Travel Writing Adventures: the best stories, photography and videos from professional and amateur travelers

Top 10 Things to do When You get to Seattle

1/25/2017

Congratulations on your visit, or your move, to Seattle! Whether you are new to the city or are intimately familiar with it, many adventures await. With that in mind, here are 10 must-do activities.

1. Hit the Coffee Shops and Microbreweries
Coffee joints are everywhere in Seattle, and so are microbreweries. Each one has a special ambiance and unique flavors that are fun to sample as you hop around town. Lisa Grimm, at "Seriously Eats" wrote a brief history of Seattle Microbreweries here.

2. Uncover the Stairways
Seattle is hilly, and many buildings have lovely stairways. If you enjoy obscure adventures, what's better than setting out in search of steps? The quest will take you to all types of buildings and neighborhoods. Here's a MAP to get you started! Speaking of neighborhoods…

3. Check Out the Neighborhoods
If you've already done number four, try again. Odds are good that there are even more neighborhoods to check out (West Seattle, anyone?). Seattle is your new home; what better way to get to know the city than to cover every neighborhood, whether you are renting or have bought? Plus, entrepreneurs and savvy real estate investors can keep an eye out for promising properties.

4. Look into Real Estate Investing
Speaking of real estate, Seattle has one of the hottest and most expensive housing markets in the country. If you buy a fixer-upper, you could rent it out for a nice profit. Get in touch with a property management company to better understand your options.

If you're visiting, owning rental property is a great way to make future trips tax deductible.

5. Go Swimming
Seattle offers many swimming options, including the fun Lake Washington, Puget Sound and indoor and outdoor pools. Be sure to check out Colman Pool, which could quite possibly be the top pool in the U.S. It's even saltwater.

6. Take Advantage of Nature
From whale watching to hiking to visits to the San Juan Islands, the Seattle area has plenty of opportunities for you to get in tune with nature; take advantage of them, especially the beaches! Once you dive into daily life, it's harder to carve out these times.

7. Discover Ways to Get Around the Traffic
With some planning, there are great alternatives to sitting in city traffic. Biking is big in Seattle, and it offers a new adventure every day. There is also public transportation with light rail bus services. Traveling during off-peak times is another good option if you can swing it.

8. Go to the Tourist Spots
Ironically, many people who live in a city never do touristy things and visitors often miss all but the most obvious. Get to know the city through the public transportation system... it's a great, stress free, way to see the sights. Go to spots such as Pike Place Market and the Elliott Bay Waterfront,

Other iconic spots include Dick's Drive-In and the Space Needle. No explanation needed for the Space Needle; it's what represents Seattle on TV. Dick's is an iconic Seattle eatery that was founded in 1954 and that has since spread to multiple locations. Best burgers around! Pike Place Market is like a farmer's market, and you can find the freshest seafood and produce there, while the Elliott Bay Waterfront offers gorgeous views of the bay and is easily accessible in downtown Seattle.

9. Find the Farmer's Markets
Practically every Seattle neighborhood has at least one farmer's market, and you can often shop all year round. Check out the Magnolia Farmers Market and others, support local agriculture, enjoy music and people watch.

10. Meet People!
People are one of the best things about Seattle. Activities abound, including volunteer efforts, workshops, book readings, yoga classes and fitness camps, so you can find at least one thing that interests you.

Also... check out the business organizations; there are many professional groups, such as the American Marketing Association - Puget Sound Chapter, Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and the National Property Management Association (NPMA) - Northwest Chapter.

There's a city out there waiting for you to explore it. Time to get started!

Booking.com

Patrick Rogers
...is the Principal Property Manager for Asurent Property Management in Eugene Oregon and his company can be found here: PropertyManagementEugeneOregon.com

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Viral Videos: Moose on the Loose

12/27/2016

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TWA's Inside Scoop on your Favorite Viral Videos

Click above for the FIRST VIDEO

This viral video of Theresa & CJ's "Moose Encounter" in Banff, Canada has been viewed over 3 million times, as of this date.

