Seattle - Washington State - page 119

In this same general area, you can rent kayaks at the Agua Verde Paddle
Club, 1303 NE Boat St. ( & 206/545-8570, ext. 101; www.aguaverde.com),
which is at the foot of Brooklyn Avenue on Portage Bay (the body of water
between Lake Union and Lake Washington). Kayaks can be rented from March
through October and go for $12 to $18 per hour. Best of all, this place is part
of the Agua Verde Café, a great Mexican restaurant. Before or after a paddle, be
sure to get an order of tacos. See “Dining,” earlier in this chapter, for details.
At the Green Lake Boat Rental, 5900 W. Green Lake Way N. ( & 206/527-
0171 ), in north Seattle not far from the Woodland Park Zoo, you can rent
canoes, paddleboats, and rowboats for a bit of leisurely time on the water. This
park also has a paved path around it and is one of Seattle's most popular parks
(a great place to join crowds of locals enjoying one of the city's nicest green
spaces). Kayaks rent for $10 to $12 per hour; sailboats are $14 per hour; and
canoes, rowboats, and paddleboats are $10 per hour.
8 Spectator Sports
With professional football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, and women's basket-
ball teams, as well as the various University of Washington Huskies teams, Seattle
is definitely a city of sports fans. For those many fans, the sports landscape has
been changing dramatically in recent years. In 1999, the state-of-the-art Safeco
Field, with its retractable roof, was unveiled. In 2000, the venerable and much-
disparaged Kingdome was demolished to make way for a new football stadium,
which opened just in time to kick off the Seattle Seahawks' 2002 season.
Ticketmaster ( & 206/628-0123; www.ticketmaster.com) sells tickets to
almost all sporting events in the Seattle area. You'll find Ticketmaster outlets at
area Fred Meyer stores and Tower Records. If they're sold out, try Pacific North-
west Ticket Service ( & 800/281-0753; www.nwtickets.com).
BASEBALL
Of all of Seattle's major league sports teams, none are more popular than the
American League's Seattle Mariners ( & 800/MY-MARINERS or 206/346-
4000; www.seattlemariners.org). The team has a devoted following, so you can
expect tickets to be hard to find unless you buy yours well in advance.
The Mariners' retro-style Safeco Field is indisputably one of the most
gorgeous ballparks in the country. It's also one of only a handful of stadiums
with a retractable roof (which can open or close in 10-20 min.), allowing the
Mariners a real grass playing field without the worry of getting rained out.
Ticket prices range from $6 to $45. Though you may be able to get a single
ticket on game day at the Safeco Field box office, it would be tough to get two
seats together. Mariners' tickets are a hot commodity, so if you want to ensure
that you get good seats, order in advance at Mariners Team Stores (see below),
or through Ticketmaster ( & 206/622-HITS; www.ticketmaster.com), which
has outlets at Fred Meyer stores and Tower Records. Parking is next to impossi-
ble in the immediate vicinity of Safeco Field, so plan to leave your car behind.
If you'd like a behind-the-scenes look at the stadium, you can take a 1-hour
tour ($7 adults, $5 kids ages 3-12); tickets can be purchased at the Mariners
Team Store at Safeco Field, other Mariners Team Stores around the city (there
are locations at Fourth and Stewart sts. downtown and in Bellevue Sq.), or
through Ticketmaster. Tour times vary, and tours are not offered on days when
day games are scheduled.