My daughter moved to Puyallup (near Seattle) and I am traveling to the area next weekend. I am wondering if anyone in the group could direct me to a good day paddle in the Seattle area. I could also use a good suggestion for a sea kayak rental shop.

Thanks,

Debra :D

don't know personally, but this web site and this page specifically may help

http://www.westcoastp...

that have an active message board so I suppose you could also join and ask.

I know you'll be in Kayak "Smorgasbord" Kayak over to Bill Gates house for lunch.

Washington State offers a cornucopia of great kayaking experiances. In fact I think it would be pretty difficult to find a bad place on the water to go paddling up there. So basically wherever you can find a rental will work for you. Probably one of the easiest and more popular places would be NorthWest Outdoor Center on Lake Union. It's on the water so you don't need to car-top a boat.

If you don't have experience with extreme tidal races then I would stay away from the sound, or take a guided tour. Negotiating the tidal currents up there can be a little tricky.

Not really in the area you are going to be in, but if you want to experience some really wild paddling then check out one of my favorite places, Deception Pass. Again, you would probably be best off if you did this with a tour guide.

Have fun!

We came, we saw, we paddled!

Lucky for us this past Saturday was beautiful with sunshine and almost no wind. All the other days were wet and grey. We paddled on Lake Union from the Northwest Outdoor Center. They have a great shop and a new dock that makes it a snap to get in and out of your rental boat. They were very helpful and informative.

We paddled over to the U of Washington on the day they lost to U of Oregon. We were able to paddle right up to the stadium along with LOTS of other boaters. A nice day on the water.

We had lunch at "Iver's Salmon House" right on the lake with a view of the downtown Seattle skyline. Good wild salmon....

And on the way back south to Puyallup we had an amazing view of Mt Rainier, 14,000 feet high and gleaming in the sun. It kind of looked like this: http://vulcan.wr.usgs...

Can't wait to go back and explore the area some more in the spring!

Thanks for the good suggestion.