Why should we move to Seattle? (Vancouver, Pacific: apartments, renting, hotels)

[Gladhove]

Hi everyone,

I have an interest in living in Seattle, based on nothing more than a "hunch" about the Pacific Northwest in general.

So I'd like to plan a trip. This will serve two purposes - one to see the city, and two to celebrate mine and my girlfriend's anniversary.

She's not all that interested in Seattle, and wants to move to the east coast (which is where we came from originally, and I'm not in a real hurry to get back to).

So my question to you all is - what should we see and do to really get a feel for the city, to really appreciate what it has to offer - and, you know, allow me to make a better case for moving there? Since it'd be our anniversary, too, we'd also like to have a heck of a good time.

Thanks in advance for any feedback...

[Gentoo]

I'm sure the Seattle natives will do a much better job that I but I'll do my best.

Unlike many cities that attract visitors by having something in their city (like theme parks or some other commercial item), Seattle is great just for being what it is. My suggestion would be to stay at one of the hotels near the Seattle Center. That's what I did. From there you can walk to just about all the interesting locations. I stayed at the comfort suites. If you're in this area, you can walk to the Seattle Center. You can see the Experience Music Project. Even if you don't go in the building is really cool. Of course there's the space needle. If I were you' I'd buy the day/night pass. You can go up once during the day and again at night and it doesn't have to be the same night.

From there you can walk down toward the waterfront. If you go down Broad St. it will take you right to Olympic Sculpture Park. That's worth seeing and there a lot cool cool sculptures there. Take a walk northward a bit, walk in that park that goes right along the water (forget it's name now). Then head back south along Alaskan Way. This will take you to the central waterfront. All the coolest places are there including the Seattle Aquarium. The original Starbucks is over there somewhere too. You can take one of the Argosy tours. They have the Harbor tours and the Lake tours. I took the harbor tour but now wish I had taken the lake tour. Those tours are very informative and you will see and learn a lot about the city and some of it's natural wonders as well as man made ones. Go across Alaskan Way and there a stair case. I forget now how close to the Aquarium it was. Those stairs will take you to a multi-leveled area with coffee houses (mmmm I can still taste the Tully's lol). If you turn left and go through what looks like an Alley, you will be on Pike Place. That's where you can start your visit of Pike Place Market. You can spend a while in there. It's not just fish markets but also farmers markets, arts and crafts, places to grab a bite to eat, some cool stores and I believe even an arcade in there. At the north end of the market is the market park. It's not very big or anything but it's a cool little place with two totem poles and a very nice view.

I could go on and on. I will say that a visit to the Woodland Park Zoo and Discovery Park are also worth it. These are places visited more by locals than tourist but it's part of the real Seattle and you will see the very nice residential areas of Woodland Park and Magnolia. If you can, perhaps check out Green Lake with it's surrounding park. It's in a neighborhood with the same name. While I didn't make it there when I went I understand that it's another very beautiful area. Check out the arboretum as well. For the zoo, Discovery Park and Green Lake you will need to take a bus. For the zoo it's number 5 I believe (I think there's more than one). You take it on Aurora Ave. For Discovery Park, it may be bus number 3 or 4. Double check that though. This bus I believe is on 3rd Ave but I don't really remember.

Make sure you have a couple of very large memory cards for your cameras because I guarantee you will fill them up. The scenery is just awesome and no city IMO can compete with Seattle for scenic beauty, whether urban or natural.

Hope this helps a bit.

[movingwiththewind]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

no city IMO can compete with Seattle for scenic beauty, whether urban or natural.

Vancouver, BC surely can.

[SonicsFan93]

Originally Posted by movingwiththewind

Vancouver, BC surely can.

So not the point of this discussion.

[JustCallMeTC]

Originally Posted by movingwiththewind

Vancouver, BC surely can.

Totally agree. Vancouver is a gem. No question. It is spectacular. I could live there in a nano second.

I'm a 3rd generation Seattle Native. I can't speak to Seattle as an outsider. Nor can I speak to Seattle as an "international" traveler. North America I know. And I know it well. I've been to 48 states, BC many. many times and several places in Mexico.

