I'm visiting in early-mid December. I made a post on a travel site about things to do and everybody just freaked out and basically told me if I didn't spin out and crash my car and die on the drive up that I would be stuck in said car all trip and drown if I tried to step out. I get it......it will be cold, cloudy and rainy the whole time. What can I do to make the most of it? I'd like to spend less time in the city and more time in the outskirts checking out some of the scenery/beauty. Anybody help me out? Looking for a reasonable city with hotels thats within like a 45 minute radius of the city and I want to check out both sides of Puget Sound if possible.

I've heard that Seattle drivers have no freaking clue how to drive in snow, and I've seen video evidence to support this

It doesn't snow much in Seattle but when it does it can pile up pretty fast. I also don't think it is particularly cold there. I never had to own a heavy winter coat there. Rain jacket, yes, although the rain situation is also particularly exaggerated. The Pike Place Market is a fun place to go. I would also say the Space Needle and surrounding Seattle Center is a must. The Seattle Aquarium is cool as well as the Woodland Park Zoo. There are plenty of fun things to do in the downtown area and it's relatively easy to navigate or walk. In the outlying areas at that time of year I'm not sure but it's been a very long time since I lived there. Seems to me that there was a very nice shopping area east towards the mountains that was kind of like a village. Brian might know what I'm talking about. I just have vague memories of that.

I live in Port Townsend, WA. This area is in the rainshadow of the Olympics, so its quite a bit drier than Seattle. Lots of good hiking on this side. Several WW1/2 military bunkers turned into state parks. Rainforest, mountains. I've heard this winter is supposed to be a bad one. Stay off the roads in Seattle if its snowy. Steep hills + dumb drivers are a bad combination. Rural areas are much better during snow. Temperatures do vary from year to year. Two years ago it was about 15-20f through Nov-Dec, last year more like 35-40f. Where are you driving from? Highway 101 is a nice route from the south.

I live there now!

What Wookie06 said is pretty accurate. You should look into a CityPass. You pay a lump sum for a book of tickets to a bunch of places (pretty much all the places Wookie mentioned plus a few). As longa as you use half of them, you save money.

As for the weather - It really isn't that bad. Rain is rain. Chances are, it won't snow when you're here. If it does, the city will probably shut down (but it's because they usually don't get any snow, so the city isn't equipped to deal with it. If a city regularly gets 6ft a winter, they're ready. If you usually get one inch, and you get six feet... there's a good reason why you aren't prepared).

Other places to check out - Gasworks Park is a pretty awesome oil-refinery-turned-public-park. The Downtown public library is pretty impressive, it's 11 stories. I'll list a few more later.

Hit me up when it's closer to your visit, we can grab lunch or dinner or hang out for the day or something! What's the reason for your visit?

I've live on Bainbridge Island for about 5 months now, I'm not so outdoorsey though so not much to recommend that hasnt been already. No baseball right now so you cant go to a mariners game (even if they do suck its fun to go to a game at their park).

Bainbridge is alright. Poulsbo is where its at for Kitsap though. Huge Norwegian population. Hot viking chicks!

I didn't know you lived around here!

We should probably all go to the BSG exhibit.

"NBC Universal called us up, and they said, 'We have these big spaceships sitting in our warehouse, and it's kind of expensive to store them. Would you like to put them on exhibition?' And we said, 'Yes!'"

I went to the exclusive press pre-opening. High-fived Saul Tigh.

He'd better be part of the exhibit.
>_>

He's in New Vegas, as a doctor.
Also, Gaben is around Seattle.

I didnt know you did either!!!!

But yea like I said only moved here 5 months ago.

Plus they got a combonation KFC/Taco Bell.

Wow I'm having to try really hard not to take my own thread down this path.
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Coooooooooooombination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell!

There's a Harry Potter exhibit too. Though I admit it sounds about as exciting as going to Forks and finding there are no vampires OR werewolves

Yeah, but Forks has a rainforest, so its alright.

Just for the record, Poulsbo sucks.

So did I!!

i suppose if you arent a fan of raping and pillaging villages it might. you know what really sucks though? Bremerton

Seriously.

Poulsbo has Central Market, and that awesome bakery downtown.

Bremerton just seems like one giant drug producing town.

Bremerton sucks, too. The problem with Poulsbo is the traffic and drivers. People seem to lose their brains as soon as they cross into the city limits. Poulsbo is like a mile long and I've been stuck in traffic for 45 minutes trying to get through! The little downtown area is fine if you're an old lady and like arts & crafts. They have some cool docks and you can rent kayaks and stuff. I guess that's fun.

I live in Silverdale, which is right between Poulsbo and Bremerton. Silverdale is cool because it's more modern and they actually overbuilt the roads so traffic isn't a problem (except during Christmas shopping season since Silverdale has the only mall in the county). But there's certainly nothing more to do here than in the other towns.

Most western washington towns are the same. Think of town more like a basecamp to go do more interesting stuff. Make a trip to Sequim and visit the lavender farms and the olympic game farm (you can feed yaks, buffalo and grizzlies from your car as you drive around the farm). Go up to Port Angeles and maybe take the ferry to Victoria for a day or two. Continue to Lake Crescent and walk up to Marymere Falls. Hit Hurricane Ridge, then Neah Bay, then Hoh Rain forest. Lots of outdoorsy stuff to do on this side of the water, but you'll need to drive to get there.

I generally avoid rush hour.

Silverdale sucked today. Costco was loaded at 1 pm.

We have those here in SD. In fact, dad and I helped wire one up in Carlsbad.

Get out of my town!!!!!!1

your stinking town takes all my money... via my wife.

Washingtonians, mostly.