Seattle sightseeing
Seattle in Washington State is known for its coffee culture, the birthplace of Starbucks, the grunge music scene, the headquarters of Amazon and Microsoft, and one of the best food markets in the world – Pike Place Market!
I’ve never been to Seattle so I jumped at the opportunity to go with the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) on a familiarization trip with Philippine Airlines (PAL), which just started flying into Seattle this month.
Established in 1979, PTAA is a union of national associations of outbound travel agencies and inbound tour operators. It was created to foster unity in the Philippine travel industry and now has over 500 members.
The direct nonstop 14-hour flight aims to serve one of the largest Filipino communities in the USA and started strong with a passenger load factor of roughly 85 percent.
PAL president, Capt. Stanley Ng, said the decision to fly to Seattle was to connect the Philippines to more destinations in the USA, as well as bring tourists and investments to the Philippines.
Members of the PTAA worked on business-to-business meetings with Seattle-based companies to bring in more tourists to the Philippines.
Ng added that Alaskan Airlines is a partner of PAL and that people can connect to other cities in the USA (including nearby Alaska), through Seattle. Asked what he liked about PAL’s new destination, he said he loved the good coffee, nature, dining by the bay, and his favorite Seattle landmark – the Space Needle!
The Space Needle is the icon of the city and was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. Elevators take visitors to an observation deck 160 meters high in 41 seconds, which offers panoramic views of the downtown Seattle skyline, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay, and various islands in Puget Sound. In 1999, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Board designated the Space Needle as a historic landmark. Right beside the landmark is the stunning Chihuly Garden and Glass, an art museum showcasing the large-scale glass sculptures and other artworks of American artist Dale Chihuly.
The Garden offers a rich tapestry of colorful trees, plants, and flowers purposefully designed to complement the artwork. The Glasshouse features a 100-foot-long sculpture to fill the space with a vivid palette of red, yellow, and orange. The Galleries showcase a comprehensive collection of Chihuly’s work representing over 40 years of experimentation with color, form, and light. Instead of buying separate tickets, do book one ticket for both the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass to save a couple of dollars.
Aerospace enthusiasts would love the “Future of Flight” experience at Boeing’s Everett site, where Boeing manufactures their planes. Their building holds the world record for the largest building in volume. Visitors can tour the Boeing museum and the factory and can also learn how to fly a drone or encode a robot on this tour.
It was an interesting visit to the beautiful Amazon Spheres, also known as the Seattle Spheres. These are three spherical conservatories comprising part of the Amazon headquarters and are reserved mainly for Amazon employees but are open to the public through weekly headquarters tours, which are usually packed!
The Spheres are a result of innovative thinking about the character of a workplace and an extended conversation about what is typically missing from urban offices – a direct link to nature. It is home to more than 40,000 plants from over 30 countries.
Of course, Filipinos love outlets and there is the Seattle Premium Outlets where one can shop to their heart’s content at discounted prices. That may take an entire day or you may opt to take a day trip via the Washington Ferries to Bainbridge Island, a small city in western Washington with a population of around 25,000 in Kitsap County. It was so picturesque, especially during the fall.
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art is an eco-friendly building, offering rotating exhibitions by contemporary local artists. Another option is to take a cruise. I learned so much more about Seattle when I took the Argosy Cruises (www.argosycruises.com) cruise. Their very knowledgeable narrator onboard explained almost every single house or building around Seattle’s waterways and even pointed out the house used in the movie Sleepless in Seattle which is a permanently-moored floating home located at Westlake Avenue North on the banks of Lake Union.
The highlight of the cruise was that the snow-capped Mt. Rainier was seen on a clear day! The tour ended on the vibrant Pier 54 where one could go straight to Ivar’s for a great clam chowder and fresh seafood!
One can also see Mt. Rainier from another perspective on a hot air balloon. The experience that Seattle Ballooning (www.seattleballooning.com) gave me was simply spectacular! We soaked up the breathtaking views of Mount Rainier, Green River, White River, Lake Tapps, Mt. Saint Helens, Puget Sound, and downtown Seattle on a 60-minute hot air balloon tour at sunset (or sunrise if you wish).
Capt. Eliav Cohen is one of the best pilots in the world and will entertain you with his interesting trivia about ballooning. Other scenic views that can be seen are Auburn and the Cascade Mountain range.
Art lovers can visit the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) which operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Capitol Hill; and Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront. They have a nice collection of European, Egyptian, and Persian art as well as an extensive porcelain collection and, of course, modern American art.
So this was my first experience in Seattle. Aren’t you enticed to take a direct flight there soon?
All about food in Seattle in next week’s column.
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Philippine Airlines flies to Seattle three times weekly: every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Visit www.philippineairlines.com.
Follow me on Instagram @pepperteehankee.
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