Sports & Recreation

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• Sports & Recreation

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  Best Expansion Franchise

  Seattle Mist

  No, it's not the Sounders. Those guys are great and all傭ut they're not the Seattle Mist. Here's how it is: Most meat-eating straight males love football, and that same demographic also loves really hot chicks. Put the two together, and you've got the Mist, Seattle's soon-to-debut (9/11 is kickoff) women's football team. Yeah, we've had a women's football team here… More >>

• Best New Pedestrian Flight Path

  T. Evans Wyckoff Memorial Bridge

  It's a bleak, inhospitable wasteland, a pedestrians' death-trap, rutted by semis, dotted by potholes, avoided by anyone with common sense. And yet East Marginal Way is now a pleasure to traverse, thanks to the T. Evans Wyckoff Memorial Bridge that takes pedestrians from the Museum of Flight's main campus (by the King County airport) west to its expanded facilities near… More >>

• Best In-City Escape: North Seattle

  Ravenna Trails

  In flusher times, the Fairmont Olympic Hotel's five-diamond, 3,000-foot penthouse suite, equipped with a king-size bed, Jacuzzi, grand piano, dining table for 16, and decorative fireplace might have been our pick for best urban escape, but times are hard. Instead, why not try the 4.5-mile oasis that is the Ravenna Trails? Most people stumble upon them on their way to… More >>

• Best In-City Escape: South Seattle

  Kubota Garden

  The landscape of Kubota Garden looks at once completely, utterly natural and laden with purpose用erhaps the ultimate achievement of its designer's 50 years of care and planning. Japanese immigrant Fujitaro Kubota bought the garden's original 5-acre parcel in the 1920s, tending it and expanding it over his lifetime to encompass 20 acres. The foliage now seems to flow like water,… More >>

• Best Neighborhood That Nobody Seems to Think Is a Good Neighborhood

  The U District

  Everybody loves to shit on the U District. Yeah, OK, you're more liable to encounter panhandlers there than in any neighborhood outside of downtown, drugs are readily available (and with respect to weed, often being smoked openly by passersby), and the "Ave rat" phenomenon has never really waned. But ask yourself this: If you don't know what sort of activity… More >>

• Best Soccer Dad (Whose Kids Aren't in the League)

  Larry McCann

  Every soccer mom and dad on Beacon Hill knows Larry McCann. He's the tall, lanky fellow who can be found before game season painting field lines in the dark with a camping light strapped to his head, the same guy who sorts out team uniforms, draws up schedules, sends constant e-mails, and shows up at games just to make sure… More >>

• Best Day Trip for Out-Of-Town Guests

  Port Townsend

  The trip to Port Townsend is nearly as compelling as your final destination, easily allowing you to chalk up that drive time to your guests as just another part of the Northwest experience. There's the boat from Seattle (take your pick: Kingston, Bainbridge, Bremerton), the drive through Kitsap, and the newly renovated Hood Canal Bridge. If you leave early enough,… More >>

• Best Shuffle-Off-to-Buffalo

  Cameo Carrabba Dance

  Stomping around after a long day is way more satisfying with metal screwed to the bottoms of your shoes. That might not be why tap shoes were invented, but it should have been. As an adult, it's rare you get to kick-ball-change away your troubles, but Cameo Carrabba Dance doesn't believe life has to be that way. The studio hosts… More >>
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  Best Tourist Attraction to Satisfy Your Dad

  Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

  A visit from dear old Dad always brings the inevitable panic over what the hell you're going to do with him. If he's anything like mine, he's only happy when his wallet remains securely in his pocket. That's why the totally free Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard are a sure bet. What is it about dads and locks? You'd… More >>

• Best Way to Enjoy the Seattle Skyline

  Alki Kayak Tours

  It's amazing how different the world looks just a few feet below our normal vantage point. Rent a sea kayak from Alki Kayak Tours and see Seattle as a dog does容xcept from the water. The buildings tower in a way that's a little more intimidating. The street-level hustle fills your ears, and you see the wide variety of plants and… More >>

• Best Place to Psych Yourself Up for a Job Interview

  Stone Gardens

  It's been a tough year. Everyone, it seems, is either collecting unemployment or working under the dark cloud of possible layoffs. Job-hunting has become a daunting task, seemingly insurmountable. What you need is a little achievement to put some confidence in your step. And there's no better way than smacking the top of the wall at Stone Gardens. The Ballard… More >>

• Best Sketched-Out Place for a Little Morning Glory

  Freeway Park

  You can live in Seattle for years without ever discovering that a park spanning the tops of buildings and across the freeway even exists. Then one day you're on foot, trying to get from downtown to Capitol Hill in time for happy hour, when you stumble into this surprisingly expansive urban retreat...only to have someone reeking of a malt-liquor, paper-bag… More >>

• Best Place to Firm Up Your Core and Your Wallet

  Young Pilates

  Regardless of the economic climate, new pilates studios seem to spring up around this city every month. While almost anyone who's been to a few classes will tell you it's a wildly effective and enjoyable way to get svelte, limber, and strong, it's also prohibitively expensive for many用articularly if it involves the use of pricey reformer equipment. Not so at… More >>

• Best Beach Volleyball

  Alki Beach Sand Courts

  There's fun, mess-around beach volleyball, and then there's hardcore, no-nonsense beach volleyball. You can easily find both kinds on the Alki Beach sand courts. Middle-schoolers hitting the ball at one another randomly, teenagers playing volleyball-related drinking games, and grandmas getting their 10 minutes of exercise can all be seen on the far sides of the courts. But once you cross… More >>