Theresa Malan works at the
Canada House Gallery
in Banff, Canada

"Boreal Monarch" by Terry McCue

by Theresa Malan

This happened Thursday December 15th at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park / Kananaskis Alberta. Just outside our home in Banff National Park .

My husband CJ Malan and I live in Banff National Park and we love our surroundings. We love our protected environment and on a daily basis we see lots of natural wildlife. Elk, bear, eagles, deer, wolves. Moose are a rarity to see here in this area of Canada but they are here…... I have lived her for 12 years and have only ever seen 4-6 moose and always at a very large distance.

My husband CJ is new to Canada, he is originally from South Africa but has been living in the UK for 10 years with the British military, This is his first year here in Canada so every opportunity we get, we love to be out doors exploring the national parks together. His goal was to see a moose and we totally got more than a “Spotting” of a moose. I feel like we made friends with this moose!

I work at Canada House Gallery in Banff and now I feel like I need to add “Boreal Monarch” by Terry McCue to our art collection to commemorate our time spent with this cool kind-eyed moose. Terry is one of my fav artists here at the gallery and he is First Nations Ojibway and he is such an incredible colorist and story teller with his paintings…..after this experience I think we need this moose in our life, haha.

Moose are quite solitary, and can be aggressive. This moose was probably about 3-5 years old so he was big…..but not the biggest. We drive a Ford escape and he was taller than the vehicle!

He was totally chill and docile. We went out for a drive that day to specifically see if we could spot a moose as there had been “Moose Warnings” out in that area that they were licking cars….. so we tried our luck.

After driving for about 2-3 hours, with no spottings, we decided to turn around and ...Boom! There he was, this beautiful bull, standing still and staring at us out of the woods on the side of the road.

There were two other vehicles pulled over as they were out "back country skiing," and he started licking the other pulled over truck (Moose have learned they can get salt from licking vehicles). We decided to watch from a distance. He was so unbothered and the road we were on was totally quiet and very wide. If had it been anything different we wouldn’t have stuck around, for the safety of the moose.

After a couple of minutes we were able to roll in a little closer and he knew we were there and watching him, still not caring, and more so looking at us as his next snack and very appreciative.

He then made his way over to us and I was a tad bit apprehensive because, with each step closer he took, the larger he became and it was overwhelming. Yet, he was incredibly gentle and amusing as he made his way around our car, gently bumping his dish (antlers) against our car.

About 10-15 min into his snack on our car the skiers returned to their vehicle behind us and they couldn’t believe what they were witnessing. They were about 20 meters away from us and the moose even knew they were there, taking off all their equipment and loading up their car, and the moose couldn’t care less. He was so infatuated with the salt he was getting for his diet from our car.

Had there been any aggression shown or uncomfortable nature the back country skiers would have gotten into their car for safety…as with us (we never got out of the car or unrolled the windows). Had there been any danger or aggression we wouldn’t have stuck around. We are very very respectful of the animals we live around and advocate for safe and conservation focused wildlife viewing. We are always very responsible and respectful.

We DO see a lot of disrespectful behavior from national park visitors causing “Bear Jams” which is essentially a traffic jam caused by a bear on the side of the road, and by people causing a very disruptive stir either by stopping or by getting out of their car for photos (which is SO not cool).

So yea……I’d say we were very lucky to have this moment but had the roads been busy, packed, narrow, or anything of that nature, we would have left straight away.

If you are ever in Banff, please keep your safety, and the safety of our wildlife in mind and, please, stop in to see me at the Gallery! I'd love to meet you and we are located right downtown at 201 Bear Street, Banff, Alberta, Canada. I'll give you some recommendations on some great places to eat and things to do!

UPDATE: The video and story are making their way around the globe. Scroll down to see some of our favorite ones... including in Russian and Japanese!