In summer Seattle is a great town for families. The mix of temperate weather and sun is ideal for cruising Puget Sound and for discovering the city's attractions. A gateway for families exploring the Pacific Northwest, Seattle features a first-rate science center, gold rush history, scenic waterfront and kid-friendly hotels. On your way to Alaska's Inside Passage or to the San Juan Islands, take some time to linger in Seattle. Here are our picks for a Seattle family urban adventure.
Save almost 50% of the admission price to six attractions- the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Aquarium, Seattle Art Museum, Museum of Flight, Woodland Park Zoo-- by purchasing a Seattle City Pass, available at any of the attractions.
BEST CITY SITES
Pacific Science Center, 200 Second Avenue North, (206-443-2001), www.pacsci.org. Plan to spend at least half-a-day here exploring the more than 200 hands-on exhibits in seven buildings. The fun begins outdoors in the courtyard where you can shoot big sprays of water at the kinetic sculpture and ride a high-wire gravity bike.
At exhibits in building 1 kids learn about the human body by testing their flexibility, measuring how high they jump, and examining their eyes for color blindness. Little kids (44-inches and under) float boats, play with blocks, and walk through a small maze at building 2 's Just For Tots center. In Building 3 shoot Virtual hoops, create cartoons with computers, play tic-tac-toe with an industrial robot and use a lever to lift 550-pounds. Check out the changing exhibits in building 4 as well as the Boeing IMAX Theater, which shows features on a screen 60-feet high and 80-feet wide. Bugs dominate the Ackerley Family Exhibit Gallery, a combination of a tropical butterfly house and exhibits on insects.
Seattle Art Museum, 100 University Street, (206-654-3100). The 40-foot high black steel kinetic sculpture "Hammering Man" by Jonathan Borofsky's is the first thing that intrigues gradeschoolers at the Seattle Art Museum. There are many more items of interest inside so don't skip this downtown branch which focuses on African, Native American and Aboriginal art. Kids tend to like the Australian Aboriginal baskets and didgerados, vivid masks with feathers from Zaire, elephant masks with tusks from the Ivory Coast and videos of African dancers wearing ritual regalia. In the gallery featuring baskets and textiles, learn about the smooth, flowing lines used by the Haida people as well as the Tlingit's use of bold reds and blacks in robes and carvings. The dramatic Sqalalitut, or spirit room, displays wolf masks and red cedar houseposts with intricate carvings. Press a button and you hear a Lummi paddling song as well as songs for marriage ceremonies.
Pike Place Market, First Avenue at Pike Street (206-682-7453), Pike Place Market is one of the city's top attractions. This is a great place to buy produce, cheese, fresh seafood (packed in dry ice for transport home), crafts, flowers and baked goods. Don't miss Pike Place Fish, 86 Pike Place (206-682-7181; 800-542-7732) a prominent booth, where staff hurl salmon and other catches over customers' heads to the delight of onlookers. Look for the stall under the market clock. Because Pike Place Market is so popular, avoid the crowds by getting here for breakfast.
BEST BEWARE-Maybe Not Worth the Money
We had mixed feelings about the Space Needle. It can get pricey for a family to ride to the top for a view that, as the elevator operators warn, could be "125 shades of gray." Save the Space Needle for a sunny and clear day when Mt. Ranier, Mt. Baker, and the Cascade and Olympic ranges are visible from the top level observation deck.
Surrounding the Space Needle is the Seattle Center, a park that's a bit tawdry looking. The carousel, Ferris wheel, log flume and other amusements plus the cotton candy vendors give the place a "carny" ambiance; nonetheless, young kids like the rides, especially the little kids' roller coaster and bumper cars.
BEST CITY TOUR
Gold Fever: Bill Spiedel's Underground Tour, (206-682-5047). Seattle has a lot to see outdoors and even underground. Seattle served as a gateway for the hopeful and the hearty seeking their fortunes in the Yukon during the late 1890s gold strikes. The Pioneer Square Historic District preserves some of the places where prospectors bought supplies and boarded ships for the north. Many of the buildings with their original facades are now shops or eateries. However, the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Visitors Center displays photographs, mining tools, supplies and other era items.
The best way to get gold rush fever and learn Seattle history is to take Bill Spiedel's Underground Tour. A guide leads you through a level of buildings below ground created by the regrading of streets in 1892. Merchants stored prospecting supplies here until 1907 when the Underground closed due to an outbreak of Bubonic Plague. After that, bootleggers, prostitutes and opium dealers made use of the subterranean tunnels. What you see isn't so interesting-rocks, wooden pillars, and empty store rooms-but humorous anecdotes punctuate the monologue. The good-natured bawdiness and bathroom humor is best appreciated by gradeschoolers and teens. The tour is fun, but long at 90-minutes. We ducked out after one hour.
BEST CITY STROLLS
Piers 51 to 70. Spend some time walking the waterfront, which stretches from Pier 51 to Pier 70. Argosy Cruise Boats offers scenic harbor tours and restaurants such as Ivar's Fish Bar have been serving fish and chips and salmon sandwiches since 1938. Another harborside attraction is the Seattle Aquarium, Pier 59. This aquarium can't compare to the mega-facilities in many other cities. That said, younger kids may be interested in the giant Pacific octopus, the tank of neon colored star fish, the toothy sharks, the slowly pulsating moon jellies and Sound to the Mountains: A Watershed Journey, featuring a 15-foot waterfall, a salmon stream and three playful river otters. In the Marsh room children can crawl through old-growth forest logs and try on animal and nature-themed costumes.
BEST PLACES TO STAY
Mayflower Park Hotel, 405 Olive Way, (800-426-5100). Our favorite place to stay in Seattle is the Mayflower Park Hotel. The well-located property is adjacent to the Westlake Center, a shopping mall that anchors the monorail. The other end of the monorail is the Seattle Center. Staying at the Mayflower Park gives you easy access to many attractions, eateries and shops. The 172 room hotel, bigger than a boutique property but smaller than a chain, has personality and comfortable rooms. The junior suites feature a pull-out couch in the sleeping area and a bedroom separated by a half-wall. The hotel's restaurant, Andaluca, has won awards for its tasty mixture of Mediterranean and Pacific Northwest cuisine.
Inn at the Market, 86 Pine Street (800-446-4484), www.innatthe market.com. The 4-star , 65-room boutique hotel the Inn at the Market, is another property families should consider. While the inn caters mostly to couples on getaways, the lodging's location near Pike Place Market, its good service, small courtyard and a deck with harbor views make the property family-friendly. The rooms and suites are furnished in a country French style.
--Candyce H. Stapen, is the author of Great Family Vacations Mid-West & Rocky Mountain Region, Second Edition (Globe Pequot Press).
