My father, his wife, and their 11 year-old son are going to Seattle the week of July 12th thru the 18th for my cousin's wedding. They will have some time for themselves to sightsee. They are looking for suggestions on things to do as a family that an eleven year-old boy would be interested in. A couple of ideas I had for them would be to go to a Mariners game and also see the Space Needle. Can anyone give any other recommendations? Thanks for any assistance.

The Experience Music Project (EMP), right next to the Space Needle is an amazing 'museum' celebrating music, with tons of hands-on exhibits and demos. Also right there is the Pacific Science Center, with a cool fossils exhibit going on right now. Yes, the Space Needle's observation deck is a good place to visit too. There's also a small amusement park there.

A ferry ride would be fun. They could just hop on the ferry in downtown Seattle (Colman Dock), and take a round-trip to Bremerton or Bainbridge Island. If they have a car, they could take it on the ferry, then take a loop drive; I'd take the Bainbridge Island ferry, drive across the island, cross over to the 'mainland', then drive north to Kingston, where you can take another ferry to Edmonds, and back to Seattle.

A boat tour is fun too. Check out Argosy (www.argosycruises.com) for various harbor cruises. They also go to a nearby Blake Island's Tillicum Village for dinner and and NW Coast Native American dance show. Another thing is to go on a 'Duck' tour(www.ridetheducksofseattle.com) of the harbor, which is a bit hokey, but an 11-yr-old would probably love it.

Another interesting tour is the Underground Tour (www.undergroundtour.com), which takes you through all these old burried passageways that were once at ground level before part of the city was regraded to a higher level.

There's all sorts of things to do along the waterfront. There is a spectacular giant sculpture garden near the west end (maybe not so exciting for kids?), and in the middle there's the newly-renovated Aquarium, with some huge new tanks and exhibits. The colorful Pike Place Market is just above the waterfront.

Lastly, there's the Museum of Flight, at Boeing Field, just south of downtown. Tons of airplanes on exhibit.

Woodland Park Zoo, the Ballard Locks, renting a canoe or kayak and going out on the lake, swimming at Madison Park where there's a nice park and beach, ride the ferry over to Bainbridge and back (great view of the skyline and fun to run around on the ferry).

I would take a full day to walk around downtown Seattle, starting with a monorail ride from Seattle Center (so you could also see the Space Needle) and walking around Seattle, including to the waterfront and Pike Place Market. Museum of Flight could be night, as could the Experience Music Project.

Mariners game could be fun.

If you wanted to get out a bit, there are numerous hikes of varying distances and some not too far away. A ferry ride to the Peninsula and a drive south or north through deception pass could be fun and you could extend your time a bit by visiting or having lunch in a neat town or two.

Right by the EMP is the Science Fiction Museum. Even we adults found it fun - but then we're devoted Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica fans...

I guess spb825's visit ended with rain. Maybe we'll get a report.

All great idesa but I want to highlight the Ballard Locks. In July/August you will see aboue and below water level thousands of salmon going up-stream. First you see a few jumping out of the water and then when you ngo below ground to a viewing area you seee thousands of them swimming by. It was a highlight of my trip.

As stated above - go to the space needel and then take the monorail to downtown. Walk over to the Pikes market. The nearby aquarium is good - not great.We took a harbor boayt tour (about 1.3 hours long) which was very enjoyable. The boat is located about a block or so from the Market

Also, you can buy a book which gives a package rate for all the things mentioned above. It will save you quite a bit.