• Best Place to be a Rabid Soccer Fan in an Authentic Atmosphere

  Azzurri Vino Bar - Closed

  To Seattle's map of well-loved Euro-outposts, like the George and Dragon and Cafe Presse, can now be added Azzurri Vino Bar, which recently opened in Fremont. The spot is small, but boasts three flat screens perpetually tuned to Italian soccer (or the Sounders, if they're playing), an affordable menu that consists mainly of panini (all named after soccer teams), and… More >>

• Best Activity for Determining if Your Date's a Tool

  Feeding the Seagulls

  To most, the obese seagulls hanging around Ivar's Seafood Bar on the waterfront are a nuisance. Their incessant begging for fried food is considered charming only by children and Japanese tourists. But their behavior can actually be used to your advantage葉hat is, if you're single. Feeding the seagulls is the most effective way to evaluate a potential love interest's personality… More >>

• Best Site for a New Olympic Games

  Cal Anderson Park

  The Olympics are great and all, but some of the sports are just so...archaic. After all, outside of sleeper cells and prep schools, who does archery or fencing? What the International Olympic Committee lacks is a window into the sports of the people, the salt of the earth, from places like Pike/Pine. It's a little-known fact that the original Olympic… More >>

• Best Place to Hold a Combination Wedding/Personal Workout Session

  The Rose Garden at Elliott Bay Park

  It's the day you've been waiting for. Your closest family and friends are gathered, sun-drenched in their finest, inhaling the sweet fragrance of the twin rows of rose bushes. The flower girl, her bow tied just so, swings her petal-filled basket. In the distance, the majestic Olympics hold vigil over the deep, sparkling waters of Elliott Bay, onto which a… More >>

• Best Place for a (Bicycling) Date

  Port of Seattle Terminal 107 Park

  The air is good, the view is better, and this out-of-the-way West Seattle park will more than meet your need for romantic seclusion. Pack a picnic of finger foods and a nice bottle of wine, and head west on South Spokane Street (under the West Seattle Bridge), then south on West Marginal Way. Once you've pedaled past some gigantic pressed-metal… More >>

• Best Spot to Pretend to Fly

  The Unused Overpass Off Highway 520

  Let's face it, everyone at some point in their youth donned a bed sheet, swimming goggles, and aerodynamic socks and ran full-throttle off the back porch in an attempt to fly. Oh, you didn't? Well, there's still time. It may or may not be legal, but you can't beat the adrenaline rush of jumping into Lake Washington from the unused… More >>
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  Best Tour of Elliott Bay

  The Ferry to Bremerton

  There are plenty of reasons not to visit Bremerton. Too many, in fact, to present here. But there is at least one compelling reason to do so: the Ferry to Bremerton. It's not just a better ride than the one most tourists take to Bainbridge, it's one-fifth the price of the tour Argosy makes to the same destination, and you… More >>

• Best Place for a Scenic and Virtuous Workout

  Lake Union Crew

  It's easy to say no to a sweaty, dingy gym early in the morning. However, once you watch the sun rise over the Cascades as you skim across the glassy waters of the Montlake Cut in a sleek rowing shell, you'll never go back. Located on the east shore of Lake Union near the Eastlake Grill, Lake Union Crew offers… More >>

• Best Place to Pee on the Burke-Gilman trail

  Tracy Owen Station (aka Log Boom Park)

  Seattle-area parks generally offer abundant places to relieve oneself熔ld brick Tudor-style restrooms built during the Olmstead era or the WPA '30s; pressed-concrete monstrosities that generally date to the cheapskate '70s and '80s. For users of the Burke-Gilman Trail, however, micturition options are few along the 30 miles between Golden Gardens Park near Ballard and Marymoor Park in Redmond. That's why… More >>

• Best View on the Northbound I-5

  The Bettie Page House

  Wearing nothing but black panties and sheer stockings, pinup girl Bettie Page gazes down seductively at thousands of commuters driving across I-5 every day. Ravenna resident and Page fan Chris Brugos employed a friend to paint the icon's curvy figure on the side of his home four years ago. "I wanted something people could look at from the freeway," he… More >>

• Best Neighborhood to Get Lost In

  South Park

  Look, there's a metal fabrication facility next to a craftsman bungalow! Wait, over there, a wholesale coffee warehouse next to a marina! Check it out: a Mexican grocery and a union hall! And what's that: A scrap yard next to boat storage next to a ramshackle duplex next to a plantation-style estate next to the Duwamish? Such a bizarre industrial-residential-commercial… More >>

• Best Viewpoint You've Never Heard Of

  31st Avenue South in Mount Baker

  When you want a stunning view encompassing both the downtown skyline and the Puget Sound, where do you go? Alki Beach, Queen Anne's Highland Drive, and...31st Avenue South in Mount Baker. Not many people know about the latter, the exception being patrons of That's Amore Italian Café, who have long been rewarded for their trek to this sleepy, ridge-top business… More >>

• Best Spot to Run Into the Random People You Thought You'd Never See Again After High School

  Madison Beach

  Let the awkward times ensue at Madison Beach. The beach is literally divided into elementary-school, middle-school, high-school, and college zones, from south to north. So wherever you are in standardized education, you're bound to run into people you know. Crazy ex-girlfriends, a creepy lab partner, your middle-school crush, even your little sister's ex–best friend's boyfriend葉his is the unofficial stomping ground… More >>