Close-to-home vacations now have a name, a few big media players have dubbed the term staycations. With gas prices soaring, and a $15/bag fee on the airlines, why not choose shorter trips to local attractions rather than costly long drives or flights?

You don’t even have to leave city limits!

Here are five of my favorite staycations, right here in our lovely Seattle!  No overnights here, you can even take the Metro Bus!

Paddle Lake Union

Agua Verde has a fabulous outdoor patio where you can sip margarita’s after an afternoon of cruising the houseboats in your rented kayak, that you rent right on the spot!  http://www.aguaverde.com/

Canoe the Arboretum

Get there early, because there can be a major wait, but once on the water it’s totally worth it.  Bring your picnic, including a bottle of crisp white wine, and enjoy the still waters and draping branches around Foster Island and 520.  An interesting mix of urban and nature.  http://depts.washington.edu/ima/IMA_wac.php

Get salty at Colman Pool

This West Seattle pool will leave you soaked and salty and you’ll feel oh so light as you float through the waters.  Remember that salt makes you buoyant!  Fauntleroy Way 206.684.7974

Elliot Bay Water Taxi

Feel the Puget Sound breeze as you cruise across Elliot Bay to West Seattle.   Start with breakfast at Pike Place Market, enjoy your twelve amazing minutes on the taxi and take a long walk along Alki.  http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/oto/water_taxi.html

Go Fishing!

There are several fishing piers in Seattle at some of our most lovely luscious parks.  Have a day of meditation with the pole at Foster Island, Greenlake Park, Elliot Bay Fishing Pier, Fairview Park, Stay Sayers, or Seacrest Park in West Seattle after you hop off the water taxi!  http://www.seattle.gov/parks/boats/Fishpier.htm

You ask “What is the Fun Forest” and I did too at a recent meeting for the Seattle Center Master Plan on March 11th.

The Fun Forest is the amusement park at Seattle Center by the base of the Space Needle.  The Fun Forest lease is up on December 31st, 2009.  It will not be renewed and redevelopment should start during 2010.  There are funding incentives for the redevelopment to start in 2010, so it looks like there will be construction starting soon after the amusement rides are hauled away at the end of 2009.

There was a lot of public comments at Century 21 Master Plan Public Meeting, but no one was talking about The Fun Forest.  It seams there isn’t a lot of love for the Fun Forest.  Those that long for the good times of the Fun Forest are going to have to settle for the Puyallup Fair in 2010 and beyond.  The area where the Fun Forest is today will be a very nice open green space – it’s a huge step forward for the Seattle Center.

The newly announced Seattle Center – Century 21 Master Plan has a lot of great plans for Seattle Center for years to come.  Watch the Seattle Center Development History video 128K | 512K (Windows Media – 13 mins).  (NOTE: Please make sure you stay with the video since the Mayor has the first two minutes and is more history than Century 21)  The meat of the video starts at 2 Minutes into the video clip.  This video has tons of great information about the redevelopment plans for Seattle Center.

The main changes in the Century 21 Master Plan create a less walled off Seattle Center that invites walking through the center not around it.  The most dramatic changes occur with the Center House, Memorial Stadium and The Fun Forest area.  All of the changes make it more park like and inviting to gather and utilize as a public space.  It increases the green spaces by 10 acres.  It brings down a lot of concrete that walls off Seattle Center and makes it less inviting in it’s current state.  The major change would be noticed in the Fun Forest, Center House and Memorial Stadium.

Are you sad or happy to see the Fun Forest disappear?  What are your thoughts on the Century 21 Master Plan video?