Sights in Pacific Northwest
-
A
Central Plaza (Red Square)
The center of campus is more commonly referred to as because of its base of red brick. It’s not the coziest, but it fills up with students cheerfully sunning themselves on nice days and it looks impressive at night. Broken Obelisk, the 26ft-high stainless-steel sculpture in the square, was made by noted color-field painter Barnett Newman. Just below Red Square is a wide promenade leading to lovely Rainier Vista, with spectacular views across Lake Washington to Mt Rainier.
reviewed
-
B
Grand Central Arcade
This lovely meeting point was originally Squire’s Opera House, erected in 1879 by Watson Squire, who became one of Washington’s first senators after it achieved statehood. When the Opera House burned down, it was rebuilt as the Squire-Latimer Building and later became the Grand Central Hotel. The hotel died during the Depression, but it underwent a major restoration in the 1970s and now contains two floors of shops, including the excellent Grand Central Baking Co.
reviewed
-
C
St Mark’s Cathedral
Go north on Broadway (as the chaos turns to well-maintained houses with manicured lawns) until it turns into 10th Ave E and you’re within a block of Volunteer Park. At the neo-Byzantine St Mark’s Cathedral, various choirs perform on Sundays, accompanied by a 3944-pipe Flentrop organ. The performances are free and open to the public. There’s also a concert series held in the cathedral, for which tickets can be purchased at the cathedral shop or by phone at 206-323-1040.
reviewed
-
D
Burke Museum
The best museum of natural history in the Northwest is situated near the junction of NE 45th St and 16th Ave. The main collections are of fossils, plus artifacts from 19 different Native American cultures.
reviewed
-
E
Seattle Aquarium
Probably the most interesting site in the Waterfront area, this well-designed aquarium offers a view into the underwater world of Puget Sound and the Pacific Northwest coast. ‘Window on Washington Waters’ is a look at the sea floor of the Neah Bay area, where rockfish, salmon, sea anemones and more than 100 other fish and invertebrate species live. ‘Crashing Waves’ uses a wave tank to show how marine plants and animals cope with the forceful tides near shore.
reviewed
-
Olympic National Park
- Washington, USA
- Sights › Other
Declared a national monument in 1909 and a national park in 1938, the 1406-sq-mile Olympic National Park shelters one of the world's only temperate rainforests and a 57-mile strip of Pacific coastal wilderness that was added in 1953 - it exists as one of North America's last great wilderness areas. Opportunities for independent exploration abound, with visitors enjoying such diverse activities as hiking, fishing, kayaking and skiing.
reviewed
-
F
Hendricks Park Rhododendron Garden
Thousands of rhododendrons and azaleas erupt into bloom here in the spring, along with dogwoods and daffodils, peaking in May. The garden is part of a larger park that features native trees and shrubs, and during the rest of the year it's a quiet retreat with occasional lovely views worthy of a picnic. To get there head south on Agate St, turn left on 21st and left again on Fairmont, then right on Summit.
reviewed
-
G
Danny Woo International District Community Gardens
The Danny Woo International District Community Gardens is a 1.5-acre plot reserved for about 120 older and low-income International District residents, who grow a profusion of vegetables and fruit trees. Visitors can wander along the gravel paths and admire both the tidy gardens and the Seattle skyline, as well as good views of Elliott Bay. Unfortunately, while you take in the view you’ll have about 17 lanes of I-5 traffic right at your back.
reviewed
-
H
Seattle Asian Art Museum
In stately Volunteer Park, the museum houses the extensive art collection of Dr Richard Fuller, who donated this severe art-moderne-style gallery to the city in 1932.
reviewed
-
I
Roq La Rue
This Belltown gallery has secured its reputation by taking risks: the work on view here skates along the edge of urban pop-culture. Since opening in 1998, the gallery, which is owned and curated by Kirsten Anderson, has been a significant force in the pop surrealism field, and is frequently featured in Juxtapoz magazine. It also has an entertaining blog about the undercurrents of Northwest art (http://roqlaruenews.blogspot.com).
reviewed
Advertisement
-
J
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
This popular riverside park, which lines the west bank of the Willamette River, was finished in 1978 after four years of construction. It replaced an old freeway with 2 miles of paved sidewalks and grassy spaces, attracting heaps of joggers, in-line skaters, strollers and cyclists. During the summer, the park is perfect for hosting outdoor events like the Oregon Brewers Festival. Walk over the Steel and Hawthorne bridges to the Eastbank Esplanade, making a 3-mile loop.
