Ten Fun Things to do in Seattle and Victoria British Columbia

Looking to escape the sweltering mid-July Arizona heat, we decided to take a trip to Seattle.  The weather did not disappoint. Plenty of cloudy skies, cool temperatures, and rain gave us a nice break from the heat at home. It was lovely! As we approached the runway for landing at SeaTac Airport, we enjoyed a gorgeous view of Mt. Rainier.

No rental cars for us, we used public transportation

As usual, when we travel to a large city, we choose not to rent a car.  This way we don’t need to pay high hotel parking fees and we don’t search the city for parking while we explore. After we landed in Seattle, we headed for ground transportation where we followed signs for the Link Light Rail. It was a hike through the airport and out through the parking garage but we found the station with no difficulties. (We flew in on Delta and unfortunately Delta was furthest from the light rail station.) The walk was at least 15 minutes.  It was simple to purchase tickets with a credit card and the train arrived within minutes.  It was about a 40-minute ride to downtown where we exited the train at the Westlake Light Rail Station which was only one city block from our hotel. The light rail tickets were $3 per person. The train was clean and comfortable. Since we traveled light with only a small carry-on suitcase each, it was simple to navigate the train and the downtown streets on our walk to our hotel.

Grand Hyatt, Seattle

For the first leg of this trip, we stayed at the Grand Hyatt in downtown Seattle. From the conveniently located hotel, we could walk to Pike Place Market, the Space Needle and the Westlake Shopping Center. The room had floor to celiling windows and our corner room provided excellent city views.

 

Space Needle

After getting settled in our room, we decided to walk to the Space Needle to stretch our legs. We walked about one mile to get there. For the return trip we decided to try out the Seattle Center Monorail. It reminded me of the Disney monorails. The cost was $2.50 per person and it dropped us off at the Westlake Center Mall Station which is right near our hotel.

Update:  The newly remodeled Space Needle now features a revolving glass floor named The Loupe. This looks intense! I need to take another trip there to check out this new revovation. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to walk around on a glass floor 650 feet above the ground.

Pike Place Market

We spent most of the next day exploring the Pike Place Market.  There were so many delicious food offerings we snacked our way through the market. The market is HUGE!  It covers nine acres!  My advice — wear comfortable walking shoes and arrive hungry.  After we finished with all the delicious foods, we could barely waddle back to our hotel room.

Don’t miss the gum wall at Pike Place Market

One tourist attraction we wanted to be sure to check out was the famous “gum wall.” Located just outside the main entrance to the market is the gum wall. Go down the ramp on Pike Street and turn left.  You’ll see the gum wall.  It was as gross and as cool as it sounds.  Chewed bubble gum COVERED the entire wall. Used gum has been added since the early 1990’s.  After a complete cleaning in 2015 the gum came back, and not just a small amount of gum. The gum covers both sides of the alleyway for about 50 feet!  The Seattle gum wall holds the distinction of being number two on the list of Top Five Germiest Tourist Attractions.  Second only to the Blarney Stone in Ireland, and that’s because people actually put their lips on the Blarney Stone.  In general, with the gum wall, people use their fingers to put the chewed gum on the wall.  However, check out this photo of Kevin at the gum wall.

He didn’t catch any strange diseases from the photo op but, consider yourself warned, if you get this close to the wall you will get multiple pieces of chewed gum stuck to the bottom of your shoes.  When visiting the gum wall be sure to walk down the center of the street!

Ride the Ducks of Seattle

The next tourist adventure for us was a tour on the Ride The Ducks of Seattle. This is a combination open-air tour bus/boat operated with a fleet of DUKW vehicles. The DUKW is an amphibious landing craft developed by the United States Army during World War II. The DUKW’s used on the tour have been updated and upgraded to carry passengers. It was a great day for exploring and the enthusiastic tour guide took us through several different areas of Seattle narrating history and background of the areas we toured.  The most exciting part was when we entered the water at Union Lake.

The Duck boat took us past the houseboats where people live year-round on the water. This is also the location of the houseboat from the  Sleepless in Seattle movie. Does that floating house on the far left look familiar?

The Duck boat does get close to some large ships in the water.

Bring your passport and head to Victoria, British Columbia via the ferry

The next day we checked out of our hotel and headed to Canada.  We took the Victoria Clipper, a high-speed, passenger-only ferry to get to Victoria, British Columbia. It was a rainy day for our water crossing. The ferry takes slightly less than three hours. The crew passed out motion sickness medication as we left port, and they made several announcements encouraging everyone to take advantage of the medicine.  I highly recommend taking the drugs.  I tend to suffer from motion sickness on any moving plane/train/automobile/boat so I happily accepted the medicine. The ride was very choppy; the ferry bounced up and down most of the way there. As we neared Victoria, other people who didn’t take advantage of the free medicine started to get sick. What a miserable way to start a vacation.

