Twenty-Four Hours in Seattle

This summer, we’ve learned a little about the Great Northern Railway, which was built in the late 19th century and originally ran from St. Paul, MN, to Seattle, WA, and whose construction was integral to the creation of Glacier National Park. For decades during the 1800’s, explorers and surveyors searched for a pass through the Rocky Mountains that would enable trains to cross the Continental Divide. And in 1889, John F. Stevens found a pass that he’d heard about from the Flathead and Blackfeet–later called Marias Pass–that followed the path of the Marias River through the mountains at about a 1% grade. He telegraphed his findings to the executives at the Great Northern Railway, and the rest, as they say, is history. In 1970, the Great Northern merged with several other railroads to form the Burlington Northern Railway, which became the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) in 1997, stretching from Chicago to Seattle.

These days, Amtrak runs the Empire Builder train line along these tracks, which it still shares with BNSF. And although we didn’t start in Chicago, the train ride from West Glacier to Seattle is only about 15 hours. You board the train at about 9:30pm (theoretically–we actually boarded around 11:15 but that’s Amtrak for you!) and arrive in Seattle at 11:30am the next day. Again, theoretically. We traveled in the Coach section on the way out, which made for some uncomfortable sleeping, but spent most of the daylight hours in the Observation Car, which doubles as a cafe!

Once we arrived, we quickly got our bearings in Seattle and walked from the train station to our hotel, which was located a couple blocks from the Google headquarters. Rob had created a list of must-see/must-do items, so we checked the map to figure out where to go next. Seattle is a beautiful little city–I say “little” because it’s about 1/3 the size of Chicago in both area and population–but has really great public transportation. There are buses, streetcars, light rail lines, and a monorail, and these are all pretty easy to navigate after we got a quick orientation from a lady in an Info booth near the Pike Place Market. So we were able to take public trans across the city using an all-day pass!

We spent our first afternoon exploring Pike Place Market, a historic 9-acre public farmer’s market located on the waterfront downtown. Established in 1907, Pike Place was originally a fish market and is famous for fishmongers who toss flying fish to visitors. No one threw a fish at us, thankfully! But if the name Pike Place rings a bell for you, it’s probably because it’s also the home of the Mothership: the very first Starbucks! Of course we had to get our photo in front of the sign, but it was too late in the day to wait in a long line for coffee–we had things to see! Down below the Pike Place Market lies one of the seedier sights in Seattle, the Gum Wall. The gum wall started in 1991, as patrons who were waiting for the nearby theater to open began sticking chewed gum to the brick wall in the alley. Although theater workers originally scraped the gum off the wall, they ultimately gave up in 1999 and the gum wall now spans several blocks. And predictably, it’s totally gross. But it was on the list!

Next, we decided to tour the city via light rail and streetcar. We wound up in Chinatown, which spans several blocks near the train station, and which merges into the International District–a few miles of predominantly Asian neighborhoods. We didn’t really stop here, just passed through, but enjoyed the architecture and sculptures of the neighborhood.

But since we didn’t sleep much on the train, we decided to call it an early evening and headed back to our hotel with the intention of getting up early and exploring more on our second day.

And Day 2 did not disappoint! We started by taking the monorail from downtown to the Space Needle–a 605-ft tall observation tower, built as the centerpiece of the 1962 World’s Fair. The 60’s TV cartoon The Jetsons was totally modeled after this aesthetic, and the needle still provides a great view of the surrounding city. The Space Needle always had a revolving platform floor at the top, allowing visitors to sit and have a coffee while viewing the city at about one revolution every 45 minutes, but it’s been modernized so that the revolving platform is now a glass floor. A special form of torture for some!

And of course, who could resist the gift shop, with a special Mold-A-Matic replica of the Space Needle!

But we did resist, and after what seemed (to me) an interminable length of time at the top of the world, we ventured down to check out the rest of the fairgrounds, including the Chihuly Garden. Dale Chihuly is an internationally-famous glassblower and sculptor who has created breathtaking art exhibits in cities across the world. The garden opened in May 2012, and features some of his most famous indoor installations, as well as a “glass-house” greenhouse and outdoor gardens that incorporate glass along with the plants. Chicago hosted an exhibit in 2001 at the Garfield Park Conservatory that Chihuly described as one of the first times he was able to incorporate the kind of work that he shows here in the garden. But as you can see below, I had a hard time just picking a few pieces! Who knew you could improve on a beautifully landscaped garden?

For our second and last afternoon in Seattle, we decided to see the city by bike. Seattle has a bike-share program–Lime–that we also have in Chicago. You sign up and can use the app to find bikes, scooters, and docking stations all around the city. You use your phone to lock and unlock your bike, and can ride anywhere you want! Bring your own helmet, though!

After an action-packed 24 hours (11 of which were spent sleeping!), we were ready to head to the train station to board our Amtrak train back to Glacier. When I originally bought the tickets online, I was immediately directed to a page where you can bid on upgrades for sleeping accommodations. Sleeping cars are quite expensive, so I decided to bid on something called a “roomette.” These are also fairly pricey, but Amtrak accepted my totally lowball offer of $125 for the trip back (it wouldn’t take anything less than $350 for the trip out, which is why we were in Coach), and we were treated to the cutest little private room!

The roomette has seats for two, and a little bit of storage for our tiny, overnight backpacks and bike helmets. There’s an upper berth that folds down for one passenger to sleep, and the two seats below slide together for the second passenger. Rob got the upper berth, where you are kind of strapped in to avoid falling out of the narrow bed while you are sleeping; I got the lower berth. This was a total mistake, as I was way too excited by the view out the windows to sleep much at all, even once it was really dark outside. Rob, on the other hand, had no view whatsoever and slept great!

Here’s a pro tip, though: your meals in the dining car are included as part of your fare when you’re in one of the sleeping cars. We didn’t realize this and missed an amazing three-course dinner and pancake breakfast! We brought expensive goodies from Whole Foods, which were fine but I’m sorry we missed dinner!

By 9:00 the next morning, we were back at the train station in West Glacier (also known by its old name of Belton), which also doubles as one of the Conservancy’s stores. This was an amazing trip and I’d do it again in a heartbeat! Seattle is a great city–multi-cultural, clean, and totally livable, and we barely even scratched its surface. Plus, we’re so inspired by our Amtrak experience, despite the multiple delays, that we are already planning other places to go by train once we’re back home. All Aboard!