Queen of Seattle Paddle Wheel

I like family adventures, taking the boys places that they haven’t been before and hopefully somewhere that my husband and I will enjoy as well. When I saw the Groupon for the Queen of Seattle paddle wheel cruise I knew this would be one of those good family adventures. The boys loved going on a paddle wheel and Roger loves being on the water. The Queen of Seattle is a replica of the paddle wheel boats that use to run Alaska’s Yukon River in the gold rush days. During the cruise that starts at the South end of Lake Union and travels up the Ship Canal to the The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks(aka The Ballard Locks), they provide historical information about Seattle in the gold rush days and other interesting tidbits. On the return trip they put on a family friendly cabaret show including a steam calliope (fancy piano) and a singing and dancing girl in period costume. The best part, according to the boys, was all the drawbridges that had to open to allow us to pass. After the cruise and while we were at the (new) Lake Union Park we wandered into the Center for Wooden Boats, they had a family boat building workshop going on and we toured the Arthur Foss tugboat which is a National Historic Landmark. We wandered over to Duke’s for lunch and the boys got to play in the little playground they have there. It was a fun outing, interesting to learn a little more about Seattle’s history, take a boat ride on a beautiful day, see the city from a different perspective, wander around a National Historic Landmark that can move, and I have to admit the drawbridges opening for us was pretty cool…