Travel Review: Seattle, Washington

The state of Washington, located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, has a beautiful city on the Puget Sound named Seattle which also happens to be the largest city in Washington. Seattle is surrounded by water, mountains and evergreen forests, and contains thousands of acres of parkland. Seattle is the heart of many corporations such as Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, and many more. With a population of 3.9 million people and growing, it is ranked the 15th largest city in the U.S, it has plenty of attractions and eateries for a fun and delightful vacation. This is my trip to Seattle, Washington.

I stayed in Renton, a city that is about 18 minuets away from Seattle, right on Lake Washington and the area is beautiful being surrounded by dense forest and mountain ranges. Traffic in Renton isn't too bad but is pretty wild heading northbound to Seattle, especially during morning and afternoon rush hours on I-405 and I-5. Driving your own car or a rental could be possible but an Uber could be a cheaper alternative. For example, I drove my own car, a 2015 Ford F-150 Raptor, and it gets terrible gas mileage so i could have saved a ton using an Uber. The downtown streets are pretty bad to drive on, being packed with cars, pedestrians, and cyclists, so parking in a Parking Garage and walking a couple blocks to your destination wouldn't be a bad idea to save time and fuel. For the most part the roads and streets are not too dirty accept for the occasional homeless but homelessness isn't as big as a problem as it is in Los Angeles. There wasn't even really a problem with pollution or garbage. For transportation and cleanliness I rate it an 7 out of 10 just because of the traffic.

Seattle has a ton of attractions such as the Chihuly Glass and Garden museum, Pikes place market, Space Needle tour, tour of Boeing, Seattle Underground tour, and many parks and reserves. I went to all of the listed attractions previously listed except for the tour of Boeing which I hope to see next time I go visit. Starting with the Chihuly Glass and Garden museum, it was awesome to see all of the masterpieces that can be made with colorful, blown glass. Tickets were about $65 per person, quite expensive but I think it was worth it. Next was Pikes Place Market, right on Elliot Bay, with over 70 businesses inside there is something for everyone. Walking through the market is free but there are tons of stores to buy food, clothing, knickknacks, and miscellaneous goods from. The next place I went to was a Tour of the Space Needle. Built in 1962 and standing at 605 feet tall, it gets over 2.3 million visitors every year. First you walk in and get to ride an elevator to the top and is a great place to see the whole city and beautiful terrain. The price to get in is about $22 per person but still is worth it. It also has a gift shop that has tons of items to rep the city. Last but not least is the underground tour of Seattle. Seattle in the 1800’s used to be flat with no sewage so the city laid dirt to make everyone's 1st floor into a basement so the sewage could drain down. Sounds pretty cool but the cool part is that you can walk underground where the old sidewalks were and the first floors were. The cost was $20 per person but again was still worth it. For attractions I rate it a 9 out of 10 because each place I went to did not disappoint me.

The last section I'm reviewing is food and restaurants. There are tons of restaurants to choose from in the city and genres of tastes. You can get Teriyaki, Mexican, Seafood, Barbecue and many more. One of the restaurants I ate at was Emmett Watson's Oyster Bar in Pikes Place Market and it was delicious. I ordered the Fish and Chips and it was perfect. The fries were so good especially when paired with malt sauce and the fish was breaded and fried perfectly with a piece of bread. Another restaurant was La Fuente in Seattle and was some of the best Mexican I have ever had. I ordered the wet burritos with Mexican style red rice and was to die for. The beef burritos smothered in white queso is the main dish I always look for at Mexican places and the had it. To my surprise it was the best packed with flavor and spices. The rice was moist and soft with the spiced Mexican taste I was expecting. I rate the restaurants a 9 out of 10 because of all of the unique options there are and quality.

To wrap this review up, I rated the commuting and cleanliness a 7 out of 10 because of the traffic, the attractions a 9 out of 10 because they were all fun and no other city has them, and restaurants and food a 9 out of 10 of all of the unique options there are and quality. I would recommend this trip to anyone and is family friendly.