This trip filled in a BIG blank spot on my map. This was the last major U.S. city that I hadn’t yet visited, and everything that I knew about this place indicated that I was about to absolutely fall in love with it. People RAVE about this place. And even as an outsider, it’s easy to see why. Seattle has a lot to love; the coffee, the nature, the politics, oh, and the MUSIC! This city has produced some of my absolute favorite artists of all time, not the least of whom belong to the legendary 1990s Seattle Grunge scene. I don’t tend to do much research ahead of my trips, but I was lost down a Google wormhole piecing together a Grunge-centric itinerary for one of my days here. But then, a funny thing happened.

The band Alice in Chains is one that I have always loved, but have never known much about. I knew they came up with Nirvana/Pearl Jam/Soundgarden/etc. here in Seattle, but that was about it. Well, in my research, I happened to read about the death of Layne Stanley (the band’s original vocalist) for the first time and it literally triggered some low-grade depression for me. Suddenly, the prospect of visiting Seattle felt a lot less appealing. The gray skies, the rain, the fact that this place has infamously produced more serial killers than anywhere else in the country, the fact that 80% of the items on my Grunge itinerary had to do with somebody’s untimely death… it was a lot. I decided to shelve my “Grunge” day.

I still had mixed emotions as I boarded my flight. Was Seattle about to be as incredible as everybody said? Or would it be the sad, morbid place that I now feared? I buckled my seat belt, put my phone in airplane mode, and hoped for the best.

An Intro To The 🌲Emerald City🌲

Some places hit you with vibes the second you step out of the airport. The air is different. The energy is different. Even the industrial in-between areas around the airport and the highway have a strong sense of character. Seattle is one of those places. In a happy twist of fate, I unwittingly ended up on the same flight to and from Seattle as one of my buddies in BNA, so I got the express pass into the city riding shotgun in the car that he had rented. Seeing the breathtaking Cascadian landscape unfold before us, I could not stop talking about how cool it all was. The mountainous terrain makes it so you are always either arriving at or leaving from a scenic vista, each of which provides a more gorgeous view than the last. Looking out in any direction, there are always multiple layers of water, city, and evergreen-dominated foothills between you and a background of MUCH larger mountains. And those mountains are always set against an expressive sky, which alternates between a clear, northerly baby-blue color, or a swirling moody mass of clouds.

So let’s talk landscape first. Those mountains in the distance might be the Cascades to the east, or Olympic National Park to the west, OR any combination of the mighty Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, or Mt. Adams to the south. And that water is likely either the Puget Sound to the west or Lake Washington to the east. I think it’s safe to say that there is no major American city besides Seattle that is as closely surrounded by this level of natural beauty. It’s off the charts. And it has an aura all its own.

The British Columbia / Cascadia region is a completely unique climate and vibe. The thing you have to keep in mind about these places is that they are actually really far north. Almost pushed up against the Canadian border, Seattle is on approximately the same latitude as Glacier National Park… except that it’s far from glacial. Even further north, into Canada, there are stretches of this region that are technically classified as “Mediterranean.” And just across the Puget Sound from Seattle sits America’s only temperate rainforest. So even though this place does get cold in the winter, I don’t think you would categorize it as a cold place. However, it’s definitely not a hot place either. Seattle is, in fact, the least air-conditioned city in the U.S.—because even in the summer, you really don’t need it at night.

In terms of its history, the existence of Seattle is a relatively recent development. In the early days of the U.S.’s existence as an independent country, European explorers were only just then arriving in this region for the first time. Of course, there had been native populations living there for upwards of 4,000 years already—BUT WE’RE GONNA KEEP THAT UNDER THE RUG WHERE IT BELONGS.

Anyway, when Washington finally joined the union in 1889, it was one of the last to do so. Since its founding Seattle has embodied the classic “boomtown” archetype, moving repeatedly through boom-and-bust cycles. The first boom was lumber. Then it was gold. Then it was shipbuilding. Then it was manufacturing for WWII. And now it’s tech. Between each of these things were periods of harsh economic downturn. So, in spite of its current polished, sleek persona, this is a place that does know hardship. And even today, when times are good, Seattle is not without some grit. It turns out that the grit is alive and well! But’s a piece of a MUCH bigger, much more beautiful puzzle. And that is the puzzle that we’ll be exploring over the course of the next few articles. But before we move on, here’s an interactive map for you to play with (if the spirit leads you).

Kerry Park + Queen Anne

The first place I’m going to bring you is Kerry Park. You’ll see why.

