A traditional Northwest Coast Indian totem pole stands beside an ornate pergola in Pioneer Square Park.

SEATTLE —

The crack of the bat and the crunch of Cracker Jack. The roar of the crowd for the race to first base. The “Star-Spangled Banner” and the seventh-inning stretch.

This is baseball, a sport that many consider America’s national pastime. At Seattle’s Safeco Field, it also includes the rolling back of the stadium roof, the shrill pierce of a train whistle, the singing of “Louie Louie” and the mimicry of a man-sized moose that is the team mascot.

As the only major-league baseball stadium in the Pacific Northwest and the nearest big-league ballpark to Bend, Safeco is an annual destination for serious Central Oregon baseball fans.

Even though the hometown Mariners are having a poor 2008 season, the spectacle of a professional sporting event and the opportunity to watch superb athletes in action is reason enough for many to visit.

When Seattle greets baseball’s two most popular teams, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, the 47,447-seat stadium is inevitably filled. (The Red Sox, who have Madras native Jacoby Ellsbury in the lineup, made their last visit of 2008 in July; the Yankees return in early September.)

But various promotions have a way of assuring that more than half the seats are occupied every night. That was the case when I caught two games against the Minnesota Twins in early August.

Most of the Mariners’ home games — 81 of them from April through September — are night contests that begin just after 7. On Sunday afternoons, matinee games begin shortly after 1.

Weekend fans can listen on the radio to the Friday-night game as they make the six-hour drive north from Bend; they can spend Saturday morning and afternoon exploring downtown Seattle, enjoy two games at Safeco Field, and still be back in Bend in time for a full night’s sleep before returning to work on Monday morning.

Safeco is only three-quarters of a mile south of Pioneer Square, Seattle’s oldest urban neighborhood, and a virtual stone’s throw from Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks football franchise.

One new hotel, the Silver Cloud, has opened across the street from Safeco Field; it has a full-service restaurant of its own, Jimmy’s on First, and provides free shuttle service to downtown restaurants and attractions. Other lodgings, such as the newly reopened Arctic Club Hotel, are in or very near Pioneer Square; also, the Kimpton group of luxury boutique hotels offers special discount packages for Mariners and Seahawks fans (see sidebar about discounts).

I didn’t visit Seattle on a weekend. But my schedule was much the same as it would have been had I done so. The team played Monday and Tuesday night games against the Twins, followed by a rare Wednesday afternoon contest.

They won Monday when outfielder Raul Ibanez hit a grand-slam in the seventh inning. They won again Tuesday on a two-run eighth-inning double by second baseman Jose Lopez. The last-place M’s dropped the Wednesday afternoon contest, but winning two games out of three (against a team battling for first place) wasn’t bad.

Pike Place Market

Because my son, who lives in Seattle, has a guest room in his home, my lodging costs were nonexistent. But if I were to stay in a downtown hotel, here’s how I would organize my day in the city before an evening Mariners game. For starters, I’d get around on foot, although buses would be an option.

I would start at the Pike Place Market, Seattle’s world-famous public market. Morning is the best time to experience the color and excitement. Grab a cup of coffee and a muffin at the original Starbucks store (the first of more than 4,000 worldwide) on Pike Street, stop to listen to one of the street musicians, then slip past the trademark pig sculpture to the Pike Place Fish Market.

The public market’s most famous business, Pike Place Fish, has been under the same ownership for 43 years. Crowds gather ten-deep to watch fishmongers tossing 12-pound salmon back and forth over their heads with every purchase; some visitors order fully cooked Dungeness crabs for shipment across the country. Brightly colored parrotfish are lined up on ice beside a grotesque monkfish, whose jaw is wired to open with a tug, startling tourists.

The rows extending south from the fish market hold extensive tiers of vividly colored flowers, vegetables and fruit. In the next block are the stalls of private artisans. A lower market level contains a warren-like gathering of secondhand stores containing everything from old books and posters to vintage clothing and other secondhand goods. It seems you can find anything at Pike Place, from “Aesop’s Fables” to zucchini.

The market was established in 1907 but was destined for the wrecking ball until it was rescued by a citizens crusade in the early 1970s. Including its surrounding neighborhood, 9 acres were officially designated a national historic district. Locals as well as visitors are forever grateful.

The Waterfront

Leave the market by the Pike Hillclimb and descend 155 steep steps to Pier 59 on the urban waterfront. (There’s an optional elevator.) Across Alaskan Way is the Seattle Aquarium, notable for its population of sea otters, a giant Pacific octopus and an exhibit of spawning salmon. Seven piers northwest, at Pier 66, is the excellent Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center, an interactive museum of seaport commerce and industry.

South of the aquarium are several excellent seafood restaurants with outdoor seating (I recommend Elliott’s, in the event you’re ready for lunch), a waterfront fire station whose fireboats exhibit their fountain-like extinguishers on summer weekends, and the state-ferry terminal at Colman Dock.

