Would it make sense to park either at SeaTac or one of the other stops on the light rail line? http://www.soundtransit.org/Schedules/Central-Link-light-rail.xml
The central core of Seattle still has free bus service.
You can get secure parking near the airport at about $11/day.
The fare from SeaTac to downtown is $2.75 each way.

I have used this link and had good luck...BTW not jsut for Seattle..can use for other cities I.E. San Francisco, Washington DC...

http://seattle.bestparking.com/#

Also, is there a 1 day or two day pass that covers local transportation?

No. And there is no longer a "ride free" zone. Something to consider when booking a room.

Diamond operates the most parking lots in Seattle: http://www.diamondparking.com

If you call them, they are helpful and they will tell you which of their lots are cheapest: (206) 284-3100 or (800) 340-PARK

HTTY

And there is no longer a "ride free" zone. Something to consider when booking a room.

The free zone will remain in effect until September, so it will work for the OP.

Park and Ride locations in North Seattle: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/parknride/pr-north-seattle.html

Ride free zones are not eliminated until September 29.

I wish I could say just come and park at my house but we are not convenient to public transit. Park and Rides do not allow overnight parking. There are some meter-free on-street parking areas, in neighborhoods on Capitol Hill, and there used to be lots of them along Alaska Way south of the ferry but they have re-configured that area and probably have eliminated them. Maybe someone else can say for sure.

Thirty dollars a day is outrageous and way more than you would pay at a park 'n pay lot. But with those you would have to move your car to on-street parking for the night, or pay for overnight in the lot.

Can you delay picking up the car until you are ready to leave downtown?

Thanks for catching my mistake about the ride free zone.

Returning home from downtown last night, I had to pay my fare when boarding rather than when departing, as I usually do. You reminded me that I paid my fare up front because there are no free rides after 7:00 p.m. rather than because the ride free zone has already met its sad end.

HTTY

Thanks a lot for the many very helpful answers!

You can park on Capitol Hill. 15th Ave East to the east side of Volunteer Park has no time limit or zone restrictions (72 hrs on the street is the legal limit). The #10 bus to downtown stops right there. This would be a lot closer to downtown than using the Greenlake Park & Ride.

Thanks again, Suze. This is even better. We will arrive around mid-day on Thursday. What are the chances that we find a spot there if you have had any experience on a weekeday?

Are there zone restrictions on 14th Avenue East between Aloha and Prospect? I see cars that seem to be parking there for an extended period when I go for my morning walk.

HTTY

We just returned after a few great days in Seattle. Wanted to thank one more time for the great suggestions. We ended up parking as Suze suggested on Capitol Hill, on 15th Ave E between E Aloha and E Ward St. There were plenty of parking spots along 15th and on side streets next to Volunteer park. As a bonus we walked through the very nice park which otherwise we would have not visited. We walked from there to Seattle Center and took bus #10 when we went to pick up the car.

Just before our departure Metro sent me an Email and confirmed that at the Green Lake Park and Ride still allows free parking for 72 hours. This was our backup solution, had we not found parking near Volunteer park.

One more piece of info that those lucky enough to be older than 55 might find beneficial: Metro's customer service office
at 201 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98104 (Hours Mon - Fri: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.)issues for $3 an ORCA card for seniors which allows seniors who fill out the application for the card to pay $.75 (instead of $2.25) for a ride on Metro. For details see http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/accessible/reduced_fare_permit.html#where