Your family has a day or two in Seattle and you can’t decide what to do. It’s a common problem. Whether you are heading out on a cruise or catching a flight out of SEATAC, there are many families who visit Seattle for a short time and are looking for something fun to do around or near the Seattle airport. Seattle Southside is the name given to the three cities around the Seattle airport – Tukwila, SeaTac and Des Moines – and they have a lot to offer for families.
Just a short distance from the airport is the Southcenter mall, which is home to many great places to shop and eat. The iFLY Indoor Skydiving is one of my family’s favorite activities here, and we’ve visited the location a few times for my son’s birthday. It’s a great experience for people of all ages and you don’t need any experience to give it a try. The iFLY staff provide you with a jumpsuit and goggles. After a short instructional video, you get to take to the skies with your instructor.
There are a few different flight packages and I recommend adding a high-altitude flight. This is where the instructor will help you fly up near the top of the flight tunnel. It’s a real thrill and worth every penny. They also take some photos during your visit, but the people watching you fly can also take photos of you through the glass wall. It’s a really fun experience that many people come back to try again and again.
During my recent visit, I stopped by the Odin Brewing Company which is one of the most popular breweries in the Pacific Northwest. Their 14 beers on tap are designed with food in mind, and Odin’s brews and delicious housemade barbecue make a perfect pair. When I visited, I saw that they had a wet hop beer on tap, which made me very happy.
Wet hop beers are only brewed once per year immediately following the annual hop harvest in late summer/early fall. The Pacific Northwest is the nation’s leader in hop production; these three states have over 99% of the nation’s hop acreage and about 25% of worldwide acreage. Dry hops can be shipped anywhere, but wet hops need to be used quickly after harvest. That’s why most beers are brewed with dry hops and the wet hop beers are so rare.
During my tour of the brewery, I got to see the large fermentation tanks and the beer canning machine. Odin Brewing sells many varieties of their beer in cans and bottles that you can take home. Of course, you can always grab a seat at the bar and get a fresh pint as well.
If you are looking for a place to stay, Cedarbrook Lodge and Hotel Interurban are conveniently near SEATAC and also offer a unique experience. Hotel Interurban is 19 stories high and has incredible views of the area. They even have a robot butler who will deliver items to your room. Cedarbrook Lodge is a hidden gem that feels like you are staying at a mountain resort. Cedarbook also has a wonderful restaurant, Copperleaf, that is a fine dining experience that is not to be missed.
Copperleaf restaurant puts significant effort into cooking with fresh, local ingredients. During my dining experience, a few of the ingredients were even sourced from the hotel’s own garden. The culinary team works with small, local Washington state farms, ranchers and fishermen to source the ingredients they serve and that attention to detail comes through in the quality of the meal.
During my visit, I tried corn and padron pepper soup, Alaskan wild king salmon, a steak from the Gleason Ranch, and several wines sourced from Washington’s wineries. It was an incredible meal that left me wanting to return to this special restaurant again soon.
It was fun to walk around the beautifully landscaped grounds of the Cedarbrook Lodge and I hope to stay at this hotel in the future. The hotel offers a shuttle to SEATAC airport, which makes this an ideal location to stay if you are planning to leave for the airport the next day.
In Seattle Southside you’ll find great shopping, a huge selection of restaurants and ton of first-rate, hotels. It’s an affordable and fun place to visit, with an incredible variety of interesting things to do, including the Museum of Flight, Des Moines Beach Park, Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden, Seattle Chocolates, and much more.
Thank you to Seattle Southside for the brewery tour and for dinner at Copperleaf Restaurant.