In my view, the great cities in the US have the following things in common

Water
A major college or two or three
A liberal undercurrent

The following cities fit that description IMO

Chicago
NYC
San Francisco
Austin
Boston
Seattle
Portland (both actually)
Madison

In addition to those criteria, Seattle offers unmatched scenery. The topography is other worldly. Water and mountains on two sides. Pike Place market is the finest market of its kind I've seen (Granville in Vancouver is wonderful, but not in PP's league.)

The city itself is built on seven hills (more actually), and with the topography, the views are endless and jaw dropping.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything more beautiful than a rip roaring fire colored Olympic Sunset. They've brought tears to my eyes.

The availability of fresh local seafood, local produce of all kinds, an amazing number of local fruits and the best berries in the world.

The music scene is great. The local theater scene is always hopping. Great restaurants.

Seattle's proximity to the mountains, rain forests, the ocean, 3 national parks within a 100 miles...

Pretty tough to beat.

Oh, and the weather...highly underrated. While most cities in July are dying form 95 degrees and 95% humidity...Seattle is 75 and none.

And in the winter...take your pick. 25 and snow, or 44 and rain?

[seattlenextyear]

What time of year are you coming? I'd suggest a trip to the Olympic Peninsula or Mt. Rainier if you're here during the late spring or summer. Hiking opportunities and great places for weekend trips are what convinced me to move here.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by JustCallMeTC

Totally agree. Vancouver is a gem. No question. It is spectacular. I could live there in a nano second.

I'm a 3rd generation Seattle Native. I can't speak to Seattle as an outsider. Nor can I speak to Seattle as an "international" traveler. North America I know. And I know it well. I've been to 48 states, BC many. many times and several places in Mexico.

In my view, the great cities in the US have the following things in common

Water
A major college or two or three
A liberal undercurrent

The following cities fit that description IMO

Chicago
NYC
San Francisco
Austin
Boston
Seattle
Portland (both actually)
Madison

In addition to those criteria, Seattle offers unmatched scenery. The topography is other worldly. Water and mountains on two sides. Pike Place market is the finest market of its kind I've seen (Granville in Vancouver is wonderful, but not in PP's league.)

The city itself is built on seven hills (more actually), and with the topography, the views are endless and jaw dropping.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything more beautiful than a rip roaring fire colored Olympic Sunset. They've brought tears to my eyes.

The availability of fresh local seafood, local produce of all kinds, an amazing number of local fruits and the best berries in the world.

The music scene is great. The local theater scene is always hopping. Great restaurants.

Seattle's proximity to the mountains, rain forests, the ocean, 3 national parks within a 100 miles...

Pretty tough to beat.

Oh, and the weather...highly underrated. While most cities in July are dying form 95 degrees and 95% humidity...Seattle is 75 and none.

And in the winter...take your pick. 25 and snow, or 44 and rain?

What? No San Diego on that list? I'm kidding by the way.

[azoria]

Originally Posted by SonicsFan93

So not the point of this discussion.

Originally Posted by movingwiththewind

Vancouver, BC surely can.

And so can a hundred or so other amazing places in the world.

Seattelites need to get out more often.

[Gladhove]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Hope this helps a bit.

A bit? Ha ha. That was VERY helpful. And thanks to the rest of you who commented as well. Feel free to keep the suggestions coming though, and I'll try to factor all of them into some kind of itinerary. I'm from Philadelphia, so figuring out the public transportation should be no problem; provided that Seattle's is efficient?

Ah, and I should've mentioned in my original post that I'm shooting for November or December. I know, short notice, and hopefully I can still manage to get a reasonably priced plane ticket.

Everything you've all described makes it sound like just the kind of city I'd like to live in - the scenery is very important, I'm aiming to be a "pescatarian" so low-cost local seafood would be great, and all those little coffee houses sound like the kind of place I'd be able to get some work done on my laptop - since I can never do anything at home or in school.

I'm not much of a settler, so I'd undoubtedly be renting if I moved there - how are the apartments?

Thanks again for all the feedback.

[xcalgal]

Metro Online Home Page (http://transit.metrokc.gov/ - broken link) This site should help you plan transportation.