Pre or Post Paizocon Sight Seeing!

[miniaturepeddler]

Anyone interested in joining in for some pre- or Post- Paizocon sight seeing of Seattle this year?

I want to goto the Farmer's market in downtown and the Space Needle (and surrounding park).

Anyone else?

Robyn

[Zantumal]

::Raise Hand:: Maybe.

We (wife and I) haven't quite determined what our pre or post con activities will involve. It may all depend on transportation too. We do have our transit tickets from last year. We were thinking of taking a drive out to Mt. Rainier after the con on our way out of town. It is freaking awesome to see the mountain when you're flying right over it from the plan, and quite cruel when the pilot tells you to return to your seats and fasten your seat belts cause we're landing and the mountain is on the other side of the plane.

She has a cousin in town that I know she will want to try and visit with <subliminal message shameless plug> use the same caterer as last year who turned out to be my wife's cousin</subliminal message shameless plug>.
There is also this stone bridge under a big waterfall, that the bridge got damaged recently from a falling rock - but I think that is in Portland.

[Mikekydd]

I'm planning on arriving on Thursday and leaving on Monday to do just this. I'd like to check out the music scene, especially since most of my favorite bands are from Seattle, as well as the fish market. Maybe the first Starbucks. So much really.

[TriOmegaZero]

My wife and I will be arriving Thursday and leaving Tuesday, so if anyone wants to hang out we'll be available. :)

[Shadow Sorceress]

I would love to, but we'll be arriving late Thurs and leaving late Sunday, so I don't know if that will work.

[Mazlith]

I have some food tips for visiting Seattle.

1. Dahlia Lounge. Expensive restaurant, but if you go there right before 10PM when they are wrapping up dinner, you can get dessert in the 'til 11pm. The desserts are amazing, you must get the creme caramel and the coconut cream pie. Once I had tempura pears with Chinese five-spice ice cream there, top 5 desserts I've ever had.

2. Thai Tom in the U-district. Best Thai food that I've ever had. It's sooo good, that it has ruined every other Thai food restaurant that I've ever tried to go to since.

3. The cappuccino at Cafe Vivace in Capital Hill. It's so good that it once made an elderly italian man cry, it reminded him of his childhood. I'd say the best cappuccino outside of Italy.

[Matthew Pittard]

Ill be getting there hopefully a day early to have a look around. Ill be up for some sightseeing.

[Shannon Raleigh]

I'd suggest going to the EMP. They have some very cool displays. Last year they put in a fantasy exhibit which is awesome. There are lots of other displays with equal interest. It is 1 time admission for the entire day

[JohnF]

The Museum of Flight is pretty cool, if you're into that sort of thing.
If you still want to see more aircraft, there's the Boeing Factory Tour.

[Matthew Pittard]

Is the EMP the Science fiction museum or are they two separate places?

[JoelF847]

EMP is the science fiction museum, but more than just that - one half is science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and the other half is rock and roll with exhibits on Hendrix, a hands on music studio, and a guitar exhibit. Their rotating exhibit is Spectacle about music videos.

[Matthew Pittard]

Excellent. im staying here:
1.Knights Inn Sea Tac Airport

14110 Tukwila Intl Blvd., Tukwila, WA, US , 98168

for a few days before the con and there is a regular 30 minute bus into Seattle proper. (I wont have a car). So Ill be sure to go in and check it out. Where is the gaming store there where I must take a look at?

[Mikekydd]

I think I posted this in the wrong early arrival thread as it got taken over by posts about gaming. Which is great and but we have the weekend for that.

So I'm going to start (and any help here would be great too) looking into doing a walking tour of the various craft breweries (which I'm sure Seattle has plenty of) and coffee shops. Does anyone have interest in doing that?

[Matthew Pittard]

Ill have to pass on the former. Im a non alcohol drinker so half the trek wouldnt be my thing :)

[JoelF847]

Matt, the game store where you must take a look is Card Kingdom. It's got an amazing selection of board and card games, and a pretty good selection of RPG products, in addition to an attached bar/restaurant, Cafe Mox, and tons of playing space.

[Matthew Pittard]

I wont have a car, would public transport get me to it?

[Judy Bauer]

Matthew Pittard wrote:

I wont have a car, would public transport get me to it?

Yes! Light rail to the D line, or light rail to 40 to 62—Google maps has excellent coverage for Seattle-area transit, I'd use that for route-planning. :-)

And Mikekydd, the Ballard neighborhood is also an excellent spot for a walking tour of craft breweries: http://www.myballard.com/breweries/

[Matthew Pittard]

Thankyou. Looks like im going to have busy couple of days before the con. Boeing Factory tour, Needle, Pikes Market and a quality game store.

[Mikekydd]

Apparently a friend of mine forgot to log off the living room computer at my apartment... So after quick delete here's the original message:

Awesome! Thanks for the site. I'll look it over this weekend.

[Sarta]

Judy Bauer wrote:

And Mikekydd, the Ballard neighborhood is also an excellent spot for a walking tour of craft breweries: http://www.myballard.com/breweries/

So much good booze! MacLeod's Scottish Pub is a personal favorite.

[James Krolak]

Based upon my last trip there 2 years ago, I highly recommend taking one of the Duck Tours. They leave from a place just near the Space Needle.

And out in the SE suburbs you can visit Jimi Hendrix's gravesite, if you want.

