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For those of you coming to Seattle from afar, here are some things to know.

Weather

Notes on weather in April and also in May. The short version is that it’s probably going to be in the mid-to-high 50s and it will almost definitely rain. “But you always say that the “it always rains in Seattle” thing is a myth!” you say? Well, yes, it’s a myth that it always rains here. It DOES rain like crazy in the winter and spring, however.

Things to Do

Ride the Ducks - a high-energy tour on a WWII amphibious assault vehicle. They equip you with a kazoo instead of an assault rifle, but otherwise it may be a very accurate recreation*. You drive around the city a bit, then the thing goes on the water and shows you the town from another perspective. They drive by our office every day (the home base is near us) and people seem to be having a good time on them; we’ve never actually gone ourselves. Also, unlike in Philadelphia, a Duck has never been crushed by a supertanker leading to many deaths. So take that, Philly!

Mt. Rainier National Park - you won’t be able to go to the top in late April, it’s still frozen over, but you can usually drive up to one of the lower facilities. It’s absolutely gorgeous up there in any case, plus if you’re coming from somewhere where you never see snow, Rainier will show you a lifetime’s worth. Note that it’s basically a day all to itself – it doesn’t look like it’s that far away, but that’s because a) it’s a gigantic frickin’ volcano, and b) the major highways/interstates don’t go right to it (again: VOLCANO)  so you end up winding your way there.

Tac0ma Rainiers - I believe that they are in town for the weekend, while the Mariners are on the road. If you want to see Triple-A ball with a beautiful backdrop, Cheney stadium is a nice place to catch a game.

Experience Music Project/ Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame - if anybody in your family is a fan of rock and roll (particularly classic rock) this is kind of a can’t-miss. One of the uber-rich Microsoft founders built this crazy toy as an homage to his personal favorites, including a permanent exhibition on local legend Jimi Hendrix. If you’re a non-child fan, there’s actually some really great, in-depth libraries of video-recorded interviews with hundreds (thousands?) of  musicians… all in all a pretty cool place. The Sci-Fi Museum has all kinds of crazy stuff; recent exhibitions have included Battlestar Galactica props and a whole shindig surrounding Avatar.

Museum of Glass – I couldn’t tell you why, but glass-blowing and associated glass arts are a big deal out here. Lisa loves this museum and you just might, too!

Seattle Undergound – So, for reasons that they’ll explain on the tour, Seattle basically built a modern system of roads above the initial generation of streets, leading to the old street level of the city to become … well, underground. It’s an interesting little tour if you like a smidge of history in your tourism. We’ve been and even as locals we enjoyed it.

Argosy Cruises – Take a tour by boat through the locks between the lakes around here going out into the Sound. It will be extra-chilly out on the water so take a jacket, but even if it’s a gray and rainy day when you go it still can be very pretty. If the sun peeks out it’ll knock your socks off.

Space Needle – It’s the space needle. (John just ran out of time, better description coming soon…)

 

* – no, it’s not accurate at all.