Family Vacation- Seattle/Mt.Ranier

Heading west for a family vacation next month to the area. Plan on spending some time in Seattle, Mt. Ranier area, and Olympic National Park.

Anyone ever been?

Anything we should avoid?

Besides seattle?

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Great..... Was thinking of going to Pike Place Market....

Yep, Seattle is a pit. Drug dealers and users, homeless, violence. I would never go back there. Avoid the autonomous zone. Be careful. The space needle charges a crazy amount to go up we didn't. Fish market is cool, then leave.
Ranier is pretty. Be careful son and family lived there for five years carried everywhere he went.
Best

Seattle is an expensive freak show

I'd dedicate one day and one day only down town and spend the rest of the time elsewhere .

Pike street market is worth seeing once , maybe hit the Crab pot for lunch or dinner . It's a feast fit for a king but expect to pay for it ..........


If you get a little south the Columbia River and water falls on both the Oregon and Washington sides are worth checking out

Mount St Helen’s. The eruption was 41 years ago yesterday. The area is still recovering.

Seattle traffic sucks.

Seriously, I would avoid Seattle completely. There is nothing worth seeing or doing there. Traffic on I5 is unbelievable.

Get on the first ferry you can and take it to Kingston or Port Townsend and then drive out the peninsula to Olympic park.

Better yet, stay in Idaho and Montana.

Been a long time since I was there, and I went to Pike Market. I found it interesting with many things there, from live music to art, all the fresh foods, produce , everything imaginable. The places to get fresh seafood were also great....BUT.....that was a long time ago.

With the recent tirades happening there, and the real possibility of Seattle frowning bigly on concealed carry , even from out of state , would no doubt pose a safety challenge. Even with my Utah CCW, which covers even begrudging Washington, I'm betting Seattle proper wouldn't want the law-abiding armed citizen in concealed carry. And I will not go anywhere without protection . Especially to an area that is known for out of the blue trouble.

Too bad, too. Pike Market has a lot of interesting things to do.

Call the city police dept and ask them about any questions along these lines if you want, see what they say. I have done that traveling through other states , you'd be surprised at how well they want to cooperate with you. They appreciate the asking contact.

My motto for everything ....it doesn't hurt to ask.

This is so sad. In 1967, I was stationed at Fort Lewis, WA for close to a year. Seattle was a beautiful city at that time. Since they were so close together, we referred to Seattle as heaven and Tacoma as he**. Seattle had it's clean streets, newer contemporary buildings, space needle, etc. Tacoma's streets were dirty, buildings were run down, lots of homeless people, etc.

I haven't been back since, but from everything I hear, Seattle is more like Tacoma was back 1967. Not a good or safe place to visit anymore. It's sad to see a once beautiful city deteriorate. I wonder, what's Tacoma like now, just as bad?

Seeing Olympic Park really is the thing to do. It is an amazing place and takes time to tour around there. And I would think it is also a different world as to safety , compared to the city. Only in rare places will you ever see such immense Cedar and Hemlock trees. My favorites. Giant cedars and Hemlocks are indigenous in the whole NW , on up into coastal BC. They are something to see. Along with the big coastal mountains.

As far as diving, yes I5 is hyped driving. Actually, I get used to it after I tighten my racing helmet and driving gloves After you learn to breathe and ramp up your BP , driving at Mach 1, you begin to feel there is a rhythm pulse to the driving style. Most adhere to that unspoken considerate style , and once you get the feel of it, it is doable, well, for me it is. The times I don't like it especially , are the ones who don't adhere to safe, but fast driving , and do things in sudden movements that are risky. Driving a big F250 gets respect. Which is what I drove when I was there years ago.

Just breathe, and have your mirrors in perfect adjustment , and you should be fine.

We are flying into Seattle, renting a mini van, then start our adventure. We are staying at Ranier the 2nd day I think, then head to Olympic and going around the Forks area maybe? Not totally sure, wife has done all the planning.

