what to do in Seattle during layover?

[i_spock]

I'll be in Seattle this Saturday night during a 5-hour layover between flights back home (coming back from Vancouver). I know Seattle is a super-cool town with tons of stuff to see and do, but I'd like to know what other PPCT'ers would suggest I put on my short list! Keep in mind this will be my first time there. Geek-oriented suggestions welcome of course but other touristy things would be great too!

Thanks....

[bmattis]

Go to the Experience Music Project right next to the Space Needle. It is a cool museum devoted to popular music that was built by Microsoft Billionaire Paul Allen. This museum has a strong tie-in with the pocket PC. They hand you one at the door, and was actually a testbed for the platform before the pocket PC was released to the public. You basically use it to enhance your experience in the museum and uses location-based technology to acheive it. It is a really good example of what the pocket pc can do at its best, and a really cool museum with lots of interactive rides and attractions.

[powder2000]

First, if you only have 5 hours to get from SeaTac to downtown, you may have to cut your free time down to 3 hours. To me, this does not make for a lot of time to "see" the city. Also, what time does the EMP close? I have yet to go there, but that is an excellent idea. The space needle is always a cool experience with an awesome view.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Find our idol, pt, and see if you can meet up with him to try his Segway or one of the other cool toys he has!!!

(Then take some pictures and send us a write up of all the cool stuff!!!!)

8)

KCT

[Mark Kenepp]

First, if you only have 5 hours to get from SeaTac to downtown, you may have to cut your free time down to 3 hours. To me, this does not make for a lot of time to "see" the city. Also, what time does the EMP close? I have yet to go there, but that is an excellent idea. The space needle is always a cool experience with an awesome view.

I was hoping someone from the area would bring this up.

It has been a while since I flew into Seattle but I thought it took a long time to get from Sea-Tac to downtown Seattle. Maybe I was just impatient ;)

According to the Grey Line Airport Shuttle Schedule (http://graylineseattle.com/airportexpress1.cfm) it looks like it takes about a half an hour to get to Crown Plaza which when I looked it up on the map, it appears to be close to downtown.

And isn't Sea-Tac tough to get around? Not that it is hard to find out where you need to go but it takes a while to get from the gates to the terminal where you would pick up a bus or a shuttle.

Isn't the Boeing Museum near the airport? That might be an option.

Hopefully you will get to see something, Seattle is a nice town.

[Janak Parekh]

It has been a while since I flew into Seattle but I thought it took a long time to get from Sea-Tac to downtown Seattle. Maybe I was just impatient ;)
Nope, it's pretty far away. I took the Grey Line when I went into town for the MS summit. Not only does it take half-an-hour, but you have to match the schedules and find the Grey Line terminal, which for a non-SeaTac expert like me took a good 10 minutes. Budgeting an hour would be the safest thing to do. Add the fact that once you exit security you need to budget some time for getting back in, and I wouldn't bet more than about 2-2.5 hours for safety's sake... :|

--janak