Seattle Roast

[Shiqra]

As a AAA member I can do a search at AAA.com for hotels; travelocity and expedia are also to places to get both tickets and hotels.

I suggest staying in a hotel near the airport and have group transportation arranged from the hotel to the museum or wherever we are going. I too hate to have to add the expense of a car rental to the plane ticket and hotel stay and then try to navigate through an unfamiliar city, and even worse, find a place to park in said large and unfamiliar city.

When I went to SF for the scientific conference I got my hotel room a few blocks from the convention center, and took the BART from the airport to near the hotel. If Seattle has a train system that would be helpful to use to get from airport to downtown.

So for logistics - we need:

1. A central place to meet/hang out - ie museum, etc.
2. Transportation from airport to hotel, and hotel to museum or whatnot. Many hotel chains have airport shuttles; the hard part will be getting downtown.
Will one of the local Seattle-ites be taking the out-of-towners to the museum from the hotel (rented van, family minivan, etc)? Is there a train system? Are we all on our own?
3. A place to eat and hang out near the museum.

So - choose the activity venue - museum etc, find admission prices online.
Decide how transportation will be best dealt with. Choose a place to eat.

How many of us are flying in? How many live locally? Transportation will be the biggest hassle. If all the out-of-towners stay at one hotel near the airport, then some form of group transportation can probably be arranged to shuttle everyone to/from the hotel and the museum/restaurant etc.

What is a good hotel near the airport that won't break the bank and has a shuttle service, and how will we transport everyone between the museum the restaurant and the hotel?

[X-Kal]

First off, there is frequent transit from the airport to downtown, via public transportation. http://transit.metrokc.gov/cftemplat...94&DAY_NAV=WSU

The 194 isn't the only route you can take, but it is the one I use, whenever I have to navigate that stretch. It seems to do fairly well.

Fare is $1.50 off-peak and $1.75 peak (peak being weekday, rush hour-type runs)

And one last warning - the city of Seatac charges obscene taxes for parking, so expect to pay through the nose for all-day parking. Downtown is expensive, too, depending on where you park.

Aha, something else I forgot to mention. If it's downtown and you think you might have trouble remembering the street names, Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest. Explanation: When you're going from south to north, the street name patterns go like this: Jefferson, James, Cherry, Columbia, Marion, Madison, Spring, Seneca, University, Union, Pike, Pine. Look at the first letters - J J C C M M S S U U P P. They come in pairs... so... J C M S U P. Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest.

If you get lost, just figure out where you are in the sentence, and you should be fine... within a block or so

[RichPlaystation]

Will we get pictures from said 'roast'? I'd like to see what you all look like

[X-Kal]

Most likely, depending on who shows up.

[Shiqra]

Is that the BUS? um - no way Jose. I am NOT riding the bus. I don't know about Seattle, but the ones around here are pretty nasty. I'm not paying outrageous fees parking a car I am already paying outrageous fees for renting because I got it at the airport - I'm already in the hole for plane tickets, hotel room, admissions fees, etc etc.

If us out-of-towners are all left to our own devices - have to transport ourselves, navigate ourselves, park ourselves, basically do everything on our own, then maybe we need to come up with our own logistics. Find hotels near each other - or stay at same hotel - and carpool or some such. Because this is getting ridiculous in expenses and time. Maybe we'll get lucky and there is a hotel that is both walking distance from wherever it is that we are meeting, and has a shuttle service to the airport.

So where are we meeting - is the museum decided on?
And if so - what is the name of the durned thing?

[jrminga]

I remember the buses in seattle not being terribly bad. I've never ridden the ones in Tucson, since i'm not really allowed within town limits, but i've ridden the ones in Phoenix and the ones in Seattle were comparable in quality, but ran much more often.
Of course, i haven't been to seattle in twelve years...

[X-Kal]

Originally Posted by Shiqra

If us out-of-towners are all left to our own devices - have to transport ourselves, navigate ourselves, park ourselves, basically do everything on our own, then maybe we need to come up with our own logistics.

This is why it is such a challenge for me, though. I've got a tiny flat and I don't drive, hence the public transportation bit. I know the area well enough that I can tell you which neighborhoods to avoid. But beyond this, I really *do* insist that I'm clueless on how to run an event, beyond trying to decide what to do and where to meet.

In regards to Seattle busses, it is a *RARE* occasion where I have had a problem, and I've taken transit since I started high school.

Again, I'm really sorry that I'm not doing enough to really call myself a coordinator - but really, I wouldn't know *what* to do if I were being more proactive, either.

[Moonchilde]

I can offer my own house (I live by myself with 2 cats) for random gathering as long as we don't end up with more than 30 people (25 people have actually showed up to my house and fit reasonably comfortably for a house-filk).

However, that's just a 'hang-out' place and not an 'activity' place. Either of the dates suggested (July 19th or 26th would work for me, I just need to know which one it'll end up being).

[X-Kal]

Okay, here is something I *CAN* post to help narrow things down.

The sci-fi museum is definitely an excellent place to start - I've never been there, myself, so it should be an adventure. As I recall, the enterance fee also $15 per person, but I am looking to see if there is a group rate - there might be a discount for that.

The website also says that "All purses are subject to a bag inspection. Purses larger than 16 inches will not be allowed. Contents of purses larger than 16 inches may be transferred to a “gallery-approved bag” for carrying and safekeeping."

See http://www.empsfm.org for more details on that front.

The Sci-Fi museum is in the Seattle Center, which has a really nice food court - it it also house to the Pacific Science Center, which has some interesting hands-on exhibits, though admittedly, much of it is targeted towards a "younger" audience.

Also at the Seattle Center is the Space Needle - though there's a fee for that - $16 for adults, but we would go for the $14 per person group rate *IF* this were part of the plan.



Now, further thoughts... The Seattle Center is not really walking distance from Downtown or Pike Place market, so if that was a 2-part plan, that might not work... though there is the monorail that takes you alot closer. I can put up maps if someone wants me to. Now, it's definitely a walk I can manage, but what I consider walking distance is usually beyond what other people would want.



The Woodland Park Zoo is farther off from all the other options, BUT the benefit of that is that there is a park next to it, as well, so a potluck picnic could be part of that. I would have to really rack my brain for what sort of supplies I would need to bring for that, but that is also a doable situation.

Now, one important issue to point out on the zoo is that the zoo admissions is $11 per person. Though if we pick that as the destination, I would buy myself a membership and share my 5 guest passes for those who can't pay.

Oooh, the zoo has a "Butterflies & Blooms" exhibit that will be there from lat May to September!

Also posted was the Underground Seattle tour. The "Web" price for that is $14 a person. No clue how much the in-person fee is. The plus to this is that it is very close to the Aquarium - if we wanted to do a double-feature day. Though that might be a bit pricy for some.

I can't think of much else right now, but I do intend to post more on this.





Now...

Quick question, for those of you who can come....

Please reply with which dates you *can* come, which date you would prefer, and which you *CAN'T* come.

July 19th?
July 26th?

[Valancy]

Addition to XKal's post, something y'all would definitely want to keep in mind. A lot of group rates have a minimum persons limit. I mean, if five of you show up, chances are you won't get a group rate. Just another thing to think about.