Salmon Street Springs Fountain, on Salmon St near the river, cycles through computer-generated patterns. On hot days, kids (and adults) take turns plunging through the jets. North of the Burnside Bridge is…
reviewed
-
K
Viet Hoa
The Viet Hoa market (look for the ‘Chinatown Market-Seafood & Meat’ sign) has a greengrocer in one building and a fish and meat market in the other. Both display foods and cuts of meat you may have never seen before. The big tank of live turtles at the door and the buckets of fish that look like they’re one splash away from coming back to life assure you that this market carries only the freshest ingredients.
reviewed
-
L
Golden Gardens Park
Golden Gardens Park, established in 1904 by Harry W Treat, is a lovely 95-acre beach park with sandy beaches north of Shilshole Bay Marina. There are picnic facilities, restrooms, basketball hoops, volleyball nets, gangs of Canadian geese, lots of parking and plenty of space to get away from all the activity. Rising above Golden Gardens is Sunset Hill Park, a prime perch for dramatic sunsets and long views.
reviewed
-
M
Queen Anne Counterbalance
The streetcar that chugged up and down the steep grade along Queen Anne Ave started operating on overhead-wire electricity in 1900, but it still needed some help to manage the hill. So engineers designed a system of counterweights – a 16-ton train that ran in a tunnel beneath the street would go up when the cable car went down and vice versa. The cable cars were retired in 1943, but the underground tunnels are still there.
reviewed
-
N
Wallingford Center
This boutique and restaurant mall, inhabiting the nearly condemned, refurbished old Wallingford grade school, is the hub of the area. Out front, the Wallingford Animal Storm sculpture, created by artist Ronald Petty, depicts wildlife found in and around the neighborhood. It’s not a destination, particularly, but it makes a good landmark or a handy place to park yourself on a bench and relax for a moment.
reviewed
-
O
Skinner Butte
A hike up wooded Skinner Butte, directly north of downtown, provides a good orientation and a little exercise (drive up if you're feeling lazy). Eugene Skinner established the city's first business on the narrow strip of land along the Willamette River below, which is now Skinner Butte Park; there's a great playground for kids. And if you're a rock climber, don't miss the columnar basalt formations along the butte's lower western side.
Follow the path around the north side of Skinner Butte to the Owens Memorial Rose Garden, a lovely park with picnic benches and rose bushes (best June to August), along with the country's oldest Black Tartarian cherry tree, planted around…
reviewed
-
P
Arctic Building
The Arctic Building, completed in 1917, is unique for its intricate terra-cotta ornamentation and 25 walrus heads peeking off the building’s exterior. Though the walruses’ tusks were originally authentic ivory, an earthquake in the 1940s managed to shake a few of them loose to the ground. To protect passersby from the unusual urban hazard of being skewered by falling tusks, the ivory was replaced with epoxy.
reviewed
-
Q
Children’s Museum
In the basement of Center House near the monorail stop, the Children’s Museum is an anachronistic learning center that offers activities and displays seemingly imported from an earlier time; it’s a museum that might itself belong in a museum. But it’s all very charming, if lacking in modern-day bells and whistles. The play area includes a child-size neighborhood and an area dedicated to blowing soap bubbles. Also nearby is the Seattle Children’s Theater, a separate entity with summer performances in the Charlotte Martin and Eve Alvord Theaters.
reviewed
-
R
Washington State Convention & Trade Center
It’s hard to miss this gigantic complex decked out with ballrooms, meeting rooms, space for exhibitions and the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau. An arched-glass bridge spans Pike St between 7th and 8th Aves, with what looks like a giant eye in the middle of it. Strewn across the various decks and patios, Freeway Park provides a leafy, fountain-laden downtown oasis.
reviewed
-
S
University of Washington
Seattle's university (founded 1861) is almost as old as the city itself and is highly ranked worldwide. The beautiful 700-acre campus sits at the edge of Lake Union about 3 miles northeast of downtown and affords views of Mt Rainier. The main streets are University Way, known as 'the Ave,' and NE 45th St, both lined with coffee shops, restaurants and bars. The core of the campus is Central Plaza, known as Red Sq because of its brick base. Get information and a campus map at the visitor center.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
T
Seattle Museum Of The Mysteries
Now in its new location at 10th and Union, the Museum of the Mysteries is more a cache of obscure and alternative knowledge than a museum in the traditional sense. Odd but fascinating, this den in Capitol Hill has a number of treasures that reveal themselves to those with the patience to explore. It’s kitschy, but it’s fun. There’s also an oxygen bar ($5 for a five-minute treatment) and tarot readings.
reviewed
-
U
Union Station
Another landmark that benefited from restoration fever is Union Station, the old Union Pacific Railroad depot (1911) that was unoccupied between 1971 and 1999. The restoration project included the preservation of the original tile floors, clocks and windows. More than 90 years of build-up was hand-scrubbed off the exterior brick. The Great Hall, half the size of a football field, remains an impressive space.
reviewed
-
North Cascades National Park
- Washington, USA
- Sights › Other
The wildest of all Pacific Northwest wildernesses, the lightly trodden North Cascades National Park has no settlements, no overnight accommodations and only one unpaved road. The names of the dramatic mountains pretty much set the tone: Desolation Peak, Jagged Ridge, Mt Despair and Mt Terror. Not surprisingly, the region offers some of the best backcountry adventures outside of Alaska.
reviewed
-
V
Scandinavian American Bank Building
The second-empire-baroque-style Scandinavian American Bank Building is a nice example of the early-1900s tendency to flatter by imitation: its concrete surface is treated to look like stone. You can still see the ‘Bank Building’ sign embedded in the top corner of this building. It became the Starlight Hotel and now holds the headquarters of the Ballard Farmers Market.
reviewed
-
W
Fremont Sunday Market
People come from all over town for the market. It features fresh fruit and vegetables, arts and crafts, and all kinds of people getting rid of junk.
reviewed