[magnusdeus123]

I would be coming in a car, and if a friendly group would be interested in doing a few things together, I wouldn't mind being the driver. A couple of the things I'd like to do:

- Space Needle
- Pike Place market
- One or both parks: Olympic or Discovery
- Waterfront walk

[Matthew Pittard]

Can anyone tell me if the Boeing Factory/Museum is easy to get to? Do tours go out to there from Seattle?

[JoelF847]

I've gone on the Boeing Factory tour, and it was about 40-45 minute drive north of the city. I don't think there's a bus that gets you there easily.

[Matthew Pittard]

Bummer.

[Jason Nelson]

The Museum of Flight, however, is at Boeing Field and is in Seattle, and is much easier to get to.

There's a lot of Boeing stuff around here. :)

[Waterhammer]

I've been wanting to get up and take a look at the NW. I've actually been to Vancouver. Just passing through, but it seemed like a nice enough place.

Unfortunately, my rotation for on-call seems to always fall on the Paizocon slot. So, stuck at home waiting for disaster to fall. My birthday is also the same week so I'll probably have to go out and work on that day too.

No need for sympathy, I'll deal with it, always have.

So no one calls the wambulance. :)

[Matthew Pittard]

aha.. have found a Bus that will take me to the factory/ museum. It will be so.

[Judy Bauer]

In case this is important to anyone else, the World Cup quarter-finals will be airing here at 9am and 1pm on Friday and Saturday, and the semi-finals will be airing at 1pm on the Tuesday and Wednesday after PaizoCon; many, many pubs in the area will be airing the games.

[Matthew Pittard]

haha.. my team wont even pass the group Stage. Australia gets to play Spain though...

[Mike Young]

This response is to the first individual on this thread. Is there anyway to meet face to face at the hotel? I cannot make plans until at the hotel proper. I will have my youngest sister along. She lives north of Seattle, but does not get out much for an assortment of reasons. And I only visit for the con to get her involved in the games. I have not gotten any events I had hoped for these last two years. Instead of whining I will just make do and plan on other stuff. I will be landing the 2nd and settling in for a few hours in the early afternoon. I am registered at the hotel under Michael Young. Maybe we all can see the sights before hand as a group. Respond here or meet up at the hotel.

[miniaturepeddler]

magnusdeus123 wrote:

I would be coming in a car, and if a friendly group would be interested in doing a few things together, I wouldn't mind being the driver. A couple of the things I'd like to do:

- Space Needle
- Pike Place market
- One or both parks: Olympic or Discovery
- Waterfront walk

Magnus, this would be an ideal trip!!

[miniaturepeddler]

Mike, I will be in town a couple days before at this point, so a group activity tour going downtown to Pikes Market and possibly the Space Needle is on my wish list.
I know that the tram takes people easily downtown to Pikes and a few stops more to the needle.
Magnus, I've not heard about Olympic or Discovery park, so will google them, but they sound promising!!

[Anna Murray]

I should have Monday off and would be willing to do a little tour guiding.

[magnusdeus123]

Peddler: I just picked those two off've Seattle own tourism website, or some travel thing. They seemed nice, but by no means are priority. It'd be good to have company for the Space Needle and Pike place ofcourse. :)

If you're interested in joining up that would leave two more spaces in my vehicle if others are interested.

[miniaturepeddler]

Sounds like a start!!

[Squeaks]

I would like to do some sight seeing too, although as per last year, I have restricted mobility and transportation issues. The previous years I have had the mobility assistance of a walker, this year I have been upgraded to a motorized wheelchair. The only form of transportation I really can depend on right now is the use of public transportation, at least until i can find the right kind of assistance to obtaining a wheelchair accessible vehicle. Most of the great places to visit are accessible via public transportation and dont have to deal with the extra cost of parking and traffic stand stills. Saves quite a bit on transportation expenses.

[Squeaks]

I am Micheal Young's younger sister.

[Jason Nelson]

Discovery Park is nice for the views and hiking, and also includes the Daybreak Star Cultural Center. I Haven't been there since the early 1990s but I seem to recall it being pretty cool.

If you're going out that direction, I'd suggest Chinook's restaurant for pretty good seafood at decent prices, plus a very nice house foccacia-like house bread.

[Mikekydd]

Is there interest in going to see the graves of Jimi Hendrix and Bruce and his son Brandon Lee on Monday? My flight back to Vermont isn't until 10pm and spending hours at the airport doesn't seem appealing to me.

[miniaturepeddler]

Ok, we need to firm things up a little regarding days of the Week:

I have two days available for sight seeing prior to the convention:

Wednesday (All Day)
Thursday (morning and Afternoon - I have con activities starting at 7pm)

My preference is to make the Seattle sabbatical on Wednesday, since I do not have to report in or be anywhere at a particular time.

I was thinking of starting with get together at the Hotel approximately 9am on Wednesday, with a leave time of 10am?

Is this good for anyone?

So: Wednesday, 9am
Meet at Hotel Lobby/bar
If we have a driver, then we will utilize that, if we don't then we will take the light rail transit.

Agenda:
Downtown: Farmers Market/Space Needle
Parks: Olympic park (if we have not private transportation)
Discovery Park (if we have private transportation)

Magnus, you never mentioned which days you were available.
How about everyone else?

[Anna Murray]

I would definitely be down to meet up with people in Seattle on Wednesday before I go to work. If the leaving SeaTac at 10 is what happens, my fiancé and I could meet up with people downtown at around 11 or so.

[miniaturepeddler]

I cast summon tourist to see who might be interested in the Wednesday tour!

'Ala kasam!'

[Anna Murray]

My fiancé and I can probably still make it, depending on what time people are getting to downtown.