SEATTLE!

No, I'm not stalking Jason! 

We are headed to Seattle for only a couple of days in the spring.  Since it's such a short trip, we are splurging and staying in an upper floor suite at the Grand Hyatt Seattle to overlook the water.  Anybody have any "must see" suggestions??

Grand Hyatt is beautiful (it is where I spent my wedding night). I live in Seattle (I've lived here my whole life) so here are some of my suggestions:

(1) Walk about 5 blocks South from the Grand Hyatt (towards the water) and you will find yourself at Pikes Place Market.  It is a great place to spend an afternoon.  Go ahead and eat lunch at Campagne  (it's a great French Bistro). 

(2) If you have a whole day to spare go ahead and check out Tillicum villiage - you get to go on a beautiful ferry ride (a must do in Seattle) and have a wonderful meal while learning about Washington's Native American history. http://www.tillicumvillage.com/sitemap.html

(3) If you have a rental car it may be worth going north a bit (an hour drive) and check out the Skagit Valley Tulip festival in the Spring. http://gonw.about.com/od/eventswa/ss/skagitvalley.htm

 

Thank you so much for the tips, nerma!

If you get a chance, take a ferry over to San Juan Island.  It is beautiful. 

We loved Seattle!  We were on the 29th floor in a corner Emerald Suite at the Grand Hyatt.  We looked out over the Puget Sound and all the boat traffic on one side and and a lovely view of the Space Needle on the other.  Found out from one of the boat tours that the Space Needle name came from a critic who said the structure looked like a space ship had landed on top of a couple of knitting needles.  Pike Place Market is fantastic - we really overdosed on fish, especially salmon and dungeness crab.  My husband had to tear me away from the Nordstrom Rack store.  I am a fanatic bargain hunter and would never pay those usual Nordstom prices, but their Rack store had some amazing bargains!  I could go on and on.  We really loved it. 

Wow, Pisces! Sounds like you had a great trip! How long was your stay? How was the weather? Love the story about the Space Needle.

We were only in Seattle five days and only stayed  three nights in the gorgeous suite.  Okay, the weather is the only negative about Seattle - a friend says of Seattle that it is always either just finished raining, about to rain, or it is raining.  On one of our boat trips they explained that Seattle sits between two mountain ranges, so the clouds are stuck in between with no place to go (or something like that)
We knew we were in trouble when we first arrived and everybody kept telling us it was a gorgeous day.  To us it wasn't, but I guess as long as it isn't raining, it is considered a gorgeous day.  They really have everything else, though...mountains, lakes, trees, islands, as well as a thriving, busy, beautiful city.