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DesertRat

DesertRat

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Jan 22, 2008
Messages
266
Location
Barstow, CA
When we went to Tacoma in '08, for some strange reason we dldn't go to the Space Needle or visit the Pike Market (sigh), and because the weather was quite chilly (May) we decided not to take the trip around the Sound.

This time I'm aiming for Seattle for a few days in July. According to memory and to the Seattle website rainfall should be at a minimum (we don't really mind the rain but I'm concerned about it making the Sound colder and I don't think my friend can tolerate that much). Really looking forward to the boat trip and the Needle.

I've a few suggestions here for hotels. I am interested in what they call the "fare-free" zone around 4th Street I think it was. I'm open to your recoomendations for hotels. My friend would really like laundry this time around.
 
My wife and I recently took a trip out to Seattle on the Empire Builder over Christmas. We happened to hit Seattle on a rare rain-free week in December, so we got to get out and see most of the city without too many hassles.

We stayed right in the heart of downtown (ride-free zone) a few blocks north of Pioneer Square and maybe 4-5 blocks from Pike Place Market at a hotel called the Doubletree Arctic Club (on 3rd and Cherry if I remember correctly). It's traditionally an up-scale business hotel, but it was recently remodeled into more of a boutique type facility. The room was spacious, the staff was amazingly friendly and the price wasn't too bad (less than $95/night with tax & fees) for a 4-star hotel in a major downtown. They have a pretty good restaurant (Juno) in the hotel that we ate at a few times.

The hotel was literally within decent walking distance of everything in the heart of Seattle: Pioneer Square, the waterfront (all the cruises), Pike Place Market, Chinatown, King Street Station and was only about 10 blocks from the monorail to Seattle Center (Space Needle). The area seemed safe enough to us, despite being in the middle of downtown.

I put some photos from my trip online on my blog with photos of the hotel room - DirkMonson.com

Hope that helps some!
 
DesertRat said:
I am interested in what they call the "fare-free" zone around 4th Street I think it was.
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I assume you are talking about the Ride Free Zone. Here is the Metro web page that explains it. Basically, between 6 in the morning and 7 in the evening, you can ride any bus in downtown Seattle for free.

The southern boundary of the Ride Free Zone is Jackson Street, which is the street at the northern edge of King Street Station. So, if you are staying at a hotel in downtown Seattle, you can walk over to the stop on 4th Avenue just south of Jackson Street, or the stop on 1st Avenue at Jackson Street (not sure if that stop is north or south of Jackson), and hop on any northbound bus and ride for free into downtown. Or, you can walk to the stop on the north side of Jackson just east of 4th and, if my memory is correct, those buses wind up running up 3rd Avenue. Or, you can walk over to the International District Station in the Transit Tunnel, entrances to which are found along 5th Avenue just south of Jackson, and ride in the tunnel into downtown. (The trains that run through the tunnel do not participate in Ride Free, only the buses.)

The Metro web site has a Trip Planner tool to help you figure out what bus you would want to be on and where to catch it.

Any bus stop that is within the Ride Free Zone has a Ride Free badge on it. And when you get on a bus that is operating Ride Free there will be a sign to that effect on the fare box. (0.1 percent of the time the driver forgets to change the sign, in which case, ask him if he's Ride Free.)

There are four distinct transit organizations that operate on the streets of downtown Seattle: Metro, Sound Transit, Pierce County Transit, and Community Transit. I am not exactly sure if the latter two participate in the Ride Free program, but I know the first two do. But you would only see Pierce County Transit and Community Transit buses during weekday rush hour times, as they run commuters from and to Pierce County and Snohomish County.

Seattle's buses don't have a lot of room for baggage, but if you were carrying a lot of baggage, you probably wouldn't be taking the bus from the train station, anyway; you'd take a taxi.

The Space Needle is about five blocks north of the northern end of the Ride Free Zone.

Since no fares are collected downtown when Ride Free service is in effect, it does make fare collection outside the Ride Free Zone a little complicated for the uninitiated: You pay when you get on the bus if you are heading downtown, you pay when you get OFF the bus if you are heading away from downtown, and you pay when you get on the bus if your route doesn't go through downtown at all. After 7 p.m., you pay when you get on the bus no matter where you are. On a bus operating outside of the Ride Free Zone, the sign on the fare box will show the fare and say "Pay as you enter" or "Pay as you leave," whichever applies.
 