There also are a variety of retail stores, including Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, which has had a waterfront corner since 1899. Part souvenir store, part museum, it displays such “artifacts” as a two-headed calf and one of the world’s largest private collections of mummies (they all have names) and shrunken heads.

Opposite Pier 52, turn up Yesler Way. Known in the late 19th century as Skid Road, because logs were skidded down the “road” to Henry Yesler’s waterfront sawmill, Yesler Way’s nickname was later applied to “skid rows” in cities across America.

Pioneer Square

Where Yesler Way crosses First Avenue, you’re at the heart of Pioneer Square, where Seattle’s first business district was thriving by the 1880s. The original wood-frame structures burned in an 1889 fire that destroyed 65 square blocks. When the area was rebuilt, the ruins — which included many walls, building frames and plumbing fixtures, as well as old signs and narrow passageways — were covered and a new brick city emerged above them.

The curious can still visit the remains of the original city on the 90-minute Seattle Underground Tour, which begins in triangular Pioneer Square Park. (A Native American totem pole and an ornate cast-iron pergola make the location clear.) Small-group walking tours descend into the subterranean realm that found alternate uses in its built-over years: as opium dens for Chinese immigrants, for instance, or as Prohibition-era speakeasies.

Today, the Pioneer Square Historic District embraces 91 acres of mostly century-old buildings.

A good place to get a perspective is the observation level of the 42-story Smith Tower, reportedly the tallest building west of the Mississippi River when it was built in 1914. (It remained Seattle’s highest structure until 1969.) Don’t mind the rattling old, manually operated elevator; it’s part of the adventure.

If you’re a history buff, stop by the Seattle unit of the Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park. (Other units extend north from Skagway, Alaska, into Canada’s Yukon Territory.) Exhibits include artifacts, films and gold-panning demonstrations.

Seattle grew rapidly from 1897 to 1899 as the jumping-off point for gold seekers who boarded northbound ships here and later returned with newfound wealth. Among them was Swedish immigrant John Nordstrom, who parlayed his nest egg into a shoe store that became the Nordstrom’s department store empire.

Throughout the Pioneer Square district are numerous shops and art galleries, restaurants and bars. A personal favorite is Mitchelli’s, a casual and reasonably priced Italian trattoria.

International District

Adjacent to Pioneer Square, across the railroad tracks and directly east of Safeco and Qwest Fields, is the multi-ethnic International District, often known simply as “the I.D.” (Follow South Main Street east, past the King Street Station and its 1906 clock tower, to reach this neighborhood.) San Francisco and Vancouver may have their tourist-friendly Chinatowns, but Seattle’s ethnic heart is more of a working-class quarter that is home to Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Vietnamese and other Southeast Asians, as well as Chinese, the first to settle here in the 1860s.

Get a feel for the district at the Wing Luke Asian Museum, newly expanded and renovated to present an overall view of life in the Northwest for 10 groups of Asian and Pacific settlers. Wander the streets past mom-and-pop groceries and herbal medicine shops, dim-sum restaurants and fortune-cookie factories. Then duck into Uwajimaya, the largest Japanese food and gift store in the Pacific Northwest. It’s a cultural experience, even if you’re just looking. Besides, Ichiro shops here.

Mariners’ outfielder Ichiro Suzuki is one of those rare celebrities who is better known by his first name than his last, like Madonna, Cher and Pele, the soccer great. Ichiro was a household name in his native Japan even before he became the first Japanese position player (not a pitcher) to play American baseball in 2001, and after winning a most valuable player award and setting an all-time record for hits in a season in 2004, the perennial all-star is a fan favorite in the United States as well.

Safeco Field

You can count on seeing Ichiro when you stroll through the turnstiles into Safeco Field and climb the concrete steps. For a 7:10 game, you’ll want to arrive around 6 p.m. You may not have covered all the ground you want in downtown Seattle, but you’ve still got tomorrow morning to fill in some of the holes before the matinee game begins.

Safeco Field opened in the middle of the 1999 season, replacing the old Kingdome, a mammoth concrete structure that many regarded as a public eyesore. (That stadium was subsequently demolished to make room for the new Qwest Field.)

Unlike the Kingdome, which harbored an artificial indoor surface that never, ever, saw the light of day, Safeco features a rolling roof that brings plenty of sunshine to its real grass. At the push of a button, it takes about 15 minutes for the retractable roof — which weighs 22 million pounds and covers nearly nine acres — to cover the field and seats, even as it preserves an open-air environment. Rain or shine, the games can go on.

Safeco Field is bounded on the west by First Avenue South, on the north by Royal Brougham Way (named for a revered local sports editor), on the south by Edgar Martinez Way (after the most popular of all former Mariner players) and on the east by the railroad tracks. Whenever an Amtrak arrives from Portland, or the Sounder commuter train gets in from Tacoma, fans and players alike tune in to its piercing whistle.

