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Transportation in Seattle?
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(Although not nearly as a good of a question as "Where's the nearest Dicks?") Priorities, priorities...
OK, where was I?
Oh, yeah, getting around the city of never-ending traffic jams.
So one of the nice things about Seattle is that even though the city's freeway infrastructure and traffic planning is horrendous, at least there are a decent number of options available to get from here to there. Plus, believe it or not, there are some good things about Seattle traffic. Trust me, click the link. You know you wan to.
Most of the time we end up renting a car to get around wherever we need to go because sitting in traffic in your own car is a lot less embarrassing than having the kids run wild on a bus that is sitting in the same traffic. So if you have to get around, a rental car might be the best option. The bus system isn't bad, though, and we've even used it to get downtown for various festivals when parking is virtually non-existent for miles around the event.
So what else does Seattle have? Well, there's the Seattle Center Monorail that goes from the Space Needle to Westlake shopping center. It's a two-minute ride that our kids absolutely love. It's pretty pricey to ride (a whopping .50 cents or something like that) so make sure you hit the ATM.
A rental car (or the public bus for the brave among you) can only take you so far, though. To get across the water anywhere, sooner or later you're going to have to experience the ferry. There are multiple Seattle ferries that get from different points in Seattle to various places across the Sound. I've never noticed a difference between the different ones, so I'd just choose one and go have fun.
Our kids love it, although it can get pretty windy sometimes. I try to get my wife to pretend that she's in Titanic and do the famous scene at the front of the ship, but she normally just rolls her eyes and walks away. It's a valid request, right?
A discussion on transportation in Seattle wouldn't be complete without at least a mention of Seattle cycling. I've never been anywhere like Seattle where people have a complete disregard for the weather. You've got cyclists, roller bladers, roller skaters, and people riding all sorts of interesting contraptions. So even if you're not much of an outdoor exercising type person, keep this in mind while you're driving so that at least you don't run anyone over.
Nothing ruins a vacation faster than hitting someone on a bike. (Childhood memories never quite go away, do they?)
Back from transportation Seattle.