Quote Originally Posted by EmeraldCityBison View Post
I've lived here for about 13 years. Love it...

Seattle area
Museum of Flight if you're at all into airplanes. Great WW1 and WW2 collections. The Boeing factory tour in Everett is cool (biggest building by volume in the world).
Seattle Underground tour is great. It's funny and I think they throw in a beer at the end.
Kerry Park is the where all of those iconic Seattle skyline pictures are taken. Small park but great for photos.
If you can, check out a Seattle Sounders match. Tickets are relatively cheap (~$30 gets you in the door), 40k+ fans every game. The atmosphere in and around CenturyLink Field is phenomenal.
Safeco Field is a fantastic place to watch a game even if the home team stinks.
Pike Place Market was just remodeled so check that out if you don't mind schlepping around with other tourists.
Chittenden locks are unique. Watch boats travel between Lake Union and Puget Sound. Nice park area and it's free! Don't miss the salmon ladder if you go.
Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) is worth a stop too.
Any of the Argosy boat tours. One goes through the locks and another does a big loop around Elliott Bay.
Bremerton has a naval museum and an old destroyer, the USS Turner Joy, that you can walk through.
Chateau Ste Michelle winery on the east side is great if you're into wine. There are also several distilleries in that area if you like the harder stuff.

North of Seattle
If you hike, check out Mt Pilchuck. It's a day hike that takes you up to an old fire watch station. On a clear day, you can see downtown about 40 miles away.
Deception Pass State Park at the north end of Whidbey Island. Just a beautiful area.
Chuckanut Drive between Burlington and Bellingham is fantastic. Winds along overlooking the Sound. Much better than interstate highway.
Bellingham's Fairhaven district is a fun area to kick around.
San Juan Islands - walk onto the Anacortes ferry and spend the day in Friday Harbor. Little town and everything is within walking distance. Or drive onto the ferry and go to Orcas Island and check out Moran State Park. Mt Constitution lookout is amazing.

South of Seattle
Mt Rainier's Paradise and Sunrise are great places to picnic. Both have fantastic views of the mountain.
Tacoma has the LaMay car museum.

Vancouver Island
Buchart Gardens just outside of Victoria is a standard tourist destination but worth it.
Strathcona Provincial Park - mountains and lakes with the feeling like you're all by yourself. Can't beat it.
Tofino - I've actually never been but I've heard it's a great little town on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

I also highly recommend the Olympic Peninsula. You can see beaches (Ruby or Rialto beach), hot springs (Sol Duc), rain forest (Hoh), and mountain top vistas (Hurricane Ridge) all in a day. The very NW tip of the state, Cape Flattery, is out of the way but a great place to watch the waves crash and see wild life (seals, whales, eagles...). Dungeness Spit in Port Angeles extends almost 5 miles out into the Straight of Juan de Fuca. It's another great place to see wild life.

Whatever you do, try to stay off of the freeways in the Seattle area during rush hour. Traffic here is BAD from about 7-10 AM and 3-7 PM on week days. Friday afternoons are especially horrible just about everywhere. Use light rail during those times if you can.

Have fun! September is a fantastic time of year to be in the Pacific NW.

Dam that's an all time write up. May be doing a same day trip based on whether or not wifey wants to come along or not. 13>1 hit me up if you haven't booked a hotel in Seattle. We run an air bnb in our mother in law unit in our house in Seattle and I have a pretty steep discount for bison fans.