I'll be in Seattle next week for work. Our hotel is right at the south end of Lake Union, and the seminar I'm attending appears to be in First Hill (according to yelp's neighborhood map). Any restaurant rec's? Good bars for beer & music? Touristy things not to be missed? I know pretty much nothing about the city (other than it'll be a bit rainy).

Also, I think I have all day Friday free and I'm thinking about renting a car and heading for the mountains. Any good day hikes not too far away?

Thanks!

pike place market downtown is fun, even if to just see the dudes tossing fish everywhere. plus, the fish is delicious if you actually choose to eat some. and go to the space needle, but don't necessarily have dinner at the restaurant. there're way better places.

some good record shops around u-dub, too.

I'd love to visit Seattle again. I only got a day there, but what Z said.

kabob gave me the whirlwind 24 hour tour. Calling kabob...

Nacho, what are you looking for Day-hike wise?? (How long do you want to be out? What kind of sights? Etc) - A lot of hikes are going to be inaccessible due to snow, but there is still plenty of good stuff within about a 30 min drive of downtown.

One touristy item I always try to recommend is to take a Ferry ride - you can catch a Ferry down on the waterfront and be in the quaint little town of Winslow on Bainbridge Island in about 30 mins - there are fun little shops and restaurants there and you can hang out and then catch a Ferry back to Seattle as they run fairly regularly - If you wanted a bit more of a trip, you could use your rental car to head from Bainbridge(you can drive off the west side of the Island via a bridge) out to the Olympics and do some hiking there - but that isn't as quick of a trip as heading east to the Cascades. Good hiking in both places though.

As far as restaurant Recs - there are some decent places around South Lake Union, but you'd probably be better off catching the SLUT (South Lake Union Trolley(okay, it is really the STREETCAR, but everyone calls it the SLUT) and heading into Downtown proper. What kind of Cuisine are you looking for?

Probably something in the 4-6 hour range for a hike. Nice mountain scenery sounds good (are there other scenaries available?). A little bit of a challenge is good, too. A little snow is okay, but I doubt we'll be that well equipped for anything significant.

As for cuisine, I like pretty much everything. If it's good, I'll eat it.


Thanks!

if you decide to take the ferry to bainbridge and if you love ice cream (i LOVE ice cream) go to mora in winslow, the main town on bainbridge. it's walkable from the ferry. it's expensive but oh so good: http://www.moraicecream.com/

There are just so many options hiking wise in the area - Mt Si is a nice challenge that is about 30 mins East of downtown, but depending on the day it can be a bit crowded - since you are talking about a Friday you probably will be okay. Another nice thing is that it starts out from a relatively low elevation, so while you gain 3400 feet over 4 mles you can stay out of the snow for a lot of it. As you get further into the mountains obviously snow becomes more of a concern.

Here's a write up from the Seattle PI about the Mt Si hike:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/257662_hike02.html

Here's a photo of Si from a distance(on the valley floor):



And here's a photo from the top:




As for other scenery - you are correct that most offer mountain scenery - but you'd be surprised by the variety - Lots of hikes to Waterfalls and other interesting areas where the focus isn't necessarily on the mountains as much

Mt Si looks like a good one. Is there a way to find out what the snow conditions are like ahead of time?

Big Time Brewery, near the UW, has really good beer.

you snooze you lose your services are no longer needed here kabob

the experience music project is pretty fun, though I lucked out and went while there was an exhibit about Bob Dylan

Your best bet is probably the Washington Trails Association website - they have a page devoted to Mt Si that gets updated regularly with trip reports. It isn't updated daily by any means, but at least weekly it seems someone updates with a new trip report - here's a link to it: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/mount-si

You can also post a question on http://www.nwhikers.net - this is a fairly popular hiking site for the area and there are always people out and about who may be able to update you with status.

Going to Bainbridge is pretty fun.

For resturants i'd recommend Pesos in Queen Anne - great food (i guess it's mexican - modern) The Carne Asada there is fantastically good.

Oh - if you're in the U districy and feel like some sausage i'd recommend Schultzy's (sp?). Their El Diablo was always really good.

and it's within a block of Easy Street Records, which is the CD store you need to hit up.

That Easy Street is great...and close.

Hit me up if you want to get dinner or drinks some night.

I think Beachy is in town too. We tried to meet up one night, but failed.

e-mail is

elr at cardhaus dot com

My wife and I are going to be in Seattle in mid-March. I've never been to the Northwest so I really wish we had time to go around and sight-see, but unfortunately our days are pretty much booked. So I'm looking for suggestions on stuff to do at night, like places to eat, art galleries, something touristy that would be worth doing. The ferry ride?

We'll be staying in the Central Business District (according to Google) on 5th Street. Looks like the aquarium is pretty close.

Quickly skimming this and another thread, I saw a few recommendations. Beth's on Aurora (breakfast joint, I guess?), Pesos in Queen Anne. Easy Street records which I'll probably sneak off an try to hit during the day while my wifes in one of these conference/workshop things. What else? Good sushi places? Any other good Asian restaurants would be great to know about.

Drinky, another suggestion if you are looking for a Peso's owners have since opened a "sister-restaurant" next door called Toulouse Petit. Their description of it is "New Orleans Inspired". The big deal about it is that they have some crazy happy hour deals- huge menu with both Brunch and Dinner Happy hours available depending on when you are there. I'd recommend it pretty highly as a good value for some pretty good food.

I'm struggling to remember the name but isn't there a seriously good sushi place in the downtown area?

it's been raining like crazy this week and dumping snow in the mountains, so plan on some indoor activities. art museum isnt bad; EMP also.

some restaurants i've enjoyed:

Restaurant Zoe
Campagne or Cafe Campagne
Lark

Since we'll only have nights available, I think indoor activities are pretty much what we're looking at. Unless that ferry thing is still good at night.

Oh, and to clarify, we're not going this week. It's mid-March, like the 17th-20th.

And just to reiterate, this is like the #1 suggestion I'm looking for here. I looked this up briefly and the results were inconclusive.

Rodney's suggestions look good, though. I'm sure we'll try at least one of those.

If you're into Dive Bars. I found one my favorites ever when I was in Seattle last year. It's called Blue Moon Tavern. It's near the university, I think. It was an awesome place to spend a rainy night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_Tavern

There was also a really good Tapas restaurant right near it. I forget the name though.

That does look cool, but it's pretty far away from where we're staying. I doubt we'll make the trek.

If I ever get the chance, this is the part of the country where I'd most love to take a road trip. Rent a car and go from San Francisco up to Vancouver, and take at least a week to do it.

Giving this another try...

We're flying out tonight. Can anybody here vouch for any sushi places in Seattle? Nishino (that seemed to be the highest rated online)? Or something near or on the waterfront, like around the Pike Place Market or somewhere around there? Will we just be good eating pretty much anywhere there? Anything to avoid?