We played tour guide for my boyfriend’s mom a couple weeks ago. The highlight for me was the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. It’s a 140 acre nature preserve with a native wildflower meadow, ponds, a Japanese garden, a mansion, a moss forest and more.
20-ish minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle. You have to buy tickets for an entrance time so it doesn’t get crowded. They close at 5 and last entrance is 3:30. I’ve lived in Seattle my whole life and can’t believe I’d never even heard of it.
get the coupon book. citybook, or whatever it is now, makes the usual tourist destinations almost reasonably priced and it encourages you to do a bunch of them in a weekend or its not worth the spend. Your hotel will have them.
I should pretend to be a tourist here for a weekend. There are still a few things that come up in these threads that I’ve never done.
My personal favorites all involve the parks. Especially during the nice parts of the year. Walk Discovery Park or Green Lake. Rent a paddle board or kayak and cruise around Lake Union. Go to a Mariners game.