10 Must-Dos in Seattle

Well, on those nights where it's late and I'm tired, I think a simple subject is in order! Not to say that doing these 10 things will actually be simple, but at least they are all neatly laid out for me and I can wrap my mind around them without much real trouble.

I picked up a "Seattle Visitor's Guide" at the airport when I went to pick up Sayaka a couple of weeks ago (Sayaka is a college student from Japan who's staying with us for a few months). I thought it would just be for my clients, but when I started leafing through it, I found it to be full of interesting and even exciting things I felt I just had to rush out and do! These 10 things must be on top of the list!

I am not going into much detail tonight, but at least I can get the 10 things in and then go from there.

1. Ride the Space Needle
2. Explore the Pike Place Market
My Virtual Tour of Pike Place Market
3. Investigate Bill Speidel's Underground Tour
4. Study the Seattle Public Library
5. Dip Into the Seattle Aquarium
6. Wander the Seattle Waterfront
7. Go Wild for Woodland Park Zoo
8. Stroll Olympic Sculpture Park
My Virtual Tour of Olympic Sculpture Park
9. Take A Ferry
10. Trip to Tillicum Village

I know that visitors to the city can get a CityPass and a Go Seattle Card but I still have to check out exactly what these involve. Anyway, since I live here it will be much better to take it slowly and really enjoy each of these awsome ideas for exploring Seattle...I believe everything is better if

Wet with Silver Skies

Today I spent the entire day in West Seattle. We started with cupcakes and coffee at Cupcake Royale at Alaska Junction...that's the large and strollable intersection of Alaska and California. There are 2 rival cupcake and coffee bakery/cafes there, both seem to have wifi and filled with people intent on some vital inner thought... of course it is impossible to know whatis on their mind, but everyone I looked at seemed to have intent expressions...a man in a t shirt with a laptop in front of him, a young woman sitting quite still looking out the window, two cupcakes under plastic domes on the round table in front of her... Within only a few steps is a great used bookstore, a junk/antique store, a bread bakery... anyway, we met a client, sat down had cupcakes (mine was lemon frosted, yum) and planned our ittenary from a selection of homes I'd printed out and brought along that fit within her criteria, and then we all piled into Jim's Jeep and commenced to zig zag West Seattle in search of the perfect 3 bedroom home...saw some very nice ones in fact! There were also a couple that were priced as great investments but needed quite a bit of work, which was not what we wanted on this day. However, we found that one particular neighborhood, ..., had a lot of houses that really might work. In particular one with 1800 square feet and a really great remodeled kitchen was pleasing. It was built in 1912 and retained the solid character, great moldings, and nooks and interesting spaces, but had been redone and really would be easy and rewarding to live in. Great day.

Smartest City Ever

I am intrigued by this month's Seattle Metropolitan Magazine. There are several great articles, but this one caught my eye right away...Smartest City! This is what I have been hearing everyone talk about for the past summer. First I learned the statistic that Seattle is actually the Most Educated city in the country. Not only is there a great educational system, but then the tech industries draw even more people with lots of degrees and achievements under their belts...now imagine all these people in a relatively small space. I'm going to discuss this a bit more with some of my sources of Seattle Lore, but love this quote from the magazine:

"How Seattle is inventing the future, winning the Space Race, saving lives, and spreading the religion of international geekdom."

It goes on..."Not that it's news to you, but you're living in the brainiest city on the planet. Seattle ranks as the most literate and educated place in America. We have the most bookstores, the highest number of advanced degrees. And we are changing the world...for decades companies like Microsoft and Boeing have lured brainiacs to our fair city. When those minds set out on their own, take up hobbies, or spawn the next generation of geniuses, the results alter the planet. Technology from Seattle is saving lives around the globe, revolutionizing the way information is processed...Seattleites were the first to embrace a word that was formerly a term of derision: geek. Geeks are problem solvers. Geeks aren't afraid to flaunt their astronomical IQs. Embracing the term means embracing the idea that intellect is power, that our minds can overcome any obstacle, that our knack for high-level thinking should be celebrated. Let's face it, geeks run the planet and Seattle is the geekiest place there is. Here's why:"

It goes on to talk about Kirkland's Bungie Studios (gaming..."thumb to thumb combat"), UW Computer Science Professor Oren Etzioni (data mining..."The Sultan of Search"), Dr. Daniel Rubens of Children's Hospital (cause of sudden infant death syndrome..."Man of the Ear"), UW physicist John Cramer (physics/time travel "Back to the Photon Future), The Liftport Group, Bremerton (aerospace/space elevator..."the 27,280,000th floor"), Microsoft product team manager Brad Wright (aerospace ... "backyard rocketeer"), CellarTracker's Eric LeVine(data storage..."Cyber Tipplers"), Allen Institute for Brain Science (biomed..."Mind Over Gray Matter"), Belltown-based Cranium, Pioneer Square's Sceneit, Renton's Wizards of the Coast (entertainment...brainy board games), Western Washington U's Eric Leonhardt & students (energy..."Cow Pie Power"), and eight or nine others.

Wow, I'm stunned. I knew I kept meeting really smart people, but...better get geeking! And by the way, if you are my client reading this, I'd be happy to send you a copy of this month's magazine if you don't have it!

SeattleCentric

This is going to be fun! I've been needing a place to record the events of my explorations and daily ups and downs in this green and enchanting city. Now that we're going into fall, it feels like the perfect time to get going on my blog, as the kids are back in school and I have time to explore.

In fact a couple days ago I went out to Duvall to look at a home for someone and I stopped for a few minutes and did a few photos of Main Street. It has been a while since I was last there, and I have always wanted to stop in the Antique Store down on the next block from the bookstore, so I will have to get back there soon... maybe I can get my friend Caroline to meet me there and have lunch. There were about 5 restaurants that looked really good!

I'm pasting the address of my little virtual tour of Duvall in. You have to know that this is JUST THE BEGINNING of Duvall, just a quick brush over the surface! Meanwhile, I also found some great websites on Duvall, and a little history. To be included next time...
A quick tour of Main Street in Duvall.