In my job I do not get to spend very long in a new city so when I do get to do some exploring I have learned how to identify what I want to see, map out different hot spots and gotten great practice at managing my time. Seattle is a beautiful city that I would love to visit again in the future, but with only twelve hours and just so much to see, here is how I made the most out of my day:

9:30 a.m. Space Needle

I started my trip off by being the first visitor in line for the Space Needle. I was on the first elevator up of the day and it felt like I had the whole city to myself. I got to take in the 360 degree views at my own leisure without having to peek through small spaces between crowds of people.

10 a.m.- 12 p.m. Fremont Walking Tour

Find the nearest bus stop from the Space Needle (Denny Street) and take the 26 bus to the Fremont Bridge stop. The bus will drop you off on the north side of the bridge. The bridge is the busiest drawbridge in the United States and it opens about every 15 minutes to let boats pass through. If you walk along the west side of the bridge, look up at the tower and you will see a neon light up of Rapunzel. Walking back along the east side of the bridge, you will see the world headquarter for Adobe on your right.

Once you approach the intersection you will see the sculpture “Waiting for the Interurban” this piece features a crowd of people who are waiting for the trolley that once would ran from Fremont to downtown Seattle. The human sculptures seemed to be dressed up as if celebrating Mardi Gras and I have been told that their costumes are regularly changing.

Walking along 34^th Street, towards the Aurora Bridge, at the corner you will pass History House, neighborhood museum of history. I did not take the time to explore the interactive exhibits but the fence out front was pretty cool!

Now it’s time for a little exercise, take a left at History House and follow the steep hill upwards, following underneath the Aurora Bridge. As you approach the top you will see the Fremont Troll. He was cast into cement when wizard put a spell on him. If you look under his massive hand, you will see that he is crushing a real Volkswagen Beetle. When you are done climbing up on his hand, walking along his arm and up to the top of his head, come back down to earth and make your way back to the center of town walking along 36^th street. When you reach the main intersection you will see the Directional Marker, which points to the Troll, Rapunzel, Lenin, and is a point marker for the center of the universe, who knew!?

If you continue on, you will run into the Fremont Rocket and Fremont’s Jurassic Park all before arriving at the Fremont Sunday Market. The market is an exciting place to be if you are in town over a weekend, there are a lot of homemade crafts being sold, food trucks to eat from, jewelry to sift through, and handcrafted furniture to check out.

1:00 p.m. -2:00 p.m. Chihuly Garden & Glass Exhibit

After the market, I took the bus back to the Space Needle and made my way to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit. This was unbelievable and has definitely become one of my favorite art museums. The museum even has an app that provides room by room narration so you are walked through the artist’s journey as he developed his works and the viewer gets a real understanding of his different styles. Chihuly believes that glass is fluid, colorful and alive and should be shown in nature. After touring the dark rooms, with black floors and walls to create mirror images of the work, I made my way outside to the gardens. Which is filled with flowers, logs and the incredible glass sculptures.     

2:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Olympic Sculpture Park 

From the garden it is an easy walk down to the Olympic Sculpture Park, a 9-acre outdoor sculpture museum along the waterfront.

3:00 p.m. Gum Wall

A mile and a half along the water brought me to the notorious Gum Wall. Where I chewed up my Hubba Bubba and found a prime resting spot for it! The Gum Wall is one of the top three germiest places in the whole world, and I got to leave my mark on it!

3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Pike Place Market 

Right above the Wall is Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market.  I remember studying Pike Place Market when I was a freshman in college. We learned about corporate culture and branding, and the fun and exciting work environment that keeps employees motivated and committed to their job here in this world famous market. This video just goes to show how fun it really would be to work here and why there is such a buzz around this cool fish market:

4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. 1st & Pike Starbucks

After exploring the market, I walked directly across the street to get my caffeine boost at the first ever Starbucks location!

With my ice-coffee in hand, I made my way to the Waterfall Garden Park. A very quaint, relaxing area to rest my feet before I continued on.

5:00 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. Seattle Underground Tour

At dusk I made my way down to Pioneer Square where I joined the Seattle Underground Tour. After 25 square blocks of Seattle were destroyed in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city decided to rebuild in all stone or brick masonry and life the city streets to be above the waterline. Thus creating an underground city. The city built retaining walls of eight feet or higher one block at a time to begin to raise the city streets. On this tour, the tour guide gave a very detailed and descriptive image of early Seattle, what life was like after the fire, and how Seattle constructed this new city. You even get a chance to walk through the underground city streets and through homes and the local bank, the vault is still even intact!

6:30 p.m. Frolik Kitchen & Cocktails 

When we returned back above Sea level, it was time for a little dinner. I looked for roof-top restaurants/lounges in the area because the sunset was absolutely breathtaking. Being that it was February in Seattle, not many places were open. I decided on Frolik Kitchen and Cocktails and it was perfect! 

8:00 p.m. The Seattle Great Wheel 

When it got dark, I went back to the pier and decided to take a spin on the Seattle Great Wheel to see the city lights, and reflect and recover from a long adventurous day. How’s that for a day! Goodnight Seattle.