We may not like tourists, but at least they come spend money. Or they would, if anyone was telling them to. A new private group is organizing to do just that which, for better or worse, is more that what the non-existent government tourism office is doing. more ›

It's rare, in the life of yours truly, the Seattlest Curmudgeon, to lay back and breathe a deep sigh of utter relaxation. But my friends, that day has come: National Stay Away From Seattle Day. You may think I have made this glorious holiday up, but no: it's been around for a while. Every September 16 is a secret day for locals only. And I love it. more ›

We're into the second week of August and summer (by Seattle standards) has settled into a groove. Seafair is over. Bumbershoot is right around the corner. On the beverage front, we're enjoying rose, sparkling wine, and lighter fare to match the breezy notion of the season. But as August is upon us, our focus goes to Washington Wine, which is what we're led to believe. August is Washington Wine Month, so deemed by the Governor and the State Liquor Control Board. Or is it March? The folks at the Washington Wine Commission say March is Washington Wine Month. Therein lies the trickiness; can one state have two wine months? more ›

Last month, we got the news that Washington State had decided once and for all that tourists are terrible and, as a result, cut all funding for enticing them to come visit. Because really, we didn't want them anyway, right? more ›

Washington State's tourism industry is booming. Each year, visitors to the state spend billions of dollars to see Pike Place, the Gorge, the Olympic Peninsula, the Space Needle, the Capitol and even Forks**, employing service and hospitality workers along the way. Tourism work in Washington State, in 2009, represented 3.8% of all jobs in the state. It was allocated a few million dollars in government money, but brought in $4.2 billion or more. Tourism is kind of a big deal. more ›

Because we don't want to deal with all the Twilight freaks who have made the tiny town a vampire nerd mecca. Look, we're not sure whether to pity Forks residents for having to put up with this bullshit or envy their ingenuity in coming up with new and exciting ways to steal these idiots' money during tough economic times. more ›

• Did you know Seattle has the second-highest percentage of LGBT residents of any American city? Huh, did ya? Now the Seattle's Convention and Visitor's Bureau is trying to find the tourist gold at the end of the rainbow. They plan to introduce the cities first LGBT Travel Guidethis week with the hope to entice the traveling gays.
• We wuv those cute widdle itty-bitty tuxedo-wearing penguins, whom we can now see swimming in their new $6.5 million home.
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Every so often we get an email from someone visiting town for a few days who wants to see the sights, but not get trapped in a constant scrum of tourists the whole time. We've made a stab at some likely suspects, but feel free to add yours in the comments. This is a game the whole internet can play! more ›

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Last night on the Discovery Channel there was a Deadliest Catch wrap-up-type episode where Mike Rowe had all the assorted captains gathered at the Lockspot in Ballard for some "why do you do it?" commiseration. It's like in their blood or something. There was no satisfactory answer, actually. Seattlest can understand why people fish crab up in Alaska. You can get hurt, sure, but you make some money and you don't have to put up with a lot of other people. Why do the Deadliest Catch guys do it, though? There's definitely a Heisenburg thing going on with the main characters of this show--for some reason the Seattle tubes are more or less vacant of any mention of the Deadliest Catch, but the show's near 24-hour domination of the Discovery Channel suggests that it is, in fact, wildly popular. These Captains and crew are reality TV stars. Not the kind of MTV/Fox stars who change careers to making pro bar appearances five nights a week after they get voted off the island, but reality TV stars nonetheless. If you could chose between somehow parlaying that reality TV stardom into some cash or continuing on in the world's most dangerous profession, well, you'd step to parlaying. more ›

Every time a new non-stop route out of Sea-Tac is announced there's a little endorphin party inside of Seattlest's head because the easier it is for us to get out to the world and the easier it is for the world to get in to Seattle the better for everyone. You rub off on us, we'll rub off on you. Last time we noted a new route it was Seattle/Paris. Easy tourist destination--screw you, Rick, we're using the front door. We're still convinced we should raise hell about Airbuses being used for those flights... more ›

Update: KIRO wants to know if you like metronatural, don't like it, or don't have an opinion. Since "stupidest slogan we've heard since 'Say WA'" wasn't an option, we chose "don't like it," as did 78% of the people who bothered to weigh in. more ›

Other countries have them, official "Route des Vins" complete with signposts. Why not here? Indeed. more ›

We're pretty lucky here in Seattle that our main industries are pretty clean from an environmental standpoint. We've been shipping all of those dirty industries out of cities since the seventies and have been doing so at hyperspeed now that we've recognized our urban areas as holding pens for the creative class. There just aren't a lot of harmful byproducts invloved in computer software manufacturing - Maybe an overabundance of NorWestNerdCons, but that's about it. Every economy's gotta grow, though, right? Isn't that the system that we've agreed to? An economy that isn't expanding is dying, so bring on those new industries. more ›