10 Must-Dos in Seattle

I picked up a "Seattle Visitor's Guide" at the airport when I went to pick up Sayaka a couple weeks ago (Sayaka is a college student from Japan who's staying with us for a few months). I thought it would just be for my clients, but when I started leafing through it, I found it to be full of interesting and even exciting things I felt I just had to rush out and do!

These 10 things must be on top of the list! I am not going into much detail tonight, but at least I can get the 10 things in and then go from there.
1. Ride the Space Needle
2. Explore the Pike Place Market
My Virtual Tour of Pike Place Market
3. Investigate Bill Speidel's Underground Tour
4. Study the Seattle Public Library
5. Dip Into the Seattle Aquarium
6. Wander the Seattle Waterfront
7. Woodland Park Zoo
8. Stroll Olympic Sculpture Park
My Virtual Tour of Olympic Sculpture Park
9. Take A Ferry
10. Trip to Tillicum Village

I know that visitors to the city can get a CityPass and a Go Seattle Card but I still have to check out exactly what these involve. Anyway, since I live here it will be much better to take it slowly and really enjoy each of these awsome ideas for exploring Seattle...I believe everything is better if you are with friends when you see it. Somehow the two intertwine and leave their mark on each other, the people on the world, and the world on the people.

Edy Kizaki, Realtor

Smartest City Ever

I am intrigued by this month's Seattle Metropolitan Magazine. There are several great articles, but this one caught my eye right away...Smartest City! This is what I have been hearing everyone talk about for the past summer. First I learned the statistic that Seattle is actually the Most Educated city in the country. Not only is there a great educational system, but then the tech industries draw even more people with lots of degrees and achievements under their belts...now imagine all these people in a relatively small space.

I'm going to discuss this a bit more with some of my sources of Seattle Lore, but love this quote from the magazine: "How Seattle is inventing the future, winning the Space Race, saving lives, and spreading the religion of international geekdom." It goes on..."Not that it's news to you, but you're living in the brainiest city on the planet. Seattle ranks as the most literate and educated place in America. We have the most bookstores, the highest number of advanced degrees. And we are changing the world...for decades companies like Microsoft and Boeing have lured brainiacs to our fair city. When those minds set out on their own, take up hobbies, or spawn the next generation of geniuses, the results alter the planet. Technology from Seattle is saving lives around the globe, revolutionizing the way information is processed...Seattleites were the first to embrace a word that was formerly a term of derision: geek. Geeks are problem solvers. Geeks aren't afraid to flaunt their astronomical IQs. Embracing the term means embracing the idea that intellect is power, that our minds can overcome any obstacle, that our knack for high-level thinking should be celebrated. Let's face it, geeks run the planet and Seattle is the geekiest place there is. Here's why:"

It goes on to talk about Kirkland's Bungie Studios (gaming..."thumb to thumb combat"), UW Computer Science Professor Oren Etzioni (data mining..."The Sultan of Search"), Dr. Daniel Rubens of Children's Hospital (cause of sudden infant death syndrome..."Man of the Ear"), UW physicist John Cramer (physics/time travel "Back to the Photon Future), The Liftport Group, Bremerton (aerospace/space elevator..."the 27,280,000th floor"), Microsoft product team manager Brad Wright (aerospace ... "backyard rocketeer"), CellarTracker's Eric LeVine(data storage..."Cyber Tipplers"), Allen Institute for Brain Science (biomed..."Mind Over Gray Matter"), Belltown-based Cranium, Pioneer Square's Sceneit, Renton's Wizards of the Coast (entertainment...brainy board games), Western Washington U's Eric Leonhardt & students (energy..."Cow Pie Power"), and eight or nine others. Wow, I'm stunned. I knew I kept meeting really smart people, but...better get geeking! And by the way, if you are my client reading this, I'd be happy to send you a copy of this month's magazine if you don't have it!

Edy Kizaki, Realtor