But first, it’s worth noting that Kery Park sits in an absolutely gorgeous neighborhood called Queen Anne. This was the first place I came after I checked into my Airbnb. I chartered an Uber to Kerry Park, but when the car started its steep ascent into this shining city neighborhood on a hill, I ended up asking to end the ride early. My Uber rating took a hit on that ride 🙄 which was actually pretty fucking annoying, but it was worth it to walk through this place on my own two feet. It’s a very cool neighborhood. I popped out the Zillow app as I walked but quickly closed it out because these houses were depressingly expensive. Maybe one day I’ll be able to afford one of them. For now though, I’ll settle for the views. In the gallery below you’ll see views from the other side of the hill, which look over at Lake Washington, and inland towards the Cascades. This is pretty cool, but it’s nothing compared to what is waiting in Kerry Park…

Okay. So now we’re arriving at Kerry Park. The was my first time seeing the city of Seattle in its entirety with my own eyes and it was BREATHTAKING. The view from this park was incredible. And it really hits you all at once when you arrive here. Unsurprisingly, this place is THE tourist hot spot in Seattle. I was here twice during the few days I had in Seattle, and it was always packed with people who were clearly not from around here. Standing there, looking out over the city, the conversations swirling around me played out in English, Spanish, Russian, Hindi, Tamil, and more that I couldn’t identify.

I planted my feet in a good picture-taking spot and resolved to stand there until it was dark out so I could capture the light changing over the city. The view presented the classic picture of Seattle that you see represented on postcards and in the title slides for Frasier. And apparently, I was quite lucky to be there on a clear enough night that Mt. Rainier was as visible in the background as it was. Take a look at this view as the sun went down:

As blue hour faded to night, the glass-dominated surfaces of downtown Seattle twinkled like it’s own shiny, expensive galaxy. It really looks like a modern, futuristic city from this angle. The reality on the ground is a bit less rosy, but from up here in Queen Anne, life looks pretty damn good. Once night fell, I found myself shifting gears to take pictures of the silhouettes of visitors framed against the out-of-focus city lights. This is a bit random, but this shoot reminded me of taking pictures of Singapore from the top of the Marina Bay Sands. Anyway, here’s more from Kerry Park before we move on.

June 2023 Edit: Adobe has some new tools that have integrated AI to de-noise photographs like the ones above. Here it is in action. Maybe the rise of the machines won’t be so bad after all. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Pike Place Market

Up next, with a solid grasp on the silver medal for most-Instagrammed places in Seattle, we have…..(drum roll)…. Pike Place Market! Opened in 1907, this is one of the oldest continually-operated markets in the United States. Overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront, with great views of the Puget Sound, it’s most notable for local seafood vendors. In fact, when you first walk in, you’ll be greeted by a couple of fish merchants entertaining the crowds with a sort of ventriloquist dummy show using dead fish… a ventrilofish show, if you will.

ANYWAY, it’s an easy addition to any Seattle tourist itinerary, and it makes for some fun walking. The majority of the vendors in here are selling giant fish and crustaceans packed on ice. However, there is a wide breadth of other things available as well—food, trinkets, etc. The west side of the market has some cool look-out points with panoramic views across the Puget Sound. And out front, there are additional shops and restaurants, one of which is the ORIGINAL Starbucks. I had intended to include this place in this article but when I saw how long the line was to get in, I was like “Mm, nah.”

I will say, this place was a bit more packed than I would have liked during a pandemic. Before we walked in, I joked to my friend that if we were going to get COVID anywhere on this trip, it would be here. But we masked up and all was well. Wear your masks people!

The Gum Wall

Okay, so this is a weird one. Right under Pike Market, there is a gritty alleyway leading south into downtown. It’s just like a lot of other alleyways in the area, except for one key difference. This one is covered in chewed gum. And I mean, COVERED. For a few hundred yards, you cannot see the bricks behind the gum. In some places, there are random scraps of paper with notes written on them stuck onto the wall with gum. It’s very gross.

Here’s the story: this place is next to the Market Theater box office. In 1993, attendees of Unexpected Productions' Seattle Theatresports stuck a bunch of gum to the wall. Theater works scraped it away twice, but people kept putting it back. Great story, right? It was dubbed a tourist attraction in 1999, and it’s only gotten gummier since then.

Pioneer Square

Pioneer Square is one of the oldest areas in Seattle. It was once the heart of downtown, but today it’s more of a historic district. Actual downtown is just a stone’s throw north. This area was most recently famous for being a hub for Seattle’s burgeoning 1990s grunge scene, but it actually has some interesting history that goes back a lot farther.

In 1889, there was an awful fire in this area, and the district all but burned to the ground. Luckily, Seattle was doing pretty well economically, so they rebuilt the whole area pretty quickly. But here’s the weird part: instead of just rebuilding the city as it had previously stood, they instead raised the ground level up by one story, sealing the old storefronts underground. They are still down there, just as they were all those years ago. And you can still get down there to walk around! They run tours most days. We didn’t take one, but I wish I would have.

