Seattle Itinerary

Since you're staying in SLU, you should stop in the Brave Horse Tavern for some wood-fired pretzels and good beer.

 

The Wurst Place in SLU is worth stopping by while in the area and is definitely more family friendly; have seen quite a few families in there before. Great sausages and beer.

I do love Brave Horse, but you are correct that it is not really family friendly. Not sure I've ever seen a minor in there, or if they are even allowed.

 

Unfortunately it looks like your visit will be centered around the downtown area. I spend most of every day downtown so maybe I'm just jaded, but IMHO Seattle can best be experienced by exploring its neighborhoods (which also happen to have some great breweries and beer bars): Fremont, Ballard, Capitol Hill, Roosevelt/Ravenna, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Columbia City, West Seattle, etc... But of course that requires considerably more time and a car.

So if you'll be downtown and doing the tourist thing, maybe spend some time walking the waterfront/piers while you're down @ the aquarium & harbor tour. There's a massive new ferris wheel that looks like it might be fun for a little one, and would give you good views of the city, Puget Sound, and the Olympics. While you're @ Seattle Center maybe walk over to Bambino's, which has a pretty good tap/bottle list. There's also the EMP near there, although to be honest I've never spent any time there. Also consider the Museum of Flight, the Underground Tour (Pioneer Square), the Art Museum... People have told me the Ride the Ducks tour is fun too, seems a little cheesy to me but maybe would give you a good overview of the area.

Also, I'm not sure what's at Target, H&M, or Columbia Center. But if I had only 3 days in a town like Seattle (where I've lived for almost 20 years and still keep discovering new gems) I wouldn't waste a minute. Might reconsider some of that.

 

Space Needle is pricey, that's for sure. If you're down @ Columbia Center and Pioneer Square area might as well walk a few blocks over and check out the International District, our somewhat dilapidated version of Chinatown. Your wife might enjoy Uwajimaya there. Depending on when you'll be here, all buses in the downtown core are free—but they're phasing this program out @ the end of September. And use light rail to get to the ball game, very convenient. Enjoy your visit!

 

Yes, BHT is 21 and over. Didn't know you had your daughter.

+1 on Bambino's. However, be forewarned, it's fairly expensive, but the pizza and salads are great. The taplist is A+.

Also, I think Pine Box is 21+ but don't quote me on that. Haven't been there yet but have heard great things.

 

Personally, I think the Pike Pub is a waste of time. Sure, you'll be right there if you're in the market ... but IMO you'd be better off leaving the market early and not going there at all. If you must do something beer related in the market, swing by the Pear Market (or Pear Deli ... can't remember exactly what they're called now). They have a great bottle selection. You may even find some long undiscovered local offerings there.They're located toward the north end of the Market on the side of the street facing the water.

What you should really do is catch a cab to Fremont Brewing. Their urban beer garden is very family friendly. Should be less than a 10 minute cab ride. I'd do that Saturday with the time you save from not going to the Pike.

Add me as another vote for Wurst. Great place. I've never been impressed with Brave Horse.

Bambinos is cool ... and they do get some great beers but my gripe is they don't get anything local. And I mean absolutely nothing. With their taplist, you'd think we were in California! And that would be fine if we were Bismark North Dakota .... but this is Seattle and our local beer is fantastic! I don't know how much California stuff you see locally but I wouldn't suggest Bambinos to anyone wanting to get a feel for our NW scene.

 

I agree, I'd pass on pike pub too.
I'd also hit stumbling monk

And my favorite restaurant there, Plum

 

From the Seattle Streetcar website: ORCA cards & Metro transfers are accepted as proof of payment on the Seattle Streetcar.

But you don't get a paper transfer when you ride light rail. only the bus. And I don't think you can get an ORCA card for just a few days. You have to buy your light rail fare @ the airport before you board the train. So I don't know what kind of transfer you could use between light rail and ****, and I don't think the bus will accept either a light rail or **** ticket as a transfer.

Maybe someone else has better info, but it doesn't look like these systems work so well together if you don't have an ORCA card.

 

I don't think Metro accepts transfers from the streetcar. I've never ridden the streetcar and I have an ORCA card, so I'm not very familiar w/ how all the transfers and different systems work when you pay for a fare. There might be some kind of comprehensive, short-term, all-day visitor pass, similar to the ORCA card but for tourists; I know there used to be something like that at least for the bus.

Both the light rail and streetcar are relatively new here, so I just don't know what fits under the transit "umbrella."

 

I'll start a conversation, this is getting off-topic and definitely no longer about beer...