Athima Chansanchai’s book will make your bucket list easier.
And longer.
Chansanchai is the author of “100 Things To Do In Seattle Before You Die” (Reedy Press, $16).
The book is a handy guide for those trips to the big city for random fun or sightseeing jaunts.
“The 100 I put in there are a really good jumping point for people,” Chansanchai said. “It isn’t the definitive book. It’s a bucket list, not THE bucket list.”
The 146-page book is divided into sections such as Food and Drink, Sports and Recreation, Music and Entertainment. It lists Festivals by Month and Activities by Season. It has suggested itineraries for Date Night to Foodie Heaven.
“The book is maybe 10 percent of all the things you can do,” Chansanchai said. “The hardest part was whittling it down to 100.”
Writing a book was on her bucket list.
“In this case, this book came to me,” she said. “The publisher has a series of these books out and they were looking for someone in Seattle to do this city’s version. They already had the brand and roughly divided into these five sections you see in the book. So it’s not like you can just go crazy and put everything in there. It was fairly easy to come up with 50 things right off the top of my head, and then I started crowd-sourcing and I had a lot of conversations with a lot of friends.”
Chansanchai, 43, a former reporter at the Baltimore Sun and New York’s Village Voice, lived in six states, Washington, D.C., and traveled extensively before moving here to write for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2005. She covered consumer electronics as “DigiGirl” for msnbc.com and now writes blog posts and stories for Microsoft News Center.
“A lot is pulled from my P-I experience,” she said. “I was lucky when I came here 10 years ago that the P-I let me explore the city. It introduced me to Parkour and the Rollergirls and the Wing Luke Museum. That was a good starting point that I had a job that allowed me to go all over the city and it spilled over into my personal life as well.”
You can tell from the book that she stays on the go exploring Seattle.
“There is nothing like Seattle for me. I fall in love with it every day for a different reason,” she said. “Nothing compares with Seattle.”
Of course, the Space Needle is in the book. It’s even on the bright red cover.
“I’m still a sucker for some of the biggies,” Chansanchai said. “When people visit me I will almost always take them to the Space Needle. I still love the Needle. There’s a lot of other things around there. I like taking them to the fountain, the Pacific Science Center, or EMP.”
Teatro ZinZanni, Archie McPhee, REI’s flagship store, Dick’s Drive-In, the Pink Elephant Car Wash, these are all in the book.
Can’t decide what to do?
Close your eyes. Flip through the pages. Go where your fingers land.
Page 30: Stuff your face with sweets at Trophy Cupcakes and Cupcake Royale.
Page 73: Next, work off those sweets. Do the natural StairMaster, Seattle’s longest stairway with about 1,000 steps going up and down a 2.7 mile loop in Capitol Hill.
Page 69: Float your boat at the Center for Wooden Boats in South Lake Union.
That’s where Chansanchai recently launched a book interview on the TV show “Evening Magazine.”
“This was the first time I’ve been in a rowboat, rowing by myself,” she said. “It was a completely foreign concept for me. Rowing and talking at the same time. I didn’t tip over. We went from there to Rock Box and I sang sober. Stone cold, not one drink. No liquid courage, belting it out.”
Some of the ventures are still on her bucket list.
“I have not done all 100 things. I haven’t gone to Colman Pool. I’ve had enough friends who were like, ‘Oh, my God, that pool is amazing, you should go.’ It is unusual to have a public pool that is salt water,” she said. “I’ve never been to a Sounders game, but I feel like I should go. I’ve been to every other sport in town.”
What’s your hidden gem, soft spot, sweet spot, guilty pleasure, must-see marvel?
Chansanchai wants to hear from you.
“I want people to share their 100 things under the hashtag 100SEA. That can be on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. I love that conversation. I know I didn’t get everything in here. I’d love to hear what your 100 things would include,” she said.
“Maybe I can persuade my publisher to get a second edition or the next 100 things to do in Seattle.”
Contact info
Contact the author at www.athimachansanchai.com; Twitter: @100ThingsSEA; or athimac@gmail.com.
See, sing, eat, drink
Four places Athima Chansanchai recommends to let you flex your tourist muscle.
1. Olympic Sculpture Park. “It’s a nice combination of art and nature. I like that it’s out of the way. It’s a nice walk.”
2. Rock Box. The Japanese-style venue has private rooms so singers can belt it all out with reckless abandon without an audience. Or with a crowd. “One of the rooms at Rock Box you can push a button and it makes it visible to the street so people can see and hear you singing.”
3. Mai Thaiku. “I always get asked what’s my favorite Thai place because I’m Thai. They also got my dad’s stamp of approval. My dad is really picky about Thai food.”
4. Stoup Brewing. “It was a happy discovery. It didn’t feel like a brewery. It is welcoming and accessible. Families feel at home there. They have crayons and paper for the kids.”
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
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