Top ten things to do in Seattle

Take a tour:

Three really fun ways to your downtown: 

By Segway - learn to ride a Segway, and learn all about downtown while you're at it. About $75 each, but deals on Groupon. 

The underground tour - an interesting bit of Seattle history. 

Seattle Bites tour - get a taste test of a dozen downtown restaurants. 

- Ride a 'duck' boat out onto Elliot Bay. Touristy but fun. They really make everyone laugh.
-tour Lake Union on a hot tub boat http://hottubboats.com/about/ or an electric boat http://www.theelectricboatco.com/ - both are several hundred dollars, but are unusual and fun. 
- Take a bay cruise on an Argosy boat. There's a version of the tour that goes through the Ballard locks and you catch a bus back downtown - it's good but it's 2-3 hr and there's not a whole lot to see all the way.
- Take a tour of the Ballard canal locks "Chittenden locks."  Watch the fish swimming through the fish- ladder bypass for the locks. Best when the fish are running, of course!  Or watch a boat go through the locks - more likely on weekends.
Here's a list of free (or cheap) tours.

Visit a museum:
-Get a citypass (http://www.citypass.com/seattle) for a deal that's worth it if you visit 3 or more of the attractions.
-The Boeing factory tour at the Everett plant: a long way out (about an hour's drive from downtown) but unforgettable to be in the worlds largest building.
- The Museum of Flight at Boeing Field: you can go inside an actual Concorde, and see the stealth SR71 up close.
- Experience Music Project, a contemporary music 'museum' at Seattle Center. An incredibly innovative building (look at these photos!) that people either love or hate. The museum isn't worth the price of admission, but you can walk all around the lobby for free and take in the building, and even see the giant 'Skychurch' screen.
- The Olympic Outdoor Sculpture Park: this is at the north end of downtown, and you'll be close to it at some point anyway. Unusual giant outdoor sculptures.
- The Museum of Glass, in Tacoma is 40 miles away but on weekends they have artists blowing glass in the museum and explaining what they are doing. If you just want to see glass sculptures, go to Chihuly gardens right under the space needle - http://chihulygardenandglass.com
- Gold Rush National Historic Park, in Pioneer Square: this is a hidden downtown gem and really worth the trip: it recreates the feeling of getting a gold rush expedition together.
-Discovery Park is a large public park with a view up and down Puget sound and many half mile trails. -Alki beach is a similar long public beach and great place to stroll and people-watch with an expansive view.
- The Woodland Park Zoo is ok; I'd rather see The Seattle Aquarium

Visit a landmark:

- Pike Place Market: fun to walk around and see food and crafts.
- the revolving Restaurant at the Space Needle and Seattle Center. The food is better than you'd expect for a touristy place, ascend  it's fun to dine in the restaurant, which slowly rotates. But it's about $40 a person! At least if you're dining you don't have to pay the $15 a person to ride to the top, so you can factor that into the cost. However, see my suggestion about the Starbucks in Columbia Tower, below.
- Seattle Waterfront - good for a sightseeing stroll. You can take a ferry trip for a nice water view and it's only about $7 to walk on.
- Seattle Public Library - spectacular architecture!

A few hours away: 
Tour the Wild Horse wind turbine farm near Ellensburg for free. Tours from April-Nov.
Tour the world's sixth largest hydroelectric dam for free at the Grand Coulee Dam visitors center, open year round.

Now the important part: restaurants. Seattle is known for its fine dining, but here's a list of cheap, interesting, small places. 

Go for coffee.
Coffee culture is such a central part of Seattle culture, but where to go to get that unique Seattle take on coffee? Here's a video:
https://youtu.be/iVSFg35NS1w
Slate coffee:
https://goo.gl/maps/3m3oLw2uXPJ2
La Marzocco
https://goo.gl/maps/mZcrhsmR6Kp
Ghost Alley Espresso
https://goo.gl/maps/VEQEtH6gBYt
Mabel coffee (for their bulletproof coffee)
https://goo.gl/maps/YAVBuyiJfBA2
Broadcast Coffee
https://goo.gl/maps/yb6CehDpswL2
Or, take a ferry to Pegasus Coffee

https://goo.gl/maps/uMiN5ikRZt92

Breakfast café: 

Exquisite pastries and breads

Macrina Bakery

Cheap good, crowded, and fun:

The Dish

Wholesome, flavorful, interesting converted home setting:

Hi-Spot
Liam's (http://m.yelp.ca/biz/liams-seattle) in University Village, from the owners of Beecher's handmade cheese (best steak, ever)

Best Starbucks view ever: Columbia Tower. Take a free public elevator up the tallest building in Seattle with a curved black shape. On the 40tg floor there's a Starbucks with an incredible view. 

London Plane: beautiful, yesteryear feel with huge windows, white woodwork, Staff in aprons, and gorgeous food. http://m.yelp.ca/biz/the-london-plane-seattle#

Ethnic: 

Indian: excellent almost-too-fussy service, bottomless cups of homemade Chai

Taste of India

This one is close to the Space Needle and has a great cheap buffet lunch

Roti

Thai: hole in the wall, cheap, spicy, good, and you watch them cook it just a few inches in front of you. 

Thai Tom

Cuban sandwich

Incredible, so tender, delicious bread - an unforgettable greasy wonderful spicy meal

Paseo

BBQ beef sandwich

This ones to die for. Incredible sauce. 

Pecos Pit BBQ

Fresh fish:

Eat looking out at the boats of Deadliest Catch. Cheap, noisy, good but not great foo

Chinook's

Ethiopian
There's a large Ethiopian population in Seattle, and plenty of restaurants. 
I've tried this tiny cheap place and enjoyed their sampler platter. 
You eat with your hands and scoop up curry dishes with interesting ethnic bread. 
Cafe Selam.

Southern
I've heard great things about Ezell's Fried Chicken, but haven't been there. 
They have several locations. 
The original one is now called Heaven Sent Chicken, apparently, but doesn't rate as well as the franchised ones.
http://m.yelp.ca/biz/liams-seattle

A Yelp collection of things to do in Seattle:

https://www.yelp.com/collection/NDC1r-AgvxmBLbq0Trk-tw?ytl_=764887f83b3ac81730e1b75c971bad70&utm_medium=email&utm_source=community_email&utm_campaign=May-07-2021