Hi Fodorites! Need your input. Heading to Seattle for 7 days in October, with 15 & 12 yr old. Right now we're thinking spending Sun.-Tues in town, seeing Pike's Market, Needle, Museums, etc. Then heading out to Olympic Pen. for 2 nights for hiking, with a day trip out of Port Angeles to Victoria. What's your opinion? We'd love to hear about some unusual places, like resturants, attractions, trails, etc. Will the Duck tours be going in October? Is the underground tour cheesy or memorable? Thanks, and I am so jealous of you frequent travelers!

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Sounds like a good trip, but you may want to ensure that the museums you want to visit are open on the days you want to visit them. Also, I think the duck tours have a website (try google) that will talk about the days of their tours. The underground tour is pretty good - people have a good time on it (at least people I've sent to go on it). Enjoy your trip out here.

Not sure about the weather at that time. We went in April. Did your itinerary and then some and it was great. Enjoyed Space Needle, the Market and the rain forest on Olympic coast, as well as the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria. While in Victoria, I recall the Buschart(sp?)Gardens, very quaint restaurants, Capilano Suspension bridge, Grouse Mountain and wonderful scenery. The time spent in Seattle, as well as the drive from Seattle through towns such as Bremerton, were equally as enjoyable. Have a great trip!

Went on the Underground Tour last June, it's cheesy, but worth it...the kids will especially love it. I think I'd spend one more day in the Olympia National Forest, it is so very beautiful...so much to see & lots of great hiking. I don't know about the weather in October though, we had rain in June, but it didn't stop us. Victoria is beautiful too, we spent 2 nights there, a day trip would be fine w/ kids.

Umm. . .weather in October - it's dependent - there have been times when we've had sunny and 70 degree weather, other times it's rained. The rain we have here is NOT like rain elsewhere in the country - only tourists bring umbrellas! Bring your gore-tex; you should be fine (I'd also suggest just checking weather.com before you come to see what they're predicting). BTW, there is an excellent butterfly museum and science center at the Needle (actually called Seattle Center) and there is a good exhibit on the Titantic (need tickets). There is also a fairly good zoo (the baby elephant is currently the headliner!) here as well that your kids might enjoy. The arboretum and the Japanese Gardens are also worth a visit if you have the time.

Also, I believe that the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain are located in Vancouver, B.C., not Victoria, right?

Thanks lily, susan, 1dsant. Good to know I've planned right. My oldest is very interested in art museums. I see on citysearch that there are three museums in Seattle. Could you tell me which one would have more painting and sculpture, rather than photographs, etc.? And do you have a favorite hiking trail in Olympic Park? Lily, if you spent a night in Port Angeles, where did you stay? Thanks so much!

The Seattle Art Museum is nice but their collection is bland to me (I'm an illustrator)unless they have a visiting show at the time-like the John Singer Sargent show that left here a few months ago. I suggest the Frye Art Museum-its near downtown, walking distance from the Sorrento Hotel. They have a lovely collection of paintings...and good traveling exhibitions as well.
(Also-a day trip to Mt. St. Helens is well worth it!)

Unfortunately I agree with Leslieh re the SAM exhibits, although when you're here they'll be showing an exhibit of Annie Liebovitz's photos, which I'm looking forward to, otherwise the Frye or Henry Gallery at the University of Washington are good, like the SAM more notable for their architecture than their collections. The "old" SAM building in Volunteer Park is still the nicest of the bunch IMO, now given over entirely to Asian art, a really good collection if you like it. Frankly, I'd bet the best museum experience you could have on this trip is the Royal BC Museum in central Victoria (short walk from the ferry dock) with its best-in-the-world collection of totem poles and other NW Coastal Indian art, plus ongoing art exhibits including a current one about Emily Carr - fun. http://www.rbcm.gov.bc.ca/ Frankly I'd skip Butchart Gardens (so-so in autumn, anyway) and spend more time downtown and at the museum.

October on the Olympic Peninsula is more likely to be dry on the north coast (Port Angeles, Hurricane Ridge) than on the west coast, but you won't melt and there are so many good things to experience. Mind your time, though. Things are spread out on the Peninsula and you can spend a lot of time in the car unless you plan ahead.

Thanks leslieh and john, for all your information. I've been checking out the Olympic Pen. and wonder where you think would be a good home base, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Fork?

Port Townsend is the cutest but the farthest away from most of the National Park attractions; Forks is an economically depressed lumber town which I think most visitors would find a bit dreary, so I guess that leaves PA. Crescent Lake, a little west of PA, would probably be my pick but not sure of availability, etc. in October. The farther west you go, e.g., Forks, the higher the probablilty that it will be wet.

Hope you don't come away from this discussion with the idea that visiting the Frye Museum rather than the Seattle Art Museum is one with which there is wide agreement. The SAM is not even close to the art museums of bigger cities, BUT the Frye Museum is aimed at a pretty narrow niche. The SAM collections are neither broad nor deep. (One surprising strength is a good collection of African art.)Sure, this is not the Art Institute of Chicago or the Metropolitan Museum, but there are a few things that should stimulate most anyone. Not sure I could say that about the Frye. The Henry Museum is definitely worth a look. If you are here in October I think a not-to-be missed attraction is the Seattle Symphony. Their website will tell you what is being performed; the music is usually quite good and the hall is beautiful.

I agree - the SAM is great for a run through - not a great museum though which is kind of surprising for a city that LOVES art! However, I'd also suggest the Bellevue Art Museum. It just reopened and there are some good pieces in it that you may want to see. You may also want to check out seattleweekly.com which lists all of the galleries/art shows/etc. that are going on for the week.

Hi..

I come from Seattle I definately recommend you check out this site..

The will give you the "Best of" by seattle residents and visitors..

http://best.citysearch.com/categories/seattle/2001

Excellent site - gets better each month.

Have a great time.

Speaking as a tourist who took a first trip to Seattle last year, the Underground tour was fun,yes, touristy, but that's what I was. There are some nice galleries to browse in Pioneer Square. If you're interested in Inuit art, there are a couple lovely galleries with nice things. We loved Pike Market and the little restaurants. The Needle was a wonderful surprise. We expected a lot of tourist hype and souvenirs and it was really very well done. I've never been outside the city--am waiting to go again (our ferry to Victoria was turned around because of winds and we never made it up there), but it's a great smaller city to visit.