Seattle Travel Hop
Welcome to Seattle Travel Hop. This is a blog designed to help you and your family navigate all that Walkable Seattle has to offer. Whether you are just visiting, relocating to Seattle or just want to explore your own surroundings, we can give you tips, recommendations and inexpensive ideas for enjoying downtown and beyond with kids. Seattle Travel Hop will take you beyond the usual chain businesses and beyond what you might find in your typical guidebook. Everybody knows the Space Needle, but did you know that we are also home to the coin operated Giant Shoe Museum? You may have heard about a little coffee place called Starbucks but did you know you could grab a great cup of locally roasted coffee and play free video games while you caffeinate? Free tours and concerts? Kid-friendly happy hours in Walkable Seattle? Enthusiastic updates with terrible grammar and excessive exclamation marks!?? We've got you covered.
What is Walkable Seattle?
I just made it up. According to spell check "walkable" isn't even a word. Our geographically precise calculation of Walkable Seattle is How far are our kids willing to walk before melting down and whining their faces off. and since we would like to include a little more than the 2 block radius of our house, We then add a mile or so to that.
We consider Walkable Seattle to be Downtown Seattle, Pioneer Square to the South, Belltown to the North and if you are feeling adventurous, Seattle Center/Lower Queen Anne, a little further North than that. The neighborhoods that we focus on are all within about a mile of Downtown Seattle's Pike Place Market. All kidding aside, our kids champion walkers...and whiners.
Who are we?
Our family has called downtown Seattle home for the past 9 years. I have spent 20 years (with a couple of brief suburban breaks) living and working in Downtown Seattle, Belltown , Pioneer Square and Lower Queen Anne. My work as a tour guide, urban parent and annoying Seattle enthusiast gives me a unique glimpse into the family friendly offerings in downtown and the surrounding areas. My husband Mark and I wander the city dragging along one 15 year old boy, with a sweet tooth and a sense of adventure and one discerning 9 year old girl, with a matching sweet tooth and knack for striking up conversation with anyone and everyone. We all love our city and we all have our own thoughts and opinions on the various places we visit. Who knew cupcake preference could be so divisive?
Why the blog?
While certainly kid tolerant, downtown Seattle doesn't really have a reputation for family dwelling. In every neighborhood you will see an array of dog parks, doggie daycares, pet stores and grooming salons but you won't see an elementary school or up until very recently, a playground. My children have spent much of their childhoods sliding down a large rock at Victor Steinbruek park and running down ramps in Pike Place Market's Down Under. We have one designated toy store in all of Walkable Seattle. (Don't ever leave us Magic Mouse!) and one Children's Clothing Store (Here's looking at you Boston Street). My point, and I sort of have one, is that we have spent a lot of time seeking out family friendly adventure in Seattle. Seattle has a lot to offer but sometimes it can be a little tricky to find and a little overwhelming to sort through. We have performed the difficult and selfless task of testing out delicious baked goods and exploring kid-tolerant coffee shops, happy hours and more, I am writing the blog that I wish I could find when I moved here with kids, or the information I wish I could find when I travel to other cities with my family.
Suggestions?
This is by no means a complete listing of all kid friendly places in Seattle. We would love to hear from you! We can only drink so much coffee, attend so many events, afford so many tourist attractions or eat so many donuts (Dare me!) Let me know if there is a place we should try!
Welcome to Seattle Travel Hop. This is a blog designed to help you and your family navigate all that Walkable Seattle has to offer. Whether you are just visiting, relocating to Seattle or just want to explore your own surroundings, we can give you tips, recommendations and inexpensive ideas for enjoying downtown and beyond with kids. Seattle Travel Hop will take you beyond the usual chain businesses and beyond what you might find in your typical guidebook. Everybody knows the Space Needle, but did you know that we are also home to the coin operated Giant Shoe Museum? You may have heard about a little coffee place called Starbucks but did you know you could grab a great cup of locally roasted coffee and play free video games while you caffeinate? Free tours and concerts? Kid-friendly happy hours in Walkable Seattle? Enthusiastic updates with terrible grammar and excessive exclamation marks!?? We've got you covered.
What is Walkable Seattle?
I just made it up. According to spell check "walkable" isn't even a word. Our geographically precise calculation of Walkable Seattle is How far are our kids willing to walk before melting down and whining their faces off. and since we would like to include a little more than the 2 block radius of our house, We then add a mile or so to that.
We consider Walkable Seattle to be Downtown Seattle, Pioneer Square to the South, Belltown to the North and if you are feeling adventurous, Seattle Center/Lower Queen Anne, a little further North than that. The neighborhoods that we focus on are all within about a mile of Downtown Seattle's Pike Place Market. All kidding aside, our kids champion walkers...and whiners.
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| The children are more enthusiastic to touch a rubber fish than to eat a real one. |
Our family has called downtown Seattle home for the past 9 years. I have spent 20 years (with a couple of brief suburban breaks) living and working in Downtown Seattle, Belltown , Pioneer Square and Lower Queen Anne. My work as a tour guide, urban parent and annoying Seattle enthusiast gives me a unique glimpse into the family friendly offerings in downtown and the surrounding areas. My husband Mark and I wander the city dragging along one 15 year old boy, with a sweet tooth and a sense of adventure and one discerning 9 year old girl, with a matching sweet tooth and knack for striking up conversation with anyone and everyone. We all love our city and we all have our own thoughts and opinions on the various places we visit. Who knew cupcake preference could be so divisive?
Why the blog?
While certainly kid tolerant, downtown Seattle doesn't really have a reputation for family dwelling. In every neighborhood you will see an array of dog parks, doggie daycares, pet stores and grooming salons but you won't see an elementary school or up until very recently, a playground. My children have spent much of their childhoods sliding down a large rock at Victor Steinbruek park and running down ramps in Pike Place Market's Down Under. We have one designated toy store in all of Walkable Seattle. (Don't ever leave us Magic Mouse!) and one Children's Clothing Store (Here's looking at you Boston Street). My point, and I sort of have one, is that we have spent a lot of time seeking out family friendly adventure in Seattle. Seattle has a lot to offer but sometimes it can be a little tricky to find and a little overwhelming to sort through. We have performed the difficult and selfless task of testing out delicious baked goods and exploring kid-tolerant coffee shops, happy hours and more, I am writing the blog that I wish I could find when I moved here with kids, or the information I wish I could find when I travel to other cities with my family.
Suggestions?
This is by no means a complete listing of all kid friendly places in Seattle. We would love to hear from you! We can only drink so much coffee, attend so many events, afford so many tourist attractions or eat so many donuts (Dare me!) Let me know if there is a place we should try!
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