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as posted above, the arctic club is way cool though i don't think you will get it for $95 a night in summer. the best western pioneer square is very nice and just a few blocks from king st station. don't think you will see rain in july just humidity from puget sound which can make the weather sticky. if you like baseball, get tickets for the mariners as safeco field is only a few blocks from the station. you might want to check lodging prices now for your dates.
 
Usually the weather in Seattle is just fine in July. Yearly rainfall in Seattle is actually less than in many major cities; the bulk of the precipitation in Seattle falls during the late fall to early spring. I will be there myself in late June and plan on catching a harbor tour, Pike Street Market, the Space Needle, monorail, etc. It also just so happens that the Mariners are in town while I'm there and will be in the midst of interleague play. As soon as single game tickets go on sale, I'm getting a ticket, as the Flubs-er, the Cubs- :lol: will be in town then. As for hotels, the last time I've stayed in a hotel in Seattle was 44 years ago, and that particular hotel has long since been out of business. :lol: My aunt and uncle who have stayed in Seattle several times recommended the Moore Hotel in the middle of downtown; I booked it for a couple of nights at their reccommendation. It sounds like it's basic lodging, nothing fancy, but all I need is a good roof over my head, so we shall see.

Have fun!
 
Tacoma is my childhood home and I'm relieved my memory was right about the rainfall in July! When we went in May I knew it would be cool but it was colder than I expected. Guess I'd been in the desert too long! :lol: I've wanted to see the Space Needle all my life and it was too bad we didn't make time for it.

The Doubletree Artic sounds interesting, I'll check it out. I'm really considering the Best Western Pioneer as well; I remember seeing that when we were walking to and from the Seattle Underground. We really enjoyed the atmosphere of the street there.

It would be great if laundry facilities are to be had as well. We were on a 10-day trip last time so we kind of overpacked, since we didn't really know what we would need. This will be a much shorter trip but the lesser we can take the better.
 
I took an 11 day x-country round trip in Sept of 08. I checked one bag from Tampa to Seattle & carried one. When I got to Seattle, I switched bags, sending the dirty clothes in the checked bag back to Tampa & left Seattle with a bag of clean clothes. No laundry hastle til I got back home! I believe I got that tip on this forum & it worked great for me!!!

RF
 
We will be honeymooning in Seattle in September and of course doing the touristy types of things. We will be staying at the Spring Hill Suites all though I still have a reservation for the Arctic Club Doubletree which may end up being used by some family members. Our main jist of this trip is to see the Huskers play the Huskies in football and we are also lucky to have the Mariners playing the day we depart on the EB. We are going to leave our bags at the train station and then go to the ballgame. Really looking forward to seeing Seattle, only have flown through there once. One place I would love to stay at but since its our honeymoon its been ruled out is the Hostelling International Hostel at The American Inn. Its brand new and getting really good reviews. I don't like paying through the nose for a place where all I do is laydown and sleep. :)
 
I have posted a box of clean clothes to my hotel when I wasn't staying more than two days at any one place.

If you are staying two days, you can send out your laundry at the hotel, but if it is only an overnight, there isn't time.

I box my clean clothes before I depart and take to the post office. I call the hotel to advise them of the package and

ask that it be held until my arrival. At the hotel, I switch my dirty clothes for the clean ones in the same box then have

the hotel send the box to my home. I aways allow a couple of extra days to be certain the box of clean arrives before me.
 
Congrats to RailFanLNK on getting married! I'll take a look at the Spring Hill Suites. Thanks.

Thanks for the tips on laundry! We may just take one or the other suggestion! I'd rather avoid laundry since we are supposed to be on vacation.
 
RailFanLNK said:
We will be honeymooning in Seattle in September and of course doing the touristy types of things. We will be staying at the Spring Hill Suites all though I still have a reservation for the Arctic Club Doubletree which may end up being used by some family members. Our main jist of this trip is to see the Huskers play the Huskies in football and we are also lucky to have the Mariners playing the day we depart on the EB. We are going to leave our bags at the train station and then go to the ballgame. Really looking forward to seeing Seattle, only have flown through there once. One place I would love to stay at but since its our honeymoon its been ruled out is the Hostelling International Hostel at The American Inn. Its brand new and getting really good reviews. I don't like paying through the nose for a place where all I do is laydown and sleep. :)
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As a resident of Seattle, I have not stayed at a hotel in Seattle, so, except for the bars and restaurants of some, I can't really comment our hotels. But I can comment on hotel locations. While I'm sure the Spring Hill Suites is a fine hotel, it is WAY the heck out on the edge of downtown. It may officially be called a downtown hotel, but it is as far out as you can get and still call it that. It is at least five blocks outside the bus Ride Free Zone. And it would be quite a hike to any restaurants, except for maybe some daytime sandwich shops or the like.

