Seattle—Tens of thousands baseball fans flooded into Seattle for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and surrounding festivities from July 7-11.
If we had the chance, we might have told each of those visitors: “Welcome! We’re new here, too. Seattle Times producer Sarah-Mae McCullough just moved to the city, and summer intern Aviva Bechky hasn’t lived in the area since elementary school. And we’re hoping you were able to check out the city’s five best-known tourist attractions, as we just did.”
Here are our verdicts on whether they’re worth shelling out the extra cash.
Space Needle
Aviva: We began our visit to the Space Needle with a stop in the gift store, where I encountered perhaps the highlight of the trip: a Space Needle-shaped Squishable plushie, an adorable if overpriced souvenir ($29.99 for the small, $59.99 for the large).
Sarah-Mae: After prying Aviva away from the plushies, we paid $40 apiece and joined a 45-minute-long line. As we slowly approached the elevator, we were entertained by a series of placards and interactive displays documenting the history of the Space Needle, including some inspiring quotes.
Aviva: I can’t fathom how anyone would come up with the descriptor of a “rank weed” or “Martian’s design for a wheat sheaf,” as two people 一 a historian and a journalist 一 apparently called it when it was built.
Once we got through the line and cramped elevator, we enjoyed the clear highlight of the experience: walking around the rim of the Space Needle. We sat on clear benches tilted against angled translucent walls, designed to make you feel like you could fall backward into thin air—though as one kid told us disapprovingly, it’s “not really” that scary.
Sarah-Mae: I don’t know 一 it kind of was scary! Several tourists took photos standing on the benches with their arms outstretched like they were flying. With a narrow base beneath us, wide open skies and a little wind, I could understand how they felt that way.
The views were magnificent, but we struggled to regard them with the appropriate amount of awe with so many tourists packed in. We shuffled one loop around the first floor, trying (very unsuccessfully) not to photobomb anyone before heading down to the second, indoor floor, where you can buy criminally expensive drinks and appetizers.
Aviva: The lower floor used to host a restaurant on a slowly revolving glass floor, but the restaurant has since been removed, so now it’s just a rotating floor. Perfectly enjoyable if a little dizzying, but not worth a trip in and of itself.
Sarah-Mae: All in all, the Space Needle is no “rank weed,” but I'd prefer a cheaper and less crowded viewpoint.
The Space Needle is located at 400 Broad St., Seattle. Current hours: 8:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Learn more at spaceneedle.com.
