Kids and Seattle are a winning combination. Seattle has a serious vein of the bizarre and offbeat appealing to toddlers and non conformist teens alike. Of course the fact that pot is now legal in Washington means you might have to pay closer attention to the teenagers....

One word of warning, although the museums in Seattle are extraordinary, they are ridiculously expensive. Most adult tickets hover above $20 and the Space Needle alone is $28.  I was relieved to find prices were half that for kids 12 and under. As if I didn't already have enough to worry about the girls turning 13…. It is probably worth getting the city pass but only after looking at the list of included attractions and deciding how many you are definitely going to visit. Mind you, if you get tickets online you usually get a discount so something to consider.

To be honest, the Space needle, though obligatory, is not really that special.  There is a nice exhibit at the top showing how retro the "future" envisioned by the 1962 world's fair now looks.  And you can't beat the view. Of the giant spiders on the roof below that is. They were quite the unexpected attraction! In the end though the kids decided the best thing about the excursion was the roasted corn on the cob we all devoured from a vendor near the exit before they joined other young Seattleites in using the giant pipe sculpture as a jungle gym.

Alternatively, instead of the Space Needle, you might consider going on The Great Wheel down by the wharf. This  is Seattle’s version of the London Eye, a gigantic roller coaster that spins you up for helicopter worthy views. Not cheap either, it at least spins you around three full turns before spitting you out.  The kids liked this more than the Space needle. mayhaps because it has more of a roller coster air, with just that tiny frisson of “what happens if you get stuck at the top?”

You will want a good two hours at least and probably more for the EMP museum located in Seattle Center.  This is a gift to Seattle from Paul Allen, the co founder of Microsoft.  Originally he just wanted a place to showcase his apparently unbelievably large collection of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia  (Jimi is from Seattle, who knew?  Apparently anyone who has ever passed through this town).  It was his sister Judy who convinced him to think bigger, so instead of just being Paul’s storage closet it became  the “Experience Music Project”.  They hired Frank Gehry to fashion a homage to the chaos of creativity (think of a building made of pretzel shaped construction beams and smashed up Stratocasters). Circle around the literal tornado of constantly plucking guitars and make your way to the music labs where you and your kids can jam away on instruments in tiny recording studios. Even you will sound good since you are rocking out to pre-recorded tracks. 

Once you have practiced, you are ready to preform on stage where, thanks to the genius of CGI, you can record a DVD of you and your band preforming in front of thousands of adoring fans. Quite fun and the kids loved it.  Paul Allen is obviously the world’s wealthiest geek and after a while he needed more space to stash his science fiction memorabilia so now the museum also incorporates separate galleries for science fiction, fantasy & horror films and video games.  This is THE place to go to see an actual Dalek from Dr. Who or to genuflect in front of Captain Kirk's original  command chair from the Star Trek that spawned the franchise.  I was not thrilled to discover that the costume worn by Bert Lahr in the Wizard of Oz was made from real lion pelts. Ugh, that is carrying authenticity just a tad too far. And the Horror films section was definitely too scary for me let alone the kids. But whatever, I just love the fact that when Paul runs out of closet space he opens up another gallery in this museum….

The other museum worth its staggering admission fee is the Science Center. We had originally been enticed there by a temporary exhibit focusing on cold war spying promising lots of high tech gadgetry and skull dugery. It delivered only one fun section where kids try to elude laser beams a la Catherine Zeta-Jones and the rest was lots and lots of reading.  Fortunately though, the regular museum just brims with installations that define interactive.  Start with the touch tank and stroke the sea urchins, move onto Professor Wellbody’s Academy of Health and Wellness and feel how far a sneeze can travel or set nutritional goals, pull levers, spin wheels and ride bikes in the the science playground.  Then when you are ready to leave pass by the animatronic dinosaurs and head outside to spin a giant water wheel and squirt water cannons at targets.  Lastly, once you have left the museum, take a stroll through the “Sonic Blooms”.  Your movements through theses gigantic stalks triggers tinkling music

Fortunately the number one place for a kid to visit in Seattle does not have an admission fee. That place is the Pike Place Market.  There are still the original signs proclaiming it to be a “Sanitary” market which makes you wonder what exactly the alternative was but today it is a mishmash of fresh fish and fruit stalls, wind up toys, Mexican wrestling masks and Tarot card readers. Kids will be hooked the moment they dive in and are nearly beaned by a flying fish. Technically you don’t have to spend any money browsing the many levels of bricabrac vendors but I defy you not to be seduced by the free samples of local cherries or bewitched by the flowers arranged by displaced Hmong tribal women. I know no parent is going to make it past the Donut company and their hot fresh donuts without succumbing to temptation. My kids swore off Dunkins Doughnuts forever once they tasted these cinnamon sugar doughnuts scant seconds after they had been fried.  

On the other hand, THIS is something you definitely do not want to take a sample from. This alleyway just outside the market is something you simply have to see to believe. You really cannot grasp the enormity of it if all you know is there is a wall next to a theater upon which patrons routinely leave their ABC gum. In reality it looks like the wall is slowly dissolving into a pointillist abstract with long strands dripping off the windowsills.   Anybody that has had to scrape gum off the underside of school chairs will have nightmares. Apparently the theater tried removing the gum two times and then just gave up.  It is a testament to something, not sure what. I think basically it proves that Seattle and kids share the same zany nature since much as they squealed in horror at the sticky gobs, they immediately begged for some gum of their own to add!

