Kids Korner

Visit Seattle/Tacoma! Space Needle Washington State Ferries Pike Place Market Is the Mountain out? That's how Seattleites gauge the weather – if they can see snow-covered Mt. Rainier. Whether it's rainy or sunny, there's plenty for kids to do in and around Seattle and Tacoma, from bike riding and kayaking to hitting a museum (there are so many cool ones to choose from!). You can try some food you've never had (Salmon jerky anybody?) or get up close and personal with the animals at the zoo and the sea creatures at the aquarium. Get ready to play outside, winter or summer. There's skiing not too far away in winter and all kinds of water sports in summer and the chance to shop till you drop, especially for outdoor gear.

Did You Know?

• There's a new Kids' Zone at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma where kids can pet animals and learn about caring for them. Then go see critters ranging from giant polar bears to red wolves to tiny blue poison dart frogs. The zoo is in a huge park complete with picnic areas, hiking trails, and playgrounds. (www.pdza.org) In Seattle, kids love the Woodland Park Zoo. (www.zoo.org)

• People commute to work and sometimes school on the Washington State Ferries – 25 million people a year ride the ferries! It's the biggest ferry system in the country. You'll see cars, bikes, even canoes and kayaks aboard. Some kids have birthday parties on the ferries. You can take the ferry to visit the San Juan Islands and the Olympic Peninsula or just get a water's-eye-view of the Seattle skyline. (www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries)

• There's a museum in Tacoma that really makes learning history fun. Check out the History Lab at the Washington State History Museum (www.historylab.org) where you can be a history detective and replay the past with the push of a button.

• Seattle actually gets less rain than Miami or New York – 37 inches a year, compared to Miami's 56 and New York's 42. Got your shades? Seattleites buy more sunglasses per person than any other city in the country.

• More people commute in Seattle on their bikes than any other city – as many as 8,000 a day. There are 90 miles of bike routes, 28 miles of bike/pedestrian paths, and 22 miles of bike lanes on streets!

• Seattle is the only Northwest city that has a major league baseball team (Mariners), NFL football team (Seahawks), and an NBA basketball team (SuperSonics).

• Seattle's Space Needle (www.spaceneedle.com) is 605 feet high and from the top, you can see the whole city. It was built for the 1962 World's Fair. Now, kids love it because besides “beaming up” to the top at Seattle Center, you can also visit the Pacific Science Center (www.pacsci.org) with two IMAX theaters, the Children's Museum (www.thechildrensmuseum.org), and the Experience Music Project (www.emplive.com) where you can record your own songs.

• The giant Pacific octopus is the biggest octopus in the world. You can see one at the Seattle Aquarium (www.seattleaquarium.org), where you can walk through the aquarium's Underwater Dome to see Puget Sound from the point of view of a fish! Check out the starfish. There's one that can have up to 24 arms!

• Washington grows more apples than any other state. You can meet farmers from all over Washington at the Pike Place Market in Seattle and try different kinds of apples as well as all kinds of other food. Here's your chance to try food you've never had – yellow cherries, maybe. You'll see lots of people selling fish, too. Washington fisherman catch more than two billion pounds every year – salmon, halibut, mussels, and shrimp. What do you want to try? (www.pikeplacemarket.org)

• Starbucks Coffee started in Seattle on Pike Place in 1971, the only street through the Pike Place Market. This is a good place to buy souvenirs too – everything from jewelry to T-shirts. You can climb the stairs up or down from Pike Place – there are 169 steps.

• You can still buy a gold nugget in the historic Pioneer Square (www.pioneersquare.org) part of Seattle. In the 1800s, logs rolled down the streets here to sawmills by the harbor side. Later, in the 1890s, tens of thousands of prospectors passed through town on their way to try to find gold during the Klondike Gold Rush. You can visit the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park or take a cool Underground Tour of what's left of the original wooden city. After a fire destroyed much of it in 1889, Seattle was rebuilt on top of the ruins (www.undergroundtour.com).

