I worked for a company that was trying to boost the moral in their call center and the management was reading Fish. It is a very inspiring story about the Pike Place Fish Market and how they turned a stinky fish market into a fun place to work. On my visit to Seattle, I just had to see this place. I wish I had some advice about the parking but I would say investigate before you drive. The city must have public transportation to get you there because the parking situation was awful. To find the fish market, just go to the main entrance and look to the left where you see the crowds of people. They will sign your books and pose for pictures. It is a real fun experience and if you find yourself waiting too long to see them toss a fish in the air, just buy some fish and they will ship it home for you.
We stayed in Bellevue which is on the other side of the bay but with the highways, it took no time to get downtown. The Coast Bellevue is located right off the highway and has a wonderful WholeFoods grocery store just across the street. We found a great deal on Lastminutetravel.com and decided it was worth the drive to stay a little outside the city. It was difficult to find the first time so make sure you call and get directions.
We stayed at Mounthaven Resort http://mounthaven.com/ which was just amazing! It is located just a few miles down from the main entrance to Mount Rainier. Everyone has their own private cabin with a kitchen, living room and bedroom. It was so nice to come back from a day of hiking and be able to cook a hot meal and rest in the living room. They don’t have TV’s but there are plenty of games you can check out at the office. We played a different game each night and enjoyed some family time. One morning I woke up and looked out the window and there was a deer almost at our door. They feed the deer and they roam all over the property.
Remember to stop at Eatonville which is the last city where you can buy groceries for your stay. We made the mistake of saying we will come back for groceries tomorrow because we wanted to get there before dark. It was a 45 minute drive to get the groceries and then 45 minutes to get back, which basically took up our whole evening.
Note cell phones do not work out there so you can really get away from it all!!!!!
On the last day we drove all the way into the park and took the Skyline Trail. We had no idea what we were in for. It started as a paved trail and I thought this is not going to be as much fun as hiking in the woods. Well, the pavement turned into gravel which turned into mud and then we turned the corner and path was covered with snow! Second week of August, here we stand in shorts and t-shirts and hiking in the snow. It was an all day trip, we did stop a lot to take pictures, but it was amazing and we meet really neat people on the way.
I have to say if you are going to Seattle, you have to take the time to travel down to Mount Rainier for some hiking.
Both of these pictures were taken on the Skyline trail on the same day.
After searching all over the web and talking to tons of people about what they think are the best things you should do while your visiting Seattle here is the list I’ve come up with:
1. Space Needle (of course how can you go to Seattle without seeing this)
2. Pike Place Market
3. Chittenden Locks & Carl English Botanical Gardens
4. Seattle Art Museum Downtown
5. Seattle Asian Art Museum
6. Mount Rainier National Park
7. Seattle Aquarium
8. Museum of Glass
9. Woodland Park Zoo
10. Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
