Seattle and National parks
 

Our family, two adults, 9 year-old-son and 11 year-old-daughter are going to be in Seattle this week. Wednesday and Thursday in the city, Thursday - Sunday at Olympic National park, Monday back in the city, Tuesday out to Mr. Rainier. Would like help with plans for the city. Want to go to Aquarium,EMP, International District, Sculpture Park, Monorail, Pikes Place Market, Pioneer Square - maybe Alki beach and waterfront? Please suggestions on which days to go where and what we can skip or add. Thanks!

Group the Aquarium, Pioneer Square, and International District together. They are all mroe to the south end of downtown.

From the central part of downtown, you ride the monorail out to Seattle Center which is to the north, where you'll find the EMP, Sculpture Park, (and Seattle Center/Space Needle).

The Pike Place Market is geographically in the middle and could be combined with either of these other two areas.

Alki Beach is over in West Seattle, so you need to get there by the water taxi, rental car, or by Metro bus. It's the furthest out-of-the-way of the things you mention.

Uh, Suze....isn't the sculpture park on the waterfront? Wasn't it the root cause of the demise of the waterfront trolley?

Yes waterfront, but up toward the Seattle Center end of things. To the north of downtown so better paired w/ the Center than Pioneer Square, for example. Have no idea about the "demise" of the trolley.

You're right...starts at Broad Street, right where the old pizza place used to be. Metro used to have a service building for the trolley just north of the pizza place, astride the tracks. When the sculpture park was still just a dream, the Seattle Arts Commission said that the building had to go...and that was the end of the trolley. If'n I had my druthers, we would still have the trolley and the sculpture park would still be a dream.

I'm just sayin' where it is Bob :-)

<right where the old pizza place used to be>

That was a Shakey's, if memory serves. /digression

OP - you can walk from the Sculpture Garden down to the waterfront, hit the Aquarium, then take the water taxi from Pier 50 over to West Seattle. Be aware that Alki beach itself is about a mile from the dock, but it is an extremely pleasant walk (or you can rent a bike there at the dock).