visiting seattle 101

I haven't had a great family vacation in a few years, so this past weekend when my cousins and aunt and uncle visited Seattle was tons of fun. I'm still out here for a while longer, hanging around Belltown, but they were only in town for 4 days. So my cousin and I took them all around to see the city, and I figured I'd list our itinerary here, since it's a decent list of things to see in one of my favorite cities.

Day One Arrive at Seatac, travel to Belltown to drop off luggage. Walk to Pike Place Market, make sure to pick up some good food at places like Piroshky Piroshky and Daily Dozen Doughnuts. Walk down First Ave to Harbor Steps. Walk halfway down Harbor Steps to Post Alley, head down to Pioneer Square. Stop in at lots of galleries, make your way to Cafe Umbria for an affrogato (espresso poured over gelato) and eat it on the chairs in the courtyard area. Then either catch a free route 99 bus up to Belltown, or walk back. Cook what you got from the market, eat dinner on a deck with a view of Elliott Bay.

Day Two If you're here on the right weekend, travel to Bellevue for the Bellevue Arts Fair. Marvel at all the crafts. Duck into Nordstroms. Eat some ice cream for lunch. Head home to Belltown, walk around the neighborhood a bit, then go up to Golden Gardens Park for the sunset. The beach is great in the evening, even if the water is freezing. If the art fair isn't around, you could go to Woodland Park Zoo or Volunteer Park.

Day Three If it's Sunday, go to Fremont for the Sunday Market and brunch and shopping. If you're feeling ambitious, you could also head over to Ballard. Head home after lunch, walk around downtown, then cook up some more food from Pike Place Market and watch a movie.

Day Four Tour the Olympic Sculpture Park and the Space Needle. Head up to the Japanese Garden in the Arboreteum, then go out for some Thai food. Afterwards, you could fit in a ferry ride.

There, that's the perfect four day visit to Seattle! The most important piece is huge dinners every night with everything from Pike Place market- squash soup, big salads, green beans, olive bread, skagit mud brownies, fruit pies and tarts, and lots of family.