That’s just a part of the unique fan experience at Safeco. Before and during the game, the team mascot, Mariner Moose, greets children and visiting celebrities. Voiceless, he (she?) mimes stunts and entertains in the Moose Den, where youngsters and their parents can have their photos taken beneath the center-field stands.

Huge electronic scoreboards provide diversions between innings, wishing happy birthdays to visitors from 5 to 90 and luring fans into a couple of interactive games: a hat trick (guess which ball cap the baseball is hidden beneath) and a hydroplane race (with twists and turns). And when fans rise for the traditional singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in the middle of the seventh inning, the scoreboard posts the words, which then transition into a rousing version of “Louie Louie.” The unofficial Washington state song inspires many to dance in their seats.

Around the stands are other distractions. There’s a children’s playground (in center field), the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame (on the main concourse, along the third-base line), the Bullpen Pub (where adults can imbibe while keeping an eye on Mariner pitchers), public art installations, numerous souvenir stands and the Mariners Team Store. The Hit It Here Café in right field offers full-service meals, but most visitors snack on peanuts, hot dogs and garlic fries.

There are some specialty food items from local purveyors that you’ll only find at Safeco. Ivar’s fish and chips, Kidd Valley hamburgers and Porters barbecue are three examples. I settled for Deschutes Brewery’s own Mirror Pond Pale Ale ($8.50) and a spicy tuna roll from a sushi bar. They called it an “Ichiroll.” What else? This is, after all, Seattle.

Mariners schedule Kimpton’s Home Run Rate Visiting Seattle (to see the Mariners) EXPENSES (for two) INFORMATION RESTAURANTS ATTRACTIONS

NEXT WEEK: Crater Lake National Park

Remaining 2008 Seattle Mariners home games:

Aug. 21-24, Oakland A’s

Aug. 25-27, Minnesota Twins

Sept. 5-7, New York Yankees

Sept. 9-10, Texas Rangers

Sept. 22-25, Los Angeles Angels

Sept. 26-28, Oakland A’s

Kimpton Hotels’ three Seattle properties — the Alexis, the Monaco and the Vintage Park — offer a special “Home Run Rate” to visitors attending Seattle Mariners baseball games at Safeco Field. The package includes 10 percent off the best available room rate, a taxi voucher from the hotel to the ballpark, and a box of Cracker Jack.

As of late August, nightly rates (for two) range from $216 at the Vintage Park to $279 at the Alexis. They do not include game tickets, but a hotel concierge can obtain those. A similar package will be offered for all Seattle Seahawks home football games this fall.

The Hotel Monaco charges $252 per night at the Home Run Rate. Guests can return after a matinee game for dinner at Sazerac, one of Seattle’s finest restaurants. Chef Jason McClure, a regular participant in Bend’s annual Sagebrush Classic, runs the kitchen.

With the world premiere of “Shrek The Musical” continuing through Sept. 21 at the nearby Fifth Avenue Theatre, the Vintage Park is offering free parking (normally $35) and at Tulio, its in-house restaurant, a kids’ Shrek menu and specialty adult drinks and desserts.

Information: 1-800-KIMPTON or www.kimptonhotels .com.

• Gas, 664 miles (round-trip) @ $4.10/gallon $108.90

• Fast-food dinner, en route $14

• Lodging (2 nights), Arctic Club Hotel $436.97

• Breakfast, Pike Place Market $13

• Lunch, Mitchelli’s $20

• Admission, Seattle Underground tour $30

• Field-level seats (2), Safeco Field $80

• Dinner at Safeco Field $35

• Breakfast, Jade Garden $18

• Left-field bleacher seats (2), Safeco Field $30

• Lunch at Safeco Field $20

• Dinner after the game, Pyramid Alehouse $44

TOTAL $839.87

Prices include 15.6% tax on lodging

If you go

(All locations are in Seattle)

• Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. One Convention Place, 701 Pike St.; 206-461-5888, www.visitseattle.org

• Seattle Mariners. Safeco Field, 1250 First Ave. S.; 206-346-4000, www.mariners.com

LODGING

• Arctic Club Hotel. 700 Third Ave.; 206-340-0340, 800-600-7775, www.arcticclubhotel.com. Rates from $189.

• Best Western Pioneer Square Hotel. 77 Yesler Way; 206-340-1234, 800-800-5514, www.pioneersquarehotel.com. Rates from $175.99.

• Silver Cloud Hotel, Seattle-Stadium. 1046 First Ave. S.; 206-204-9800, 800-497-1261, www.silvercloud.com. Rates from $229.

• Elliott’s Oyster House. Pier 56; 206-623-4340.

• F.X. McRory’s. 419 Occidental Ave. S.; 206-623-4800.

• Jade Garden. 424 Seventh Ave. S.; 206-622-8181.

• Mitchelli’s. 84 Yesler Way; 206-623-3883.

• Pyramid Alehouse. 1201 First Ave. S.; