[masraum]

Originally Posted by MikeSid

Depends where you are staying and if you enjoy walking. I'm going to assume you're staying downtown and will uber or taxi to most destinations.

I'd echo the recommendation for Kerry Park and elaborate a bit. (I live a couple blocks from the park). A nice day for me would be the following (which you can virtually walk via Google street view if you want to get an idea of it).

Start at Kerry Park and take in the view(2nd West and West Highland Drive). Then walk west 4 blocks to Betty Bowen viewpoint. It's very small park but will give you a view of the west side of the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. The slope of Queen Anne hill is retained by a large concrete retaining wall (the Wilcox Wall) and there is a boulevard that has some good views if you continue to the northwest.

Across West Highland Drive (from Betty Bowen) to the northeast there is a small garden park - Parson's Gardens. It was the former garden of the Reginald Parson Mansion which is next door. The Garden is now a public park. The Parson mansion is privately owned but is nice to look at from the street. There are a number of beautiful old houses here that you might find interesting. The Kerry houses are on the south side between Kerry Park and Betty Bowen. You'll know them when you see them.

If you head east from Kerry Park around the Queen Anne Historic Boulevard, you'll reach Bhy Kracke park (Comstock and Bigelow). Great views of downtown Seattle (a lesser known alternate to Kerry park) and good views of Lake Union. My grandmothers house was condemned by the City to provide access to the land that Kracke donated to create the park.

From back at Kerry Park you can make your way down the south slope of Queen Anne Hill via numerous staircases. Do a little online research on the "Queen Anne Stairs". There are about 120 different concrete staircases that lead up various parts of Queen Anne Hill - my favorite being the Comstock stairs at Comstock Street and Queen Anne Avenue. A straight line between Kerry Park and the Space Needle will land you right at Taylor Shellfish. 124 Republican street. A good spot to stop for a few oyster for lunch.

After lunch, head to Space Needle for views. MoPop or Chihuly if you're into that. From there, take the monorail downtown (if that is in fact where you are staying).

I'd skip the Aquarium and go to the Ballard Locks instead (as suggested previously).

I'm obviously partial to Queen Anne, I grew up playing at Kerry park, and still live a couple blocks away. So take my suggestions with that in mind. There are plenty of other neighborhoods and sites to see in other parts of the city. But if you're going to Kerry park anyway, you might find some of the other parts of Queen Anne worth a look as well.

This sounds like good stuff, thanks Mike, especially the part about the Oysters. I'm not a huge fan, but the missus loves them and wants to get some while we're there.