Visiting Seattle
By far the largest city in Washington state and also the Pacific Northwest, Seattle is one of America’s favorite cities. When I first visited Seattle its population in the city limits was just under 600,000. Ten years later I returned to find that Seattle now had well over 700,000 people, with nearly four million in the metropolitan area! I forgot how big of a city Seattle was until I returned. I think it’s easily one of the best cities in the country, with a distinct local culture that separates itself from places like California, New England, or the south. Above is a photo I took of Seattle as I reentered the city on my second visit.
This photo of Seattle’s famous Space Needle was taken during my first trip. Both times I came here I made the mistake of not riding up to the top to get an incredible view. It’s hard to believe but the Space Needle is getting old. It was built over 50 years ago in 1962 and stands at 605 feet (184 meters). Architecturally, this is a pretty impressive structure. Natural disasters and violent weather aren’t unheard of in the Pacific Northwest. The Space Needle was built with 25 lightning rods, designed to withstand 200 mph (320 kph) winds, and even can survive a 9.0 earthquake! If a record breaking natural disaster is coming your way and you want to survive, run to the Space Needle.
Most visitors start their visit to Seattle in Pikes Place Market. It’s right in the heart of Seattle, and you’ll find just about everything here, from museums, classy restaurants, to all kinds of art stores and more.
Pikes Place Market seems to span only a few blocks within the city center. Since Pikes Place Market is within downtown Seattle, it is surrounded by some of the city’s highest buildings. Of course few cities can compare to New York’s skyline and skyscrapers, but regardless I’m reminded of it when seeing some of these massive buildings. For that reason Seattle is the New York City of the Pacific Northwest to me.
There’s definitely a lot of unique and fun stores in Pikes Place Market. I’m not even sure if this glass shop that I visited ten years ago is still in business, but I have a feeling this chocolate store below is here to stay.
The Pacific Northwest is a place in the United States that still has strong Native American culture. Within Pike Markets place you’ll find lots of stores selling Native American art, such as these two examples here.
Throughout the city you’ll also find Totem poles, which are popular among native culture in the Pacific Northwest. Totem poles’s meanings really depend on the person who created it. They can be used as welcome signs to visitors, to public displays of deceased ancestors, or even as ways to shame people! I’ve no idea how old or authentic this one is, but at the very least it’s made of wood versus a plastic replica.
Seattle has endless areas to explore, but it has come along way from when it was first founded. It originally suffered from poor city planning with their biggest issue being sewage. Problems with sewage and flooding were so bad there that some people even drowned in the streets! For the most part the cit was built on stilts by the water to help facilitate shipping of lumber. And of course the easy lumber meant that’s what nearly everything was built of, so the city was more or less an accident waiting to happen. In June of 1889 the Great Seattle Fire took and essentially destroyed the entire city. Despite how massive the fire was, not a single life was lost. The memorial above is dedicated to those who fought it and is located in Pioneer Square.
While the fire was devastating it also gave a chance to redesign the city. Maybe equally important, the fire killed an incredible one million rodents who were living among the population. While new plans were being drawn, impatient business owners simply just started rebuilding over the burnt out and abandoned parts of the city. I shouldn’t say all of these parts were abandoned, as a few shops and businesses still operated despite new buildings over their head. This area became locally known as the Underground. The photo above shows what Seattle originally looked like during the 19th century, below you can the remains of a street that was once above ground.
At first life continued on as normal, even in the underground. Eventually city officials declared the original parts of the city unsanitary and ordered them to be closed. These areas went from regular businesses to a dangerous underground involved in illegal drinking, gambling and prostitution. This photo above shows underground windows that once saw daylight, and look to still have soot on them from the fire. Since the underground is open to people again, a few souvenir shops like this one below have opened.
While I didn’t come across any drama in Seattle’s underground, I did see several people being arrested in Pioneer Square. Most of these people looked to be homeless, and I heard one of the police officers talking about possession as I passed by. I didn’t ask for details but it obviously looked like a drug bust.
I’m sure those being arrested were being charged with possession for something more serious than marijuana, but at the time of my first visit marijuana was illegal. Ten years later the city has liberalized its laws and smoke shops are all over Seattle. Unlike the Netherlands, you don’t smell it every corner you walk on, but you’ll have never problem finding a place to legally buy weed if you want. Although you can purchase marijuana legally, I’m still pretty sure its not legal to walk around and drink beer in public, but this guy below didn’t seem to be too concerned!
Both times I visited this city it was summer which brought near perfect weather. The vast majority of the rest of the year is known for being cold and rainy, and you can’t really get away with walking everywhere like I did. I’m curious if the underground parts of the city would complicate a subway. Maybe that’s why Seattle built up instead of further underground, and developed an efficient monorail system. When I first saw this monorail from a distance I thought it looked more like a ride from an amusement park, than public transportation. I only rode this once, and the rest of the times I walked, occasionally through sketchy alleys where I saw this dead rat below.
I’m not really how to transition from the dead rat to a new topic… but Seattle is also famous for its coffee. As a matter of fact, several famous American coffee brands first started here. The photo below is a horrible shot of the first ever Starbucks! I kind of expected it to be a giant coffee shop and more like a mini amusement park, but it was more or less still a normal Starbucks.
Tully’s is another large coffee chain that is also headquartered in Seattle. Like all cities these days, local coffee shops are becoming really popular. There’s an endless amount of coffee shops to choose from in Seattle, and it’s a perfect thing to do on a rainy day which are all too common in this city. One of the independent coffee shops I went to had some large paintings for sale by local artists. They mostly seemed to be religious based, but I loved them for their depictions of different culture across the United States. This one below shows snake handlers that live in different parts of Appalachia.
My favorite place to visit in Seattle was their waterfront. This area sits directly next to Pikes Place Market and is one of the most walkable parts of the city. This is also the departing area for many boat tours and cruises. Some cruises and ferries take you to nearby islands or other parts of Seattle, while others go as far as Alaska!
One of the most famous places I missed was the troll that lives under a bridge in Seattle. I don’t think this octopus is famous, but its at least somewhat known and easy to spot as you enter the harbor area. Not nearly as impressive as the troll however, at least from the pictures I’ve seen.
The harbor area is pretty large, with lots of fishing piers, restaurants, and nightlife. Parts like Miners Landing in the harbor offer some beautiful views of the city. You can see piers and areas of the waterfront with skyscrapers in the background. You can even get a ride from Iron Man here.
It goes without saying that the majority of restaurants built along the piers here are seafood based. I’m not a fan of seafood restaurants, so I can’t say I was in heaven here! The pier has some restaurants in the background, with a cruise ship docked out front. Both high end restaurants and more casual dining like the Fish Bar are in the waterfront area, but luckily there are also several non seafood places for people like me 🙂 .
And on the evening of my last night in Seattle, I took this photo of a boat sailing past. It might look like this was in a remote area because of the background, but this boat was sailing right past downtown Seattle. I took some light sailing lessons before, so on my next return to Seattle maybe I should try to do some sailing!s