Hi,
Where should I be in the city for holiday celebrations and fireworks? Thanks.

Karla

July 3 at the horse race track in Auburn is really awesome for a 10:30pm fireworks show.

You're still free to find something else on July 4 that way too.

In the past there have been fireworks on Lake Union and on the waterfront. If there will be fireworks on Lake Union this year, good places to stay would be Silver Cloud, Marriott Courtyard, or Residence Inn.

I prefer the Lake Union show to the Elliott Bay one. The best place to view the Lake Union show is on a boat in Lake Union or at Gasworks Park. As mentioned above, there are hotels near Lake Union to stay at, but it is close proximity to downtown Seattle any way. Oh, and for a good spot at the park, plan on spending the better part of the afternoon there.

Depends if you want to get right into the crowds and see them from the ground (i.e. gasworks park), or from a hotel view room, or by getting to a scenic outlook somewhere in the city (an outlook park), or going on your rich friends' boat on the lake! I should be embarrased to say, unless I'm invited to a party at someone's home with a view, I watch them on TV!

The flat-out, 100% best, not-as-touristy-as-you'd-think place to be that evening is on one of Argosy Cruise's Lake Union fireworks boat tours - see http://argosycruises.com.

We did it a couple of years ago, thought it would be über-kitchsy, but went because of an 80+ yr old relative not wanting to stand around all evening or sit on the ground at the park. It was so worth the money... the fireworks were going off more or less right over our heads (not really; the boat is right on the police boats' safety line.)

Thanks for the ideas everyone!