So I couldnt make it to peguin LAN this weekend but next weekend I am going to drag the family on a train trip to Seattle. Mostly for the train trip as for fun beyond that I need help with some things to do in the Seattle Area.

1. I would like a decent tattoo artist as I would like to finish some tattoos on my arms while I'm there.

2. Any kid friendly places for my 6 year old to check out would be sweet.

3. Any particular hotels that are within a reasonable price range and location.

+ anything you think I shouldnt miss while I'm up there

Yeah, the science center and the EMP are definite must-sees. Fortunately, they're both in seattle center, right under the space needle.

There's also the Seattle Art Museum in the skyscraper district. Very cool. Pike Place Market is always awesome, also downtown.

These two groups are some distance apart on foot, but easily reachable via taxi (maybe ten bucks, tops). All are fairly worth seeing. A word of warning about Pike Place Market. I, for one, would be happy to try to meet up with you guys to guide you through it to all the cool parts of downtown.

EMP is not really cheap. I don't remember how much, I wanna say $30 per person.
EMP has the Science Fiction museum now too, I haven't been in it but I've heard it's cool if you are into old SF, especially TV and movies. I imagine it's shit like the robot from Lost in Space or or Spock's rubber ears. Tickets are separate from EMP, don't remember how much.
Space Needle was $20 per person last I saw, unless you are going to the restaurant. It's cool to eat there and watch the city go by. The food is fucking horrible though, and very overpriced.
Also in the area is the Pacific Science Museum. Again I don't recall the ticket price, but I do remember having a nice time the last time I was there. They have one of those rooms full of butterflies they raise, I've been in several of those and theirs was definitely the best as far as numbers and diversity of butterflies.

The aquarium down by the water is awesome. It can get really mobbed though. There is a sculpture park down there someplace now too, haven't been yet but I've heard it's cool. Classic tourist thing is to walk through Pike Place Market, head down to the water to walk around a bit, go in the aquarium for a few hours, and then bitch about how steep the walk back is.

For tattoo work, Slave to the Needle. Aaron Bell runs it, he's one of the big name magazine cover guys. You won't get an appointment with him, but everyone he hires is as good as it gets. At Burning Man I had more than one person ask to take pictures of one or both of mine, or tell me one or the other was the best tattoo they had seen there. I'm not sure if I'd go that far personally, but everyone who did seemed to be into tattoos so I'll defer to their judgment.
You should call ASAP to make an appointment, they are usually booked way in advanced but you might get lucky, especially if they have a visiting artist. There are of course other good places to go in Seattle, the city is full of some of the best tattoo artists in the world.

Oh, hmm....Yeah that isn't cheap, idk why i thought it was, maybe becuase the last time i went there was for a field trip 6 years go lol

If you mean restaurants, Coastal Kitchen is bomb. If you want raw seafood to eat and/or cook I think pike place market is overpriced because it's a tourist trap but its a nice area. There's a little seafood/poultry grocers right by my house in the U district.

$1000 for a weekend in Seattle should be possible, although not if that includes tattoo budget as well ($150+ an hour) or an evening at one of the better restaurants (easily $100+ per person, assuming drinks and dessert).

I'm not big into seafood personally but Seattle has a lot of good places, my GF loves seafood so I've wound up going to many of them. If the weather isn't craptastic, I'd recommend happy hour at Ivar's Salmon House,. It's still not gonna be cheap exactly, but it's fairly reasonable and there is a great view with the water right next to you and a big bridge overhead, it's awesome if you sit outside, I imagine the kids would enjoy it.

http://www.ivars.net/ind...e=locations_salmonhouse

There's also a place down at the end of one of the piers pretty close to the aquarium. I'm not sure if they let kids upstairs since there is a bar, but it's got an awesome view and you can watch cargo and cruise ships travel past. I've only been there once, it was a bit overpriced but they poured a strong drink.
I can recommend a few other quality restaurants that are really good but aren't necessarily seafood oriented (and are great for the whole romantic date experience). That sort of thing is kind of expensive though.

I've never done the whole flight thing, I've heard it's expensive though. There are short cruises you can take from a place down by the aquarium, and there is a ferry terminal there if you just wanted to take a relatively cheap ride across water. Up by the Space Needle you can "ride the Duck", it's a fleet of oldschool ww2 era amphibious vehicles that tour the city, and yes they do actually go into the water. My gf went to a birthday party on one last year and they all had a great time even though none of them were actually tourists. Not sure about prices but they really do go all over the place and are basically non-stop entertainment the entire time, I see them around town and everyone aboard looks like they are having the time of their life.

Slave to the Needle is probably a good place to go then, they've got a massive stockpile of colors and know how to use them. When I got my chest done I deferred to the artist, Aaron was hanging out and kept coming over to help in the design and color selection. Between the two of them they picked stuff I never would of thought of. Like pink. Part of my chest tattoo is pink. It works though. They've got some stuff that glows under UV as well, my arm has some orange in it that gets really vivid when Whut's got the blacklights fired up. "If it's bold it will hold" seemed to be their mantra.



That would be 100% awesome, you should definitely stop by if you can. I'd love to see pictures from Afghanistan. I've been getting into photography over the past year, despite the fancy camera I still mostly suck. Got a macro lens recently, really need a tripod...
Whut has an old Soviet flag behind the bar, I think his grandfather gave to him? Maybe I misremember, pretty sure he said it was an original actually from the USSR. An Afghani flag would be badass hanging next to it, kind of symbolic of our what sometimes happens at our bar.

Ivar's = delicious.
Dicks's is really good too and definitely a cheap place (except there are any places to sit...)

I would suggest the Woodland Park Zoo or the aquarium for your kid. But of course that is pricey.

There is also a place with an indoor marry-go-round or whatever you call it by the ferry tour things...
I love all the shops there, especially the pirate themed one lol

My friend got a tattoo done by the guy who does Phil Harris' tattoos from Deadliest catch... I don't know the name of it though... or if its even in Seattle... haha i guess that's not really any help.

Anyway, have a good time while you're passing through. I hope that is doesn't rain on you!!