The new—elevated—streets of today’s Pioneer Square are defined by a mix of the old and the new. Indeed many of the storefronts maintain the weathered brick textures you might expect from a place with this level of history, while others have been torn down to make way for sleek, modern buildings with glass exteriors. There are also lots of urban greenspaces, featuring some distinctly Native American public art. Most notable of these pieces of art is the Pioneer Square totem pole, historically known as the Chief-of-All-Women pole. It was originally carved in 1790 by a Native American tribe called the Tlingit that live(d) in a remote stretch of Alaskan islands, but it was later STOLEN by a group of Seattle businessmen on an “expedition.” They gifted the stolen artifact to the city of Seattle in 1899 and it became a real source of civic pride in the city, occupying center stage in the then-bustling Pioneer Square. It was damaged by arson in 1940, so the pole that sits in Pioneer Square today is actually a replica. I guess that means that there is some distance between the Seattle of today and the saga of this totem pole… but still… I don’t know about you, but this makes me think that the city of Seattle owes a big fat apology to the Tlingit people. And wtf kind of “business trip” is taking American businessmen to random Alaskan islands in the late 1800s, 60 years before it was even part of this country?

Anyway, the one other element of Pioneer Square that I will mention is the homelessness. Like everywhere else out west, Seattle also has its share of “tent cities.” Pioneer Square—specifically the area around this totem pole!—has a notable cluster of them. One hilarious interaction that we observed was between a couple of guys who were playing life-size chess on the street and a homeless man. One of these chess-playing men clearly was familiar with this homeless dude, because when he staggered towards them, he yelled “STAY BACK GEORGE—I’M SICK OF YOUR SHIT! THERE’S A PANDEMIC GOING ON!”

We laughed so hard that I had to write that down. Anyway, here are some pictures.

One defining piece of the Pioneer Square cityscape that I want to tell you about is Smith Tower. Completed in 1914, this was Seattle’s first skyscraper and was, at the time, the tallest building west of the Mississippi. In fact, it was one of the tallest buildings anywhere outside of NYC at that time.

Today, of course, it’s small potatoes compared to Seattle’s ever-expanding skyline of towering glass skyscrapers, but it casts a long shadow from a historical and aesthetic perspective. Seeing it dwarfed by its neighbors on the Seattle skyline, it clearly looks like a relic from another time.

I had read that Smith Tower has an observation deck (and a restaurant with a pretty ceiling) on its top floor, so we decided to swing by on our way out of Pioneer Square. It just so happened that we were there a cool 15 minutes before that deck opened, so we queued up, shelled out the $19.00, and went in.

Inside, the building is a gorgeous example of classic Art Deco architecture and many of the building’s 100-year-old amenities are still preserved in museum-like spaces. This included old desks, typewriters, and even the building’s original switchboard—but the real headline here is the elevator. Although I dearly hope it has received some TLC since its original construction, the elevator still looks and feels much like it always has. The ascent to the top of the building is made quite exciting by the elevator’s glass front. Honestly, it was kind of scary seeing all of the building’s many floors whiz by us as we rocketed up 38 stories. And the observation deck was not for the faint of heart either. Although it is enclosed by metal bars, the floors space was barely wider than my shoulders. Granted, I’m a big dude with broad shoulders, but still—I had some “oh shit” moments out here, looking down at the streets below. The elevator ride back down was enough excitement for one day, so we decided we could skip the Space Needle that day. It was expensive anyway. Sorry not sorry.

Ferry Across The Puget Sound + Rainier Views

One of the absolute BEST things to do in Seattle is to take the public ferry across the Puget Sound and back. The views out there are unreal, and it really transports you instantly from urban Seattle to the majesty of the Pacific Northwest in a matter of moments. Like I said, I don’t think there is any other city in America that is as closely surrounded by natural beauty on this level. And these ferries are public transportation, so they are quite cheap. I don’t think any trip to Seattle is complete without one of these ferry rides.

BUT, we’re not going to fully explore that in this article—I’ll do you one better! In the next article, we’re going to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island. Consider these pictures your teaser.

I’m going to cut this article off here, but there are a couple more in the queue for you from my time in Seattle. After Bainbridge, we’ll be back in the city to explore some of Seattle’s various neighborhood-y and sometimes weird sides. It’s gonna be fun! And I will suspend final judgment on Seattle until we get through those articles.

In the meantime, I am going to skip all the music history and throw sort of a curveball for our Track of the Day. The first time I can remember thinking to myself that Seattle would be a cool place to visit was when I listened to this song in late high school. Maybe it’s not your cup of tea, but if you crank this up, use your imagination, and keep an open mind, I think you’re probably going to enjoy it.

SEE YA IN BAINBRIDGE ✌️