My visitors from New England are unimpressed with the area! Where to bring them to show the beauty of Seattle/Eastside? (island, places)

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Show them what they don't have back home: Puget Sound. Some ideas:

Take the Mukilteo ferry to Whidbey Island, then the Coupeville ferry to Port Townsend. Return to Seattle via the Bainbridge ferry.

For great views of Puget Sound, visit Discovery Park.

Go to the cafe (upstairs) at Ray's Boathouse and eat on the outside deck, right on Puget Sound.

Deception Pass on Whidbey Island
Hurricane Ridge, Hoh Rainforest, Ruby Beach, etc. while on the Olympic Peninsula (in addition to Port Townsend)
Snoqualmie Falls
Leavenworth
Ferry to San Juan Islands, side trip to Victoria, BC

So much to see an do. And if they don't like, be glad - it's getting crowded

[jm31828]

As others mentioned, show them dramatic scenery we have that they don't have back east. Snoqualmie Falls, Deception Pass, Mount Rainier (DEFINITELY Mount Rainier), the North Cascades Highway, or anywhere on the Puget Sound waterfront where views of the Olympic Mountains can be had with ferries coming and going.

With even more time, a ferry ride across to Kingston and then a drive from there over to Cape Flattery or down to the Olympic National Park to see the rain forest is cool, too. These are all things they would have never seen back home and are sure to make jaws drop.

My wife and I have been here 5 years now and are still in awe of the sights mentioned above when we see them- nowhere else in the country has this kind of dramatic scenery, so I would think it would impress almost anyone unless they are just not into natural scenery at all.

[usernametaken]

Crossroads Mall on Friday or Saturday night. Tons of kids, concerts on main stage, old children and adult gaming area, big chess boards, kids play room near shoe store, rock climbing gym, great food court, cinema etc...

https://twitter.com/CrossroadsBLVU

[skihikeclimb]

Originally Posted by abbybernstein

We just moved to the Kirkland area from the East Coast. Our family is visiting for the first time. Being from Connecticut, they are already used to seeing tons of foliage, quaint neighborhoods, etc. We went to downtown Kirkland, but on a weekday afternoon, it was a little empty. They claim they are enjoying themselves, but I want them to fall in love with the area as I have

Where should I take them? Snoqualmie Falls? Any parks that you suggest? Sites to see? We will go to Pike Place Market soon.

Thank you

Take them to the places that make Seattle and the PNW unique.

I'd take them on a ferry, and go see Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics, or take them up HWY 410 to Sunrise at Mt. Rainier.

I suppose you could do a loop around I-90 through Leavenworth back over Hwy 2. Those places are unique compared to the North East.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by abbybernstein

We just moved to the Kirkland area from the East Coast. Our family is visiting for the first time. Being from Connecticut, they are already used to seeing tons of foliage, quaint neighborhoods, etc. We went to downtown Kirkland, but on a weekday afternoon, it was a little empty. They claim they are enjoying themselves, but I want them to fall in love with the area as I have

Where should I take them? Snoqualmie Falls? Any parks that you suggest? Sites to see? We will go to Pike Place Market soon.

Thank you

If you're looking for a roller coaster, world's largest ball of twine, and hundred foot statues, by all means: East Coast is where it's at. In Connecticut you take the trains to various places, and enjoy rather-expensive suburban life. Nothing wrong with that, I was there a few years as a lad many years ago.

This place, however: the "excitement" is foliage, quaint neighborhoods, and etc. as you say. I am underwhelmed when I take the bus into Seattle, from Eastside, but that's what I love most: a moderate-sized city with stuff to do that is generally lower-key. I've walked a dozen neighborhoods, Eastside to Alki, find charm everywhere.

Take a drive out of town. Note we are geographically isolated from other major urban areas, those being Vancouver BC to the north and Portland to the south. I noted one year that from my front door in Mill Creek (back then) to the foot of the Lime Kiln Trail, Robe Canyon outside of Granite Falls (Stillaguamish River, South Fork) was something like 45 minutes flat w/o much traffic. Robe Canyon is rough and gorgeous, on the way to the Cascades. There are very few places in the U.S. where one can go from a major metro area to rough-and-tumble wilderness in 45 minutes.

So, walking down Lake Washington Boulevard in Kirkland didn't set their hearts aflutter? I live there and do that fifty times/year, at least. Very still at dawn, usually, and more active at sunset when it's clear. That, and only a little else, is the juice of Kirkland so to speak.

Impress them with the clean air. It rained for 1.5 days and sorta cleared up Thursday afternoon, wonderful! The foliage needed that very badly. Hell, I just walk to my front yard and smell the fresh grass! Couple lucky days per year, I can see Rainier from my front yard in the distance. What could be more exciting than that?

(Alternately, head to the mega casino in Auburn and watch Native Americans and old folks smoke and drop nickels into the slot machines. Yawn...)

[modc]

Chihuly glass museum in Seattle Center.

[billy98102]

the Arboretum.

[BellevueNative]

Although Hurricane Ridge is awesome, I wouldn't bother if it's raining. Chances are the low clouds and/or fog will limit the view, and it's quite a drive. If you can go on a clear day, it's spectacular!

[IDASpaceman]

Funny...Conneticut is one of the most unimpressive places in the US right next to Delaware. Good luck.

[CrazyDonkey]

There's also the usual touristy stuff:

* Lunch or drinks at the Space Needle restaurant.

* A Pike Place Market food tour.

* The Underground Tour.

* A Harbor Cruise (w/trip through the Locks).

* Tillicum Village.

* Boeing Everett plant tour.