Last updated: March 18, 2024

While in Seattle for a few weeks on business, I spent a Saturday revisiting Pikes Place with some of my new team members. We took an incredibly cool tour of the city beneath the streets of Seattle (which was so much better than the tour I took when I was in Seattle summer of 2021.).

Underground the City of Seattle

If you go to Seattle, taking a tour of the city beneath its streets is a MUST. Bill Speidle’s Underground Tour was amazing! So fun and informative… I was hooked on every word. There’s so much history and I actually spent most of my time underground exploring the ruins of Seattle due to a fire that destroyed the city back in 1889.

Something I thought was very cool was how they had to still use the underground city while the new one above them was being built, so they created glass tiles in the upper streets to give natural light to the city below.

Here is the same skylight shown from beneath the streets.

There is quite the story on Seattle’s plumbing issues and their quest to get indoor plumbing. I learned that in the late 1800s Thomas Crapper brought the “Crapper” to Seattle, impacting people’s everyday lives. As opposed to an outhouse, the “Crapper” required a connection to a central sewage system, which Seattle lacked. Thus, Seattle’s first central sewage system was developed – a single wooden box pipe. Due to the tide cycle and the flawed sewage drainage, the pressure caused a reversal of the wastewater direction forceful enough to blow you off the “Crapper.” I did not make this up and actually fact checked it after the tour. This is legit.

Above the Streets

Per the usual, above the city was beautiful and I found myself snapping some shots even though this was not my first time exploring the city.

Lunch at Beechers

I have been dreaming of Beecher’s salmon mac and cheese since during my first visit in July 2021. It was just as yummy as I remembered and super filling.

Bubble Gum Alley

We took a stroll through Bubble Gum Alley and it’s just as magnificent as the last time I was there.

Escaping Seattle

Ok, so not technically escaping Seattle per se, but as a team building event, I took myself and the four managers that report to me to an escape room. We were in a freakishly believable prison and locked behind bars. We worked together and escaped, even though some of them had never even had the experience of an escape room. Discovering soup dumplings and having cheesecake afterward was the cherry on top of this evening (or should I say the whip cream?).

As mentioned above, this was not my first visit to Seattle. In fact, it was my fourth time over the span of 2.5 years with one of those visits lasting for three months. I think I could give a darn good tour of Seattle at this point and only have a couple things left to check off before I’ve officially completed my Seattle bucket list.

To end this post as randomly as possible, enjoy a photo of the the reason I visited Seattle… my team (minus a few)!

And there you have it! I’m not sure if I ever would have visited Seattle had it not been for work, but I’m really glad I did! I have learned so much about the city and truly love discovering it little by little as I continue to travel for work.

Until next time!