As a wedding gift, my friend Tim bought us a train ride from Seattle to Chicago on the Amtrak Empire Builder line. We had been visiting Tim for a week after flying out from Chicago, and he said the train would be a great experience for me and Marisol.
Chihuly Garden and Glass is an art museum at Seattle Center in Seattle, Washington. Located next to the Space Needle, it showcases the works of local artist Dale Chihuly and opened in 2012. In addition to the exhibits, there’s also a gift shop, café, and meeting space.
Olympic Sculpture Park is a public park affiliated with the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). It’s located a short walk from Seattle Center near the waterfront. Admission is free and the park is open 365 days a year.
If you want the best views of Seattle without paying a ridiculous price to ride up an elevator, head to Kerry Park. Located on an upscale street in the Queen Anne neighborhood, the park is the perfect place to watch the sunset.
The Ballard Locks are a fun place to visit while in Seattle. Officially known as the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, they opened in 1917 and are completely free to all vessels. It’s one of the busiest lock systems in the entire country, allowing passage between Puget Sound and Lake Union and Lake Washington via Salmon Bay and the Fremont Cut.
Capitol Hill is a lively residential area in Seattle. It’s the center of the city’s LGBT community and features some of the best nightlife.
The Chinatown-International District in Seattle has a high concentration of businesses owned by people of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese descent. There are some great places to eat, shop, and a fantastic museum.
The 42 story Smith Tower is Seattle’s first skyscraper. It opened on July 4, 1914, as the tallest building outside New York City. Construction of the building, located in Pioneer Square, was funded by Lyman Smith from the Smith-Corona company.
Pioneer Square is where the city of Seattle was born. Settled in 1852, buildings around the square were heavily damaged in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. The area’s Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, dating back to the 1890s, was saved from demolition by preservationists such as Bill Speidel and Victor Steinbrueck in the 1960s.
Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour is an entertaining walk through Seattle’s origins at Pioneer Square. The tour is named for Bill Speidel, a journalist and preservationist who started the tours in 1965. He helped save the Pioneer Square historic district from demolition.