Forks is a pretty scenic area

We were there 2 years ago. We went to Pikes Market which was interesting to see. The seafood and fish market was my primary reason. There are buses/trolleys that you can get on and off with a ticket. They had a stop right close to our hotel so it worked for us. There were more people wacked out and beggars down in that area than you'll probably want to see. I'm sure I saw 6 or more people talking to themselves and not quietly either. Spend a day in Seattle then get out of town. We went to the Cascades for a day which is beautiful. We never made it to Mt Ranier or Olympic Park but if we go back that's what we want to do. We went to Vancouver Canada for 2 days that's why we didn't get to the other places.

With what's going on in Seattle, that follow up trip has been pushed behind other places we'd like to go to and that's kinda sad. It's a beautiful state I just hate the liberalism and the pit Seattle is. I don't want to support it and I don't feel safe around Seattle.

Did y’all have any issues flying in with weapons up there?

Yes, avoid Seattle

But be sure to visit Mount Rainier, and maybe do the Cascade loupe drive; highway 20 over the North Cascades highway then south on 397 then back west over highway 2, you won't be disappointed.

When specifically in June will you be out here? How long? I was up at our property just this morning, half a mile from Rainier National Park. Camp on our place if you'd like.

One of my brothers lived in Seattle for his residency for medical school and a few years after. I've been to Seattle twice. I saw more bums in Seattle then I have in any 10 other cities I've been in. You need to watch where you step because of human excrement and hyperdermic needles. Pikes Market was okay. Parking and food at the market was very expensive. Traffic was terrible in Seattle. I have no desire to ever go to Seattle again. I would go somewhere else as soon as you leave the airport.

Keith

KSP107
Hey, don't let us scare you from heading out this way, it's just that we all like to hate on Seattle; not really Seattle, but the people who have moved into Seattle in the past 20 years or so. We hate on Seattle for good reason.

However, Washington along with California (hate to admit it) are probably the two most beautiful States in the lower 48, both with more natural diversity than anywhere else in the USA.

You can get out of Seattle pretty fast; a few years ago I shot a 6x6 elk 18 miles east of Seattle, and the pictures I posted above are only 38 miles from Seattle. If you are headed out to the Olympic Peninsula you will find plenty of wild out there too.

Skip Seattle. Homeless camps pretty much city wide. My wife was shocked to see a man publicly taking a leak downtown. Street beggars at the traffic lights downtown. Everything is expensive. We stayed for a couple nights in February to get COVID testing done before going to Alaska. Already cancelled my reservations in Seattle for our next trip to Alaska in July.

Pacific science center,zoo and aquarium are nice. Panhandlers can be aggressive at times but I've never had a problem. I have two kids and four grandkids there so we visit several times a year. We do spend most of the time at the kids' houses.

Head out west. Hike west on the beach from Twin rivers, look for clam fossils, or around the mouth of the Elwah. Hike out to Cape Flattery the western most point of the contiguous US. Take time to check out Rialto beach. Stop by Fat Smitty’s at the head of disco bay for a big burger, or Sluy’s bakery in Poulsbo for great baked goods. That’s all I can think of off the top of my old grey head.

If you are landing at Sea-Tac and heading for Ranier there is no reason to go into Seattle. My sister lives there and I avoid the place. If you are going to Forks from Ranier you're going right by my house, MP 122. Take a drive around Lake Quinault, stop at the beach when you go through Kalalock, a short side trip up the Hoh would be good too. On the South Shore road at Lake Quinault you can walk to the worlds largest Sitka Spruce. I sometimes trap there when the beavers flood the trail. There is almost always a herd of elk in the fields above the lake. Cross your fingers for a clear day. The Mountains are beautiful.

Get yourself on you-tube and watch the special by KOMO tv "Seattle is dying". Then decide for yourself if you wanna go see it. And KOMO is no conservative TV station either. Makes me sick thinking about what seattle used to be.

Stay out of the Seattle cess pool and come over to eastern Washington. The folks are friendly and you can experience things lke grand coulee dam, dry falls, and great walleye fishing.

If Canada will allow you in, you might enjoy dining on seafood in Vancouver. Take your passports.

Flying in June 15, flying out the 23rd

I loved Seattle when I went, but that was in 2010. Took a ferry across the sound for a wine tasting. Space needle was nice, but pricey. The market was nice, but don't even look at any of the street performers or they will want money. I did see a native person carving beautiful totems out of drift wood. He wanted too much, but when I sent to old ball and chain over, the price was suddenly lower. Don't know about going in the current day and age though.