Hi guys,

I will be in the Seattle area for a conference starting Friday October 19th for one week. I will be renting a car. What do you guys suggest we visit? Any interesting national parks? Something not to miss? I don't mind driving 4-5 hours if I have to...

Thanks a lot!

 

PM'd ya

 

If you wanna do a bunch of driving, check out Mt. Rainier. While you're in Seattle, take the Underground Tour, be sure and have dinner at the Space Needle (food is decent, you're paying mostly for the view). Visit Pike Place Market some morning and get some fresh fruit/bread/sandwiches/etc., and you visit the original Starbucks.

 

+1

It's standard means of transportation around here, but most people from outside the area really enjoy using the ferries.

Best one for the ride alone is Seattle-Bremerton as it's an hour long and winds around Bainbridge and through passages. Costs the same as most others in the area.

You can do it cheaper by walking on. Walk around all the development in a small area of Bremerton and catch the foot ferry at the terminal to Port Orchard for a buck or two. Then you can walk the small waterfront downtown shops and restaurants there also. Ferry schedules and prices are on line.

Besides a Mt. Ranier drive, you could take the car on the Ferry to Bremerton (or Kingston if leaving from Edmonds) then drive to the Hood Canal floating bridge and follow the canal's Hgwy 101 south along the west shore making a loop back to Bremerton. You could also come back via Tacoma and cross on the new Narrows Suspension Bridge. That drive has great water views of remote areas most of the way and the Fall foliage is in it's early stages.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

Mt Saint Helens.

 

some areas will have snow by now...but it's a nice area.

 

Thanks guys. That sounds really good. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and arriving in Seattle around 2:20pm. I'll report once I get back.

Thanks again,

 

mount rainier is open right now upto paradise... just went there for a drive and its beautiful and lots of twisty roads... there wasnt much snow on the ground to worry about, but maybe having chains wouldnt be a bad idea..

 

I'm back and as promised, here is how the week went on.

We left Ottawa, Canada on Friday and arrived in Seattle around 3pm. We rented a car and decided to go south-west and go around the Olympic National Park. Took hwy 5, then 16, 3, 104 to 101. We had a great supper in Poulsbo at the marina and continued our way up to Port Angeles to stay for the night. It started to rain.

Next morning, we went up Hurricane Ridge Road up until it was closed because of the snow. The sky was covered and it was raining a bit, so we didn’t see much of the mountains at all. We came back down and continued on the 101. We spent a few hours in the rain forest and that was great. We also walked for a bit on the beach on the west coast. We continued on hwy 101 and decided to head for the Mt St Helens and Rainier national park. Again, it was raining :-( We stayed in a motel in Morton and had supper at the only restaurant in town (Mexican, which was excellent). We also went to the cinema theatre that night.

Next morning, we decided to go up Mt Rainier, but we could only go up to Paradise since the road was closed due to the snowfall. We came back to Seattle that same day and returned the rental car. We again went to see a movie.

On Monday, we were invited to visit the Microsoft Campus in Redmond. That was a good day. Yet another movie that night. Next morning, we again rented a car, this time we decided to go north up to North Cascade National Park. We stopped around Diablo Lake for a good hike and I took lots of pictures. We had great weather that day. We came back to Seattle that same day. Guess what? Yes, another movie.

On Wednesday to Friday, I was at the EDUCAUSE conference, which was okay, but not great. I went rollerblading along Elliott Bay Park which was a lot of fun and visited the city a little more, including Pike market. We went twice to the original Starbucks and we had supper at the Space Needle on Wednesday (visited all levels). We didn't have enough time to do the underground tour, which I really wanted to do (next time for sure!).

It was my first time around Seattle and I really liked it. It reminded me a little of San Francisco. Seattle is actually one of the very few cities in the States where I would consider living into (the others being Boston and San Francisco). I saw a total of 7 movies that week! More that I normally view in several months.

Overall, great week. We drove over 1,200 miles in the few days we were there. Thanks a lot to those who answered my questions.

Cheers,

 

LOL... you came across the continent to watch movies? how do the cinemas compare to SilverCity on Carlingwood?

 

LOL! I find SilverCity much better than Regal and AMC they have downtown Seattle. SilverCity is actually on Ogilvie. On Carling (Carlingwood Shopping Centre), it's Coliseum 12.

I saw:
- Michael Clayton
- The Kingdom
- Resident Evil: Extinction
- Rendition
- Superbad (in Morton)
- We Own The Night
- The Assassination of Jesse James

Plus, on the plane:
- Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
- License to wed