And, and this is not the Spring Hill Suites' fault -- I remember reading how livid the hotel management was at the time -- the hotel's closest neighbor is an apartment building the city built to provide free housing to the city's most unrepentant street drunks. (I kid you not.) If you look at the hotel in Google Maps, the building just to the east of the hotel contains 75 or so active rummies. I don't know if the hotel patrons are excessively bothered by those guys, but I think it's worth knowing before you stay there. Here is a Seattle Times article from 2005 that tells about it.
 
D T Nelson said:
RailFanLNK said:
We will be honeymooning in Seattle in September and of course doing the touristy types of things. We will be staying at the Spring Hill Suites all though I still have a reservation for the Arctic Club Doubletree which may end up being used by some family members. Our main jist of this trip is to see the Huskers play the Huskies in football and we are also lucky to have the Mariners playing the day we depart on the EB. We are going to leave our bags at the train station and then go to the ballgame. Really looking forward to seeing Seattle, only have flown through there once. One place I would love to stay at but since its our honeymoon its been ruled out is the Hostelling International Hostel at The American Inn. Its brand new and getting really good reviews. I don't like paying through the nose for a place where all I do is laydown and sleep. :)
Click to expand...
As a resident of Seattle, I have not stayed at a hotel in Seattle, so, except for the bars and restaurants of some, I can't really comment our hotels. But I can comment on hotel locations. While I'm sure the Spring Hill Suites is a fine hotel, it is WAY the heck out on the edge of downtown. It may officially be called a downtown hotel, but it is as far out as you can get and still call it that. It is at least five blocks outside the bus Ride Free Zone. And it would be quite a hike to any restaurants, except for maybe some daytime sandwich shops or the like.
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The Spring Hill runs a shuttle down to Westlake where Central Link LRT starts/ends. One can also catch the South Lake Union Trolley there too, as well as the monorail.
 
Well if I'm in a hotel right next door to a bunch of alcoholics....I'll fit right in!!!! :lol: The price difference I got from Spring Hill compared to Arctic Club was close to $175 per night. I think for a savings of $700 we will probably stay at Spring Hill. Allthough I would like to be closer to downtown that kind of savings is hard to turn down.
 
Once again I've put my Washington plans on hold *sigh*. My mother's illness worsened and we had our hands full. She died 20 April and I am just now trying to get back to normal. Amtrak shows all as sold out pretty much until next year anyway.

I will be flying with my father to the East Coast to see relatives in the third week of July. We will be going to Richmond Virginia. Depending on how things work out, I'm thinking about visiting West Virginia and NYC. I think I will post a separate thread for recommendations as the time gets nearer.
 
DesertRat said:
Once again I've put my Washington plans on hold *sigh*. My mother's illness worsened and we had our hands full. She died 20 April and I am just now trying to get back to normal. Amtrak shows all as sold out pretty much until next year anyway.

I will be flying with my father to the East Coast to see relatives in the third week of July. We will be going to Richmond Virginia. Depending on how things work out, I'm thinking about visiting West Virginia and NYC. I think I will post a separate thread for recommendations as the time gets nearer.
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My condolences for your loss. I hope you are able to enjoy even a short trip on Amtrak.

Mike
 
DesertRat said:
Once again I've put my Washington plans on hold *sigh*. My mother's illness worsened and we had our hands full. She died 20 April and I am just now trying to get back to normal. Amtrak shows all as sold out pretty much until next year anyway.

I will be flying with my father to the East Coast to see relatives in the third week of July. We will be going to Richmond Virginia. Depending on how things work out, I'm thinking about visiting West Virginia and NYC. I think I will post a separate thread for recommendations as the time gets nearer.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry to hear of your mother's passing. My condolences to you & your family. May your travels be safe, worry free & hassle free. Keep your chin up.
 
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