By Olivia Flight Finder Olivia is a San Diego native, splitting her time between there and Seattle. When she’s not at her local coffee shop writing about slow travel, you’ll find her hiking or road tripping along the West Coast.

If you visit Seattle any time between October and April, you will get rained on. There’s no avoiding it. There’s no “We’ll just duck into a museum if it starts raining!” No. You will get wet. 

But that doesn’t have to ruin the trip.

Fortunately, Seattle rain means less violent thunderstorms and more a gentle, near-constant sprinkle. I’ve spent two winters in Seattle — as a San Diegan, so you know I wasn’t used to wet weather before — and found myself barely even registering it. 

If you accept that your trip will be a little damp and that it doesn’t have to put a damper (ha ha) on things, you’ll have a much better time than if you try to avoid the rain altogether. 

Outdoor Activities for Seattle's Rainy Days

1. Go for a rainy hike.

Because the rain in Seattle isn’t super heavy and most trails are through wooded green space with lots of overhead coverage, hiking in wet weather isn’t as damp and miserable as you might expect. It’s actually one of my favorite rainy day activities.

The woods just feel so much more alive! You can sit in a lush, mossy forest, close your eyes, and hear thousands of raindrops trickling through the leaves. You don’t even need to get too far out of the city to experience this – places like Carkeek and Discovery Park are right in town but can still feel pretty wild.

Hike to the water's edge from Discovery Park, and you're greeted by a misty coastline and this old lighthouse.

Plus, trails are way less crowded on wet days, and all the creeks and waterfalls are that much more impressive. Visit Coal Creek Falls during the dry season and you’ll be wondering where the waterfall went.

2. Hop on a ferry.

There’s plenty of ferries and boat tours that leave from the waterfront, but the most popular is the Bainbridge Island Ferry. That’s the one I’d recommend on a rainy day.

Because… it’s covered! While you can venture out into the wind and rain to pretend you’re a sailor lost at sea, you can also head straight for the sheltered outdoor decks or the fully indoor space by the café, where you'll be cozy and dry.

No matter what season you visit, the sights from the Sound are not to be missed. This ferry lasts a little over half an hour and provides some killer views of the Seattle skyline and the nearby islands cropping up through the mist.

The island is gorgeous, but I’ve done the trip twice, and honestly? I think the ferry ride is my favorite part. It’s easily the best view you’ll find anywhere in Seattle.

3. Admire Snoqualmie Falls.

Yep, this is the Twin Peaks waterfall!

This whole area is super cute and packed with Lynchian pit stops, but now I want to talk about the falls themselves. They're always roaring after a good long rain. And unlike other waterfalls, you don’t need to hike through the woods or up a mountain to catch a glimpse.

There are two viewing points, one near the base and one up top by the lodge, and both are practically drive-up.There are also some hiking trails nearby, if you want to get out a little further.

This is one that you probably don’t want to do in the dead of winter, however — rain here is no big deal, but the mountain pass frequently gets packed with snow and strands people on either side, so be sure to check the forecast.

Indoor Activities (that might not be on your radar!)

1. Hit some of the smaller, quirkier, or more underrated museums.

While the museums at Seattle Center are world-class, there’s plenty more to check out around town. 

On the funky side of the spectrum:

• The Rubber Chicken Museum (Wallingford): super small but free exhibit inside Archie McPhee. Played deadpan serious. Archie doesn’t play around when it comes to rubber chickens.
• Pinball Museum (I-District): play decades old arcade games in downtown.
• “Official Bad Art Museum of Art” (Pike/Pine): a collection of kitschy, ugly, and oddly charming art inside a cafe.

Photo by Andy Nystrom on Flickr

2. Learn some botany at the Spheres.

You’ll definitely notice the Spheres driving through downtown. These glass geodesic domes are hard to miss. 

They’re actually an arboretum! They host 1,000 different species of cloud forest plants in a futuristic, climate-controlled space. In typical Seattle fashion, it also has a coffee shop with a delightful name: General Porpoise.

Unfortunately, the building is owned by Seattle’s resident corporate overlords (Amazon), so it’s only open to the public on the first and third Saturday of the month, and you have to make a reservation. If you know someone who works for Amazon (about 65,000 people in the area), then they can get you in on any weekday.

Read more...

Answered by Olivia Flight Finder Olivia is a San Diego native, splitting her time between there and Seattle. When she’s not at her local coffee shop writing about slow travel, you’ll find her hiking or road tripping along the West Coast.

Hello there! Sounds like what you’re talking about is the Pacific Coast bike route.

This route takes around 4–10 weeks depending on your skill level, gear, and which segments you’ve chosen. With your ebike, you’ll likely be on the lower end of that time frame unless you take detours and city breaks.

The good news is that this is a well-established cycling route, so you’ll have no trouble finding resources online, or meeting other cyclists along the way. You can even join tour groups and raise money for charity!

If you’re comfortable biking on busy roads, your biggest obstacle will likely be finding places to stay the night. Most cyclists on this route camp for at least half the nights, and do at least 5–10 nights in hotels. This means you’ll have a heavier pack (which you’ll also need experience with carrying on a bike, if you don’t have it already).

If you join a charity tour group, they’ll usually arrange accommodation for you. If you’re flying solo, you’ll want to arrange as many nights as possible ahead of time. You can also join Warmshowers, a network for connecting those on cycle tours with hosts along their route.

As for charging locations, they can be pretty limited. The West Coast Electric Highway initiative has led to a huge increase in fast charging stations for cars in the last couple of years, and many of these charging points (particularly in Oregon) have also been kitted out with bicycle charging plugs. But it’s far from guaranteed! If you’re feeling handy, you could look into getting a special adapter for your ebike that allows you to use car charging plugs.

It is recommended to bring an extra battery pack or two, then you can charge them during the nights you spend in hotels, and have enough power to last you through your camping nights. You’ll definitely need to be very familiar with what distance you can travel on each battery (accounting for pack weight and terrain) so you can plan accordingly.

You can’t rely on finding charging ports at random spots along your route, but we’ve heard some cyclists say coffee shops can work in a pinch!

So, how difficult is this trip? Honestly, it depends on your current level and expectations. It’s probably not a good idea for cyclists who’ve only done bike paths, or those without much camping experience. But if biking along the highway and sleeping out in nature for a month or two is your cup of tea, this is a great route with lots of guidebooks and fellow travellers.

And if you end up taking the trip, remember to send JFC some pics!

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week.

• Anyone in need of fresh ideas for this year’s European city breaks, look no further!
• In case you missed the memo, apparently plane spotting is no longer a hobby to be enjoyed wrapped up in a cosy jacket with your binoculars by the side of the road. Not if you’re at JFK, anyway—instead, you can watch the birds land from the comfort of the airport’s own rooftop infinity pool.
• Take a look inside the unexpectedly vibrant rave scene of Lagos, Nigeria. Warning: you may suddenly feel the urge to dance!
• And finally, would you pay €70 to try “ the world’s best pizza”? Technically, you only need to shell out €7 for a standard Margherita, which is pretty much standard across Italy.
  But if you’ve deliberately gone out of your way to visit the town of Caserta, near Naples, just to try the upper crust of pizza (ahem), you’d surely opt for the 8-course tasting menu selected by the head chef himself. Prepare for everything from five types of beetroot on one slice to a pizza cooked three ways. Buon appetito!