Seattle/Portland things to do/places to visit

What types of things does your family enjoy and what time of year are you visiting?

How old?
What kind of food do you like? Budget? Portland has some amazing restaurants.

Always popular with our guests when we lived in Seattle were trips to:

• the Woodland Park Zoo
• the Ballard Locks
• the Fremont Troll
• Bainbridge Island 
• the Museum of Flight
  
• Snowqualmie Falls
  
• the Underground Tour
  
  
  
  

yukon national park museum of history and industry.. both seattle boeing plant in everett you could take a bus to madison park and go swimming in the lake in madison park. nice playground and cute neighborhood.

fitt.co/portland/articles/waterfall-hikes-near-portland

This was our favorite in Portland

Seattle hotels are insane, but so is parking if you stay out of the city and drive in.  I have family I stay with when I visit, but it might be cheaper to stay near the space needle and monorail into the city.  I really don’t know though, but anything to avoid driving in downtown. 

Pike is pretty amazing, there are a lot of stands up top, but make sure you explore the spaces underneath as well.  The top layer gets insanely crowded but it is fun to look. The lower layer is typically much less empty and there are some cool shops down there.  Good eating around the market for sure!  Get some tiny doughnuts if the line isn’t too long.  

The public library I think is a monstrosity,  I don’t think anyone would use the word majestic.  It is all futuristic looking, I hate it.  I much prefer the one in Portland which is an actual old building with sweeping staircase and marble floors.  

I work with born-and-raised Washington people who also say “Pikes Place” or “Pikes Market”. It makes me a bit buggy too .

I’ve lived in Colorado and Seattle, and I couldn’t stop fumbling it as Pike’s Peak Market. 🤣

I’ve lived in the western PNW my whole life and I say Pike Place sometimes (never Pikes Place). Fight me MichyM 🤣😉

(But people who say Nordstrom’s make me batty.)

I’ve lived a little more than half my life in Oregon but the rest in the greater Puget Sound area. And most of my family lives up there still. And my husband and his family are from there.

But yes, I would like it if people could pronounce my state’s name correctly. It’s not hard lol

Yes we took the tour as tourists in our own area and it was really fun. My kids enjoyed it, too.

For something a little different, I like Savor Seattle Food tours. Many tours meet at Pike Place.

We also love the Improv show at the Market Theater (also at Pike Place in Post Alley), put on by Unexpected Productions. If you have kids, go to the 7:00 Happy Hour one, it's family friendly.

The best chowder is at Pike Place chowder. It's delicious, you'll love it. Worth waiting in the long line.

We kayaked on Lake Union over the 4th of July weekend last year and it was MARVELOUS!! I would highly recommend this. Enjoyed it so much, just beautiful.

Also while at Pike's Place Fish Market, we tipped a worker to toss a fish over our son's head and we were able to snap a photo of this.

And we visited the crazy Gum Wall. Kind of gross but made for a good photo. We uber-ed everywhere. We skipped the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens just because the crowds were just too much for us. But we walked around outside and take photos. On another trip we hope to tour both. We did go to the Pacific Science Center and enjoyed it as well.

There is an awesome playground right by the Space Needle! (Though it does get really hot when it's sunny.)
The international fountain there is really cool. Consider bringing swimsuits.
My daughter really liked Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.

The Oregon zoo is cool. We need to go back down there because they have African Painted Dogs.