Seattle Trip

http://www.trainmuseum.org/thomas/main.html

Not sure how keen your kids are humm 6 year old but Northwest Railway museum has the Thomas event on that weekend.

They have the new Ferris wheel at the Seattle Waterfront for a good view.

Take Amtrak or Sounder trains to Tacoma and ride the light rail to downtown to the museums nice train layout in the history museum;

http://www.washingtonhistory.o...wshm/museumdistrict/

South of here is the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad

http://www.mrsr.com/

Check and see if Dave might give you a look at a local great layout he is working on

http://www.hikeltrains.com/

Check out Eastside Trains huge store layout and nice area drop by the beach just west of here.

http://www.eastsidetrains.com/

I would suggest dinner at the Space Needle. The food was very good the last time we were there and the view is unbelievable, best in the Seattle area. Go at night as the lights of the city and beyond are impressive.

Look forward to seeing you when you get back.

This is a very nice time of year to visit Mt. Rainier National Park, and you can stop to ride the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railway at Elbe on the way up.

We are having terrific weather here this week!

KJ356 - Thank you for the info.  Did Dave Hinkel build that outdoor O gauge RR called Woodshire that features the beautiful K-Line Santa Fe Streamliner passenger cars?  Is it located in or near Seattle?  I would so love to see that.      

Take a trainride to Portland (Amtrak Casscades) and visit the Oregon Rail Heratage center, home of SP4449 ans a few other engunes both steam and diesel. Then head up to the zoo and ride the zoo train.

Hi

If you are a baseball fan, Safeco field is a great place to catch a game...and perhaps a train or two.  When the roof is open, it rests above the BNSF tracks that run through Seattle, and when a train rolls though a blows it's whistle, it can be heard through out the stadium, echoing off the roof.  The Indians and Twins will be visiting that week for a 3 game and 4 game series. The Mariners are on a 22 consecutive game home run streak.  The trains run behind right field. Oh, and home runs are sponsored by BNSF...at last on TV. 

Hi Wood,

The other posters have already made some excellent suggestions.  If you would be interested in some some layouts shoot me an e-mail at the address in my profile.  My crew and I will be in Portland on a project from 7/22 through 7/26, but we could catch up with you in the latter part of your stay.

I built the Woodshire nine years ago.  We could certainly ask Woodshire Bill for a visit, but operations are highly dependent on his schedule and the weather.  We can definitely get you in to see the NorthWest Trunk Lines, which is a 3200 sq. ft. 3-rail O scale layout.  My crew and I have been working on the NWTL for nearly six years.  The NWTL, Woodshire, and Eastside Trains are all within a few miles of each other in Medina, Bellevue, and Kirkland respectively.

What a forum...  We are going to have so much fun....  Dave Hikel - I will email you and hopefully we will be able to visit one of your layouts.  We always take in a Mariner's game on our visits.  I love when my Red Sox play the Mariners on TV because I always hear the BNSF some time during the game.    My daughter lives close to Kirkland so we will be certain to visit Eastside Trains.  And, Portland has been on my list to visit, but haven't made it out their yet...  Hmmm... Amtrak Cascades

Thank you all so much....

No trains there, but I spent a week on San Juan Island off the coast near Seattle. If you want to get away from it all it's a beautiful place. You can only get there by ferry or small plane and the cell phones don't work once you're out of the main port town, but the views are great. The island has an interesting history to it. You might also want to take a spin on the Monorail to the Seattle Worlds Fairgrounds and Space Needle and ride the light rail from the airport to downtown (or vice-versa.)