Seattle

Mike and I have a weekend trip to Seattle planned. I love the idea of weekend trips! Planning and looking forward to them is oft as much fun as the trip itself.

• Climb the water tower in Volunteer Park for the "best free view in Seattle," as voted by readers of Seattle Weekly
• Savor Seattle Food Tours http://www.savorseattletours.com/
• Pike Place Market http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/frameset.asp?flash=true
• Woodland Park Zoo http://www.zoo.org/
• Seattle Art Museum http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/
• Alki Beach from "Sleepless in Seattle"
• Discovery Park at Sunset http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/Environment/discovparkindex.htm
• Museum of Glass http://www.museumofglass.org/
• Science Fiction Museum
• The Bacom Mansion (from $89) http://www.baconmansion.com/
• National Geographic site for free things in Seattle: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/deals/freeseattle0801.html
• Frye Art Museum
• Olympic Sculpture Park
• Fremont Sunday Market
• From the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks' public viewing window, cheer for salmon as they climb up the fish ladder and watch pleasure boats pass through the locks. Join a free, guided tour March through November.Roam the 74-acre (30-hectare)
• Seattle Center, site of the 1962 World's Fair and now home to the city's top attractions, including the Space Needle, Seattle Opera, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Children's Museum, Children's Theater, Fun Forest Amusement Park, Pacific Science Center, and Experience Music Project.
• Downtown Seattle, while compact enough to wander by foot, is easily traversed by bus as well—especially from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. when all downtown buses are free. The Route 99 Waterfront Streetcar Line buses, a temporary replacement to the George Benson Line Waterfront Streetcar vintage trolley service, provide free rides through the Waterfront, Pioneer Square, and Chinatown.
• Navigate thousands of Coast Guard memorabilia—from an 1860s lighthouse service clock to the Coast Guard flag used on the first shuttle flight—at the free Coast Guard Museum on Pier 36.
• Each week, literature-rich Seattle is host to scores of readings at bookshops like The Mountaineers, Elliott Bay Book Co., University Book Store, and the Richard Hugo House; check listings in local publications like The Stranger and the Seattle Weekly.
• Amble through Seattle's International District, located east of 5th Avenue and home to a high concentration of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Laotian, and Cambodian Americans living in one dynamic neighborhood.
• Sunday afternoons, boat rides are free at the Center for Wooden Boats, a free hands-on museum that explains maritime traditions and aims to preserve the art of handcrafted wooden boats, located just north of downtown.
• Explore Washington Park Arboretum's 230 acres (93 hectares) of 10,000 native plants in this internationally recognized woody plant collection, featuring Sorbus, Maple, Hollies, oaks, conifers, and camellias. Free tours are available every first and third Sunday at 1 p.m. (January-November).
• A 45-minute drive southeast from Seattle, Rattlesnake Ridge's four-mile (6.4-kilometer), moderate-level trail affords hikers sweeping views.