We are staying in the United States this summer, albeit, the furthermost outposts.  We are going to travel around Alaska for one month and then on to Hawaii for the last two weeks.  I was stunned to find out out that Alaska air has about six flights a day between Anchorage and Honolulu.  I guess since it is a straight shot south it is basically the equivalent of New Yorkers popping down to Florida for a long weekend. In any event, each place is as exotic as we could get while not needing a passport. Slowly, slowly we are circling around to exploring our own country.

To be perfectly honest I was a little less excited than normal while prepping for this trip than for others we have taken recently.  I mean, we are not going to need another language or currency or even a sim card to to get around. If we run out of shampoo we can find the same old brand in any store, unlike trying to sort out the deodorant from the hair spray in cyrillic. We are not even leaving America for cripes sake! But seeing the glaciers before they disappear is definitely on my Must-Do bucket list so that is the reason we are going.

On the upside, going to Alaska does give us the excuse to visit my sisters-in-law who live in Seattle, Washington and their adorable son Ronan.  This will be our jumping off place for the trip proper. We will take a quick bus from Seattle up to Bellingham where we will board the Alaska Marine Highway ferry to Ketichan, our first stop on Alaska’s inside passage.

Now I will admit it.  Except for a flying visit to Eureka, Oregon I have never been north of San Francisco. When I envisioned Seattle I thought, ok, big city with lots of coffee shops.  What I didn't realize is that there is just so much GREEN here in the Pacific northeast - you step two minutes away from the center of town and you are engulfed in trees.  It is quite disconcerting for a city girl. 

What I love about Seattle is it is the perfect smash up of anti-establishment youth culture and immense wealth. So you have all these skateboarders wandering around with head to toe tats (including quite elaborate face designs) but a ticket to the science museum costs an eye bleeding $29 a person. You can’t tell the multimillionaires from the nearly homeless.

My sister-in-law lives in Fremont so our first day she walked us around this area which has got to give Portland a run for the "quirkiest place on earth" label. Start with this statue of Lenin - the god father of communism striding across the corner of 36th St, and Evanston Ave outside a falafel joint and a gelato shop.  Unlike most depictions where he is a philosopher, here he is heroically leading the way through crashing waves of chaos.  Unfortunately like most Lenins in Russia, he came crashing down himself after the Berlin wall fell. Some Seattleite native happened upon him in a post communist scrap heap in Slovakia and for whatever reason decided to bring him to the home town of Microsoft, Google, UPS, Boeing and Starbucks among other capitalist entrepreneurs. According to a small plaque, the statue is actually for sale though he has become somewhat of a neighborhood mascot with special hats bestowed upon him for New Year, Halloween, Christmas and the 4th of July. 

The next stop on our tour was the notorious Fremont Troll. If you have ever been nervous at night do not sashay past the Aurora Bridge in the dark. That is a real Volkswagen bug he has trapped in his hand, by the way. The kids had a blast clambering all over him and pretending to be caught themselves. This troll was the winning design in an open public arts contest and it is now impossible to imagine anything else lurking under there.

Another one of Fremont’s beloved neighborhood attractions took major commitment and vision.These are two giant topiary Dinosaurs along the waterfront.  It has taken 12 years for the ivy to just reach the face of the mother Appatasaurous.  Behind them is the running track where you see Seattle in all its youthful athletic glory, a constant stream of ultra fit people not only biking and jogging but kayaking down the river. One thing we have learned - this is a town with a lot of hikers.

Just across the street from the dinosaurs is a) Theo’s homemade chocolate factory where even if you don’t take the available tour you can still gorge on baskets of free samples and b) this striking manhole cover. Its not quite the same thing as the notice saying Fremont is the "Center of the Universe" (located at N 35th, Fremont Place & Fremont Ave N) but it does show that you have to keep your eyes open for touches of whimsy throughout the area.

It is amazing how irreverent Seattleites are about their public street art.  While Lenin gets the ccasional Uncle Sam hat on the fourth of July this sculpture group at 34th St. at Fremont Ave. are completely bedecked in donated clothing.  Called Waiting for the InterUrban this group of ordinary people (and a dog with a man's face) waiting for the trolley has been completely dolled up in sweaters, hats & scarves.  For the final touch, somebody, for some unknown reason, then decided to turn it into a homage to Tayler Lautner from Twilight.   

The last thing on this tour is the Seattle rocket.  Apparently a group of legitimate Fremont business owners heard of a cold war rocket being dismantled and thought it would be the perfect landmark for their town.  After some comedy of errors the rocket was eventually retooled and achieved lift off at the corner of Evanston and 36th.  The rocket is now adorned with the Fremont crest and motto, "De Libertas Quirkas," which means "Freedom to be Peculiar."

Well, maybe not quite the end.  On the way back to the house we passed by this patrol car, owned by the Fremont Brewing company, clearly advertising their willingness "to Ferment and Serve". We love Fremont in all its "Quirkas" and are excited to see all the other parts of Seattle in our time here.