on a map. As well, there is an underground bus tunnel that is unique among American cities; you can get from one end of downtown to the other in about 5 minutes.

There is a monorail that links Seattle Center to the Westlake Center at 4th and Pine; at 90 seconds, it is one of the quickest rides you can take. There is also a trolley car that runs from Pioneer Square out to Broad Street. Nonetheless, without a car, Seattle is not that easy to get around in - best thing to do is probably park near Seattle Center and take the monorail downtown where you can walk to the key attractions before heading over to Safeco.

Seattle Art Museum                                  

A couple of interesting neighborhoods are Queen Anne, on the hill just north of Seattle Center, and Fremont, just north of Queen Anne - a car is necessary to see both of them.

Overall, Seattle is a great place to visit. There's lots to do besides the Mariners (see the attractions section for our recommendations) and plenty of coffee shops to take a break. A wide variety of restaurants ensures that you will not be filling your face with fast food all the time. An umbrella is useful, but a Mariners cap is just as good at keeping the occasional rain shower away.