The Jarvii O and I spent a week in Seattle while his dad was on business. For reference, O is now 1.5 years old and it was a super tough trip in some regards. I think the overall thing that sucked is sharing a hotel room with a toddler. If you can afford a suite, do it! Otherwise you are stuck in a dark hotel room at 8:30pm cause that’s your toddler’s bed time. Other than that, we spent the week exploring the city during the day, napping after lunch, and then going out to dinner or meeting friends. This was the second time I’ve been to Seattle too, but this time with a child. Needless to say it was a very different experience.
We spent the first day at the Seattle Aquarium, which O loves. We are members at the California Academy of Sciences, so I knew this was something he would enjoy doing. It’s actually a lot smaller than I anticipated and not quite as extensive as other aquariums I’ve been to (I grew up in the DC area and grew up going to the National Aquarium). For $30, it probably wasn’t the best value, but at least O got to go in for free.
The place that O enjoyed the most was the Seattle Children’s Museum, so much so we went twice during our week there! It’s located at the Seattle Center, which is great because right above it is a food court with a cafe that sells healthy kid-centric food. The price for the museum may turn some off, but it was a great way to spend an entire morning. The place is broken into sections based on age group, which I appreciate when you have a toddler. That still didn’t stop O trying to go to places that were deemed inappropriate for his age. This place is also great because Seattle’s weather, especially at the time we went, was a bit damp, cold, and cloudy.
Another great indoor space to visit for kids is the Pacific Science Center. This by far is the most expensive museum we went to in Seattle, especially to take a kid that isn’t really geared towards young kids. But toddlers aren’t free, and I’ve visited the museum before (before kids to see a special Harry Potter exhibit) and it was a great experience.
There is a toddler specific area for kids to climb and play. There’s also a large water table, stream thing so the kids can get a bit “dirty”. Just bring a change of clothes because it is inevitable that either your kid or another kid will accidentally get your kid wet! Another area that may be appealing to (young) kids is the butterfly room. They have butterflies roaming in a warm climate room (which is actually really pleasant if you spend your days pushing a toddler in a stroller during winter in Seattle). It was fun pointing at the butterflies and trying to identify the colors they see.
One adult geared activity that we brought O to was the Seattle Underground Tour. It was by far one of the best walking tours I’ve gone on (I’ve done walking tours, literally, all around the world). I honestly didn’t know much about Seattle’s history, and this tour really did a great job of explaining the early days of Seattle. Who knew there was a city underneath the city? Certainly not me and my husband, that’s for sure.
This walking tour is not stroller friendly. We had to leave it at the office, which was locked up. Part of the tour are through poorly lit tunnels and sometimes sketchy walkways. We had O strapped in his Ergo, which he didn’t mind. I was actually surprised since he always wants to run around. But I think because we were in a darkish area, he wanted to be close to us.
Overall, it was a great trip to explore a city with a toddler. O and I walked a lot too, which wasn’t too bad. Most of our time was spent at Seattle Center since most of things were around there. Don’t be afraid to go with your toddler there!