Jaunted - Tag: Seattle Field Trip

Seattle: Jaunted's On a Boat! (The Water Taxi to West Seattle)

juliana — 2009-05-08T16:37:31-05:00

This week Jaunted editor Juliana will be sharing her experiences from a recent field trip to Seattle where she wasn't afraid to do all the touristy things in town. Any questions or tips? Let us know.

On our last day in Seattle, we needed one more touristy thing to round out our weekend of tourist excursions. So we headed on down to the Pier 55 to take a water taxi to West Seattle.

The Pier here is not as huge as the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and fortunately, not as gross. But the numerous t-shirt and souvenirs shops, dodgy food stands, street musicians and "family" restaurants along the pier reassure you that yes, you have walked into a tourist trap.

One stand-out is the 100-year-old Ye Olde Curiosity Shop which is a really strange place and not in a cool/strange way. There are weird nautical and non-nautical mementos and objects inside and the sign out front when we walked in was advertising Mexican Jumping Beans. Weird, right?

Seattle: Hot Peanuts and Beer at the Seattle Mariners Safeco Field

juliana — 2009-05-07T16:48:55-05:00

We're big fans of checking out the local sports scene when visiting new cities. Going to games gives you an experience that lasts a few hours (while sitting down), involves drinking beer, eating hot peanuts and being loud. Plus it's a great way to see how the locals take pride in their hometown. And it's the one place where you won't feel like a total tourist.

So when we visited Seattle and learned that the Seattle Mariners were playing the Oakland A's, we bought some tickets.

This being rainy Seattle, Safeco Field (Pronounced: Safe-Co) has a retractable roof that covers, but doesn't enclose, the ballpark. The night game we attended was during a downpour so the roof was up which kept everyone nice and dry but it was still cold. Luckily we had with us a hat and the aforementioned hot peanuts and beer.

Seattle: The Experience Music Project Brings Back Fond Memories of Grunge

juliana — 2009-05-06T15:23:02-05:00

Once we fought the urge to buy space noodle pasta at the Space Needle we moseyed on over to the Experience Music Project, an interactive music museum within the fanciful building designed by Frank Gehry. It's also attached to the Science Fiction Museum, making it the perfect stop for geeks. Kidding!

The tickets for the EMP/SFM are $15 and while we didn't pick up an audio tour, they do have them on iPod Nanos for $3 which we thought was cool. That said, the Experience Music Project is very navigable without an audio tour.

Seattle: Contemplating Space Noodle Pasta at the Space Needle

juliana — 2009-05-05T13:46:37-05:00

After a trip to the Pike Place Market in Seattle, your next big touristy stop is the Space Needle. Inspired by the TV Tower in Stuttgart and built in 1962 for the World Fair, the Space Needle is practically what put Seattle on the map--in the days before Nirvana and Starbucks, of course.

Today the monument is open pretty much from 9am-11pm everyday. Tickets cost $16 for a ride up to the top for adults and if you plan on seeing any of the other Seattle museums or the Seattle Aquarium on your trip, you can buy a ticket package. (Word is, you really only see savings if you plan on going to three or more of these.)

Seattle: Getting Touristy at The Pike Place Market

juliana — 2009-05-04T15:44:15-05:00

The first place to hit up in Seattle is without a doubt, The Pike Place Market, a 102-year-old institution dubbed "The Soul of Seattle." What started as a traditional farmer's market has evolved into one of the largest tourist attraction in the Northwest.

A sign of how touristy this market is? Group tours regularly gather around the fish stands and the fish sellers put on a big show of tossing around humongous fresh fish. Word is, locals buy this fresh fish but with all that tossing around we have to wonder.