As  we neared the harbor, the crew began to circulate around the aisles offering tickets for tour packages for transportation to and admission to Butchart Gardens with return transportation to the hotels.  As this was an attraction we planned to visit, we bought the tickets on board the ship.  This made the whole process simple.

Butchart Gardens

After clearing Canadian Customs, when we disembarked in Canada, we went outside directly to a waiting tour bus and settled in for the ride to the gardens.  Along the way the driver talked about the history of the area and pointed out interesting sights.  However, as motion sickness medicine causes drowsiness and the driver had the most soothing voice imaginable, we ended up falling asleep and only woke up when we arrived at the gardens. We arrived on a rainy day but the gardens prepared for the rain and handed out clear umbrellas for guests to borrow.

 

 

 

Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour

After wandering around the gardens for several hours, it was back to our bus for the ride to our hotel.  We stayed at the Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour. From the conveniently located hotel, we were able to walk to restaurants and shops in the Inner Harbor area.

Eat the Poutine

After a short walk from the hotel, we came across The Pink Bicycle Cafe — a small restaurant that fortunately they had a table available.  The menu featured burgers and, of course, we tried the poutine. Both were delicious. The service was friendly and not rushed.  It was a great way to end our first day in Canada.

Tour Craigdarroch Castle

The next day we woke up to sunshine and beautiful weather. We were able to walk to Craigdarroch Castle where we took a self-guided tour. The outside looks like a castle but the inside is a beautifully furnished Victorian-era home. Construction of the castle finished in 1890.

 

Visit the Legislative Building

Even if you’re not a night owl, be sure to head out at dusk to see the Legislative Building illuminated after dark. Unfortunately I didn’t have a tripod so the photo is blurry but all of the edges of the building and the outlines of each window are lit. It’s beautiful to see.

Fly on a Seaplane

The most exciting part of our visit to Victoria was our return trip.  We booked a flight on a Kenmore Air seaplane!  The plane takes off from the Inner Harbor in Victoria and lands on Lake Union in Seattle.  This is the same lake we navigated with the Duck Tour.

This is definitely the smallest plane I’ve ever flown in.  As we climbed in to board the plane, the pilot said that someone needed to sit in the copilot seat.  Kevin volunteered.  He had the best view of anyone on the plane, a front-seat view.

And by climbed in I do mean “climbed”, the plane is not tall enough to stand up in!  There was a small ladder at the door to climb up into the plane.  You had to be extra careful not to whack your head when getting in. They loaded our suitcases into the back area of the plane behind a cargo net.  One point to note, if you’re thinking of taking the seaplane, they force you to pack light.  Each person can only have 25 pounds (11kg) of TOTAL baggage weight, regardless of the number of bags. ALL items are weighed and count toward the allowance — this includes your hand-carried items such as purses, laptops, backpacks, and bags. In addition, no single item may exceed 50 linear inches (127cm) (length + width + height); this is the size of a standard 10 in. x 16 in. x 24 in. (25cm x 41cm x 61cm) carry-on bag.  You cannot bring a full-sized suitcase onboard. Here is a view inside our plane.

As we flew over the water, we could see ferries traveling between Seattle and Victoria far below us.

Flying is the quickest way to get from Victoria to Seattle.  The flight was only 45 minutes long, much quicker than the three-hour ferry ride. On the approach to Lake Union you’ll see kayakers and other boats in the water.  I wondered how the pilot avoids these when landing!

Rent a Kayak and Paddle on Lake Union

Our last day in Seattle, Kevin rented a kayak and paddled around Lake Union.  He specifically asked if there were any restrictions or rules — knowing that seaplanes landed in the same water he planned to paddle.  The people at the kayak rental place told him that the pilots watch out for the boats and that boats have the right of way over planes! Update:  This summer (2018), due to increased use of the lake, the City of Seattle installed “Seaplane advisory buoys” in Lake Union.  When a seaplane lands or takes off, a lighted beacon on the buoy will flash yellow to alert boaters about the plane. If you are on the water and see the flashing beacon, you’re instructed to move 200 feet to the east or west.

What would you add to a list of Seattle activities?  I’m planning a return trip soon.

 

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