It has been just a few weeks since my wife, my son, and I moved to Seattle so that I could begin my postdoc at The Hutch. Now that we have been here a short time and are settled, we intend to start exploring Seattle, doing typical touristy things as well as non-touristy activities that only Seattlites would do. My wife purchased a detailed guide to Seattle that lists numerous activities, restaurants, scenery, etc. that would take months (years?) to complete. I prefer word of mouth though, so I asked some coworkers for recommendations. Here’s what they gave me:

• The Space Needle
• Pike Place Market
• Ride The Slut
• Chandler’s Crabhouse
• Seattle Art Museum
• Discovery Park
• Walk around the Ballard neighborhood – in particular, the Northwest Market.
• The Arboretum near UW
• Take a ferry to Bainbridge Island
• The new ferris wheel in downtown Seattle
• Latona Pub

My coworkers recommended parking at The Hutch and riding The Slut to Westlake Center and then walking to Pike Place – avoids traffic. Also, they recommended thta we combine Discovery Park and Ballard into one day. They said the view of Seattle from the ferry when returning from Bainbridge Island is breathtaking.

My wife and I like to hike, so I also asked my coworkers for recommendations. Overwhelmingly, they said these two places:

• Snow Lake
• Middle Fork

Any other recommendations? In particular, are there any restaurants that you’d recommend?