A Walker's Guide to Seattle, the Emerald City

My husband, Dean, and I love to walk so it made sense to us to go Wheel-less in Seattle. Who wants to rent a car, pay to park it at the hotel, then fight traffic and pay to park again… Such is life in any big city, but since everything we planned to visit was within 10 or 20 blocks of our hotel, we figured Wheel-less was the way to go. So we shrugged into warm rain gear, packed plenty of comfy shoes and set off for our first visit to the Pacific Northwest. Luckily the weather cooperated with us--we only hit rain our first day and although the locals complained of the cold, we appreciated the perfect walking weather.

As our airport shuttle delivered us to the door of The Inn at Virginia Mason, Dean asked the driver, "Is this Seattle or San Francisco?" We didn't realize Seattle is built on hills so steep your nose practically touches the sidewalk ahead of you. OK, a little exaggeration there but we were undaunted. After a long day of sightseeing we took it easy climbing back to the Inn, breathing sighs of relief when we could take a break at a red light and finally realizing that Madison Street wasn't as steep as Spring Street.

The Inn at Virginia Mason, on Spring Street, is about 12 blocks from the Waterfront. It started life as a women's residential hotel in the '20's and later became a part of the prestigious Virginia Mason Medical Clinic on what is known as Pill Hill because of all the medical facilities, including the famous Swedish Hospital. Reasonably priced, the room was spacious with good quality furniture, the staff friendly and the neighborhood a mix of ambulances and art deco.