Tips from CR on Seattle

I had lunch with Chris yesterday, and since he spent a few years in Seattle, he recommends Hales Ales.

It's an unassuming place, but I was really impressed with their product, and that is the important part. Hales Ales: http://www.halesales.com/

Fine stuff. From there you can walk around the campus of the UW (nice architecture in some places, and cheap good Thai food along the main drag nearby). The area also has a fish place that provides nice views of the city if you get the right table (Ivar's - get the NW wood smoked salmon). You'll need to go up Mt. Ranier either to Paradise, a popular drive up spot and parking area for dayhike trailheads or one of the other approaches. You must go to Mt St. Helens. It's just too bizarre even after all these years. I also think a trip to Seattle is not complete without driving your car from soggy Seattle east across the Cascades and into Yakima Valley for a day of wine tasting. It may not be quite the pedigeree of Napa, but it's great fun, a total change of climate, a pretty unique drive, and the wines are damn good and getting higher score every year from Wine Spectator. Perhaps you can stop there on your way west, but it's only a couple hours from Seattle so an easy day trip if you wake up early and want to taste 20 wines. We enjoy Silver Lake Winery (they have a Malbec that I still dream about), Barnard Griffen (informal and the guy who owns it was always wasted when we were there), and a few others. No shortage of them around there, and that's not even teh Columbia Valley where there are dozens and dozens of high class joints.