Our son lives in Kirkland (birthplace of Costco) and he and I have done quite a few of the things on your list. The duck tour is a hoot (or should it say a quack!!) - land and lake - the houseboats are really neat to see. We did the underground tour when he first moved up there - absolutely fascinating - I bought a couple of books on Seattle history - what an amazing history. The EMP museum is one of my favorite places - been there several times. Went up the Needle but too cheap,to,eat there! You can see everything. Did the museums in that area - even my son had a good time in the butterfly garden area - butterflies seems to really like him. Personally I am fascinated with downtown Seattle - people shop there like they did years ago in any downtown. And I have seen the "flying fish" at Pike Place - made my son wait a bit while I finally got a good view. The market itself is great! You can purchase just about anything there. And we went to the original Starbucks just across the street from the market - say hello to the 1970s again - and a really busy place. Lots of really good places to eat downtown and within a budget - we are not fancy-eating people. We always take the bus from Kirkland - it's easy, inexpensive and you don't have to find and then spring for a parking space. He always uses it and the light rail when going to and from the airport. Can you tell how much I like the area??? And there is a quilt shop right downtown plus others in surrounding towns. I'm not a drinker but I hear the wine is very good so you might like to give that a try, too. We're going up for Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks - hope I don't bring snow like I did a few years ago!!
Sandy in Mooresville, NC