Sleeping in Seattle

I spent the a week in Seattle, Washington, the Emerald City. This trip was not only my first trip to Seattle, but also my first Amtrak travel experience. The Amtrak Coast Starlight is a Superliner train that runs from Los Angles, CA to Seattle, WA. If you plan your trip properly, you can reserve first class accommodations for the same as coach airfare, but you can’t be in a hurry. The trip from San Jose, CA to Seattle, WA took 24 hours, (Friday night 8:39 pm to Saturday night 8:30 pm)

Seattle is a thriving modern city with an immense amount of history in many areas. It was a city known for hot Jazz Clubs in the 50’s. Both Jimmy Hendricks and Kurt Cobain are both from there.

Seattle has the oldest active farmers market (105 years) in the nation. Both Starbucks (notice the original seal) and Nordstom original stores started in Seattle. The ships on popular show on the Discovery Channel called The Deadliest Catch are all based in Seattle and there is a memorial at the dock for all those lost at sea. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks (Ballard Locks) which allows vessels to pass from the freshwater lakes to Puget Sound handles more ships, boats and barges than the Panama Canal on an annual basis. We were fortunate enough to see it in action. This same canal is the route traveled by thousands of salmon to their birth place to procreate.

The city really had its boom and exploding population growth during the Klondike gold rush to Alaska. People came to Seattle thinking that Alaska was just a few more days travel. As a result, lots of people died on the way across Canada to Alaska, but the economy of Seattle grew 300%.

Although Seattle has a rainy reputation, it's an interesting city for a relaxing vacation.