Connor, my youngest, has been obsessed with Seattle for years. All things Seattle. The football team, the city, the weird needle thing, the airplanes that come from there, all of it. So as part of a Christmas gift, I planned a trip to the Emerald City for the boys over one of their long weekends off of school.

The day before departure, Brady ended up not feeling well. I took him to the doctor where we ruled out all possible big ticket items (covid, flu, strep) and settled on “just a virus.” “Just a virus” we could live with, but it did make him a little run down at the get-go of the trip.

We left Thursday night after school, and despite an upset belly on the plane (barf bags are there for a reason!) we arrived fine and stayed at a cheap hotel near the airport. I wanted to be close the Museum of Flight because that was our first stop on Friday.

They loved the Museum of Flight and we could have easily stayed there all day. But I am known to pack things in, and we had a timeslot at the Space Needle later in the afternoon. So we grabbed our luggage, hopped on the city bus, and cruised downtown to check in to our next hotel.

We stayed at the Fairmont Olympic, which is not a Marriott property. I am fairly heavily Marriott-loyal, because of my Titanium status, but this credit card offers $200 back per year on Fine Hotels and Resorts PLUS $100 food and beverage credit PLUS free breakfast daily. And since I booked this hotel in December, that means I can get the same deal one more time in 2023 (which I’ve already planned for a trip in a few months). So the hotel ended up being under $300 out of pocket, and we cashed in on about $300 of food and drink between the other credits. Plus, the boys said it was the fanciest hotel they’d ever stayed at PLUS it was one of the few Seattle hotels downtown with an indoor pool. Winning all around.

After checking in (did I mention that booking with the above card also guarantees a room upgrade, early check in, and late check out??), we scooted over to the Space Needle via the Seattle Monorail. The iconic Seattle landmark ended up being one of the highlights of our trip! I had purchased the Seattle CityPass in advance through my employer discount site, and this was really a great way to save money and see a lot of the things we had on our agenda.

We ate dinner in our room (hello, $100 food and beverage credit) and the kids thought room service was the fanciest thing ever. “Mom, the table, it has wheels! And then it just SETS UP magically!” I love sharing moments like this with my kids. I never had room service myself until I was in my 30s and traveling for work, so watching them enjoy it is magical! We also hit the pool and hot tub for a little bit before bed. And I will say, the Fairmont pool is fantastic. It made this hotel well worth the slightly higher nightly fee to be able to go down and swim for a bit each day.

Day two in Seattle started with a short walk over Pike Market and to the oddly grotesque, yet equally fascinating bubble gum wall. Ever since reading about this in one of our books years ago, the boys have wanted to see it. And it did not disappoint. Fascinating, but also disgusting was our summation.

We then walked back to the monorail to return to Seattle Center and the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop). We had a lot of fun on the interactive experience there (the video game hall and the music areas were our favorites) before popping out for some play at the Seattle Center playground. Since our CityPass tickets included the Chiluly museum, we did a quick walk through to get out of the rain.

An additional item on the CityPass was a harbor tour, which was through Argosy Tours. We booked this for the afternoon, and it was probably my favorite thing of the trip. Even though the weather was cold and drizzly, we enjoyed cruising around and learning some history about the area.

My trips out west are incomplete without a stop at my favorite restaurant, Din Tai Fung. Now the boys have been to two DTF – one in Pasadena when we went to AGT, and this one. Always well worth it, even though we end up with more food than we can handle. We did pass out our leftovers to the homeless on our walk back to the hotel.

Our final day started with a trip to the Seattle Aquarium, which was really wonderful. We probably wouldn’t have done this, but it was another item on the CityPass and it turned out to be well worth our time.

We then started a walking tour I’d purchased in advance as well, but it ended up being a little too history-heavy for the younger brains, plus it was downright cold and pouring rain. So back to the hotel to pack up, a quick stop at Salt & Straw for some ice cream, and then off to the lounge at the airport (I carry both this card AND this previously mentioned card will get you free lounges in Seattle!) before wrapping up our speedy weekend. Now BOTH boys love Seattle. Connor still plans to live there, and Brady is excited about visiting him (but is definitely staying in Colorado).

If you would like any tips about visiting Seattle – with family or without – please reach out!