• Locks just like the Panama Canal but smaller raise and lower boats between six and 26 feet and between salt and fresh water at the Hiram H. Chittenden Locks. You can see salmon here and maybe a sea lion or two.

• You can see all kinds of planes at one of the world's largest air and space museums in Seattle at the Museum of Flight, including World War I and II fighter planes (www.museumofflight.org).

Wanna try out a Seattle scavenger hunt? READY, SET, HUNT! See if you can find:

1. A sea otter
2. The Space Needle
3. Mount Rainier
4. A guy bicycling to work
5. A ferry
6. The first Starbucks coffee house
7. A Washington apple
8. A salmon (in the water or on a plate!)
9. A gold nugget
10. A girl carrying an umbrella

What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In Seattle/Tacoma . . .

Meet: Josie Bresson (age 12) who lives in Federal Way, a suburb just south of Seattle. She is the daughter of Southwest Airlines' Customer Service Agent Deena McCulloch. She Says: Seattle has plenty of things to offer all year round! The winter is great to go to Snoqualmie were you can ski, snow board, and inner-tube down the slopes. Spring has the tulip festival. In the summer we have beautiful parks and lakes to visit, and summer ends with Bumbershoot. Wild Waves Enchanted Village is another fun summer place, but also has events throughout the rest of the year. During the fall we have the Puyallup Fair. Don't Miss: Pikes Place Market where you can watch them throw fish, and then walk down to the water front where you'll find the Seattle Aquarium. Go to the Seattle Center and see the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center and Children's Museum. The Paramount Theater has a lot of great shows and there are tons of video games to play when you visit Gameworks. Don't Go Home Without: Taking the Seattle Underground Tour or taking a cruise to the San Juan Islands where you can do some whale watching and kayaking. You can also take a cruise to Victoria, Canada for the day. Ride the Ducks and their amphibious World War II vehicles will show you Seattle from both land and water! Best Places to Eat: Dick's Drive-In The Old Spaghetti Factory Chang's Mongolian Grill Salty's at Alki Beach Best Places to Visit Outside of Seattle: Take a 'one horse open sleigh' ride during the holidays in Leavenworth or go to Ocean Shores where you can take a horseback ride on the beach. Mount Rainer is also a fun place to visit and at Tillicum Village you can experience the coast's Native American culture.

Kids, Tell Your Parents . . .

• Sightseeing can be a lot of fun but exhausting for kids as well as parents. You don't have to see everything in one visit! You also want to make sure everyone in the family gets to have some say in the itinerary. Let each member of the family plan one day or at least offer a pick. If you go to a museum, pick out a few exhibits – and leave when the kids are tired. Wherever you go, leave plenty of time for playing in the park. If you visit next summer, don't miss the Seattle Art Museum's new downtown Olympic Sculpture Park. (www.seattleartmuseum.org)

• To get some more ideas, visit www.experiencewashington.com, www.seeseattle.org, and www.traveltacoma.com.

• Check out the hotel deals offered at more than 50 Seattle hotels through the Seattle Super Saver Program (www.seattlesupersaver.com), operated by the City's Convention and Visitor Bureaus.

• In Seattle, locals say:
  • The Mayflower Park is a great boutique hotel. (www.mayflowerpark.com)
  • The Westin Seattle is in a great location and has a cool design. (www.westin.com)
  • The Hotel Monaco invites you to bring your pets and will loan you a goldfish so you don't get lonely. (www.monaco-seattle.com)

• Try some Northwest fish at Etta's Seafood, named for the chef's daughter, where you've got a good view of Pike Place Market. (www.tomdouglas.com)

• Save on popular attractions with the Go Seattle Card (www.GoSeattleCard.com) or CityPass (www.citypass.com).

• If you're staying in Tacoma, try the Silver Cloud Inn (www.silvercloud.com) on Ruston Way. The inn is just two miles north of downtown and built over Commencement Bay, so kids can fish off its pier and play along the Ruston Way Promenade, a two-mile-long pathway, which is perfect for walking, jogging, rollerblading, and pushing babies in strollers.

• Don't forget an umbrella!

See Past Editions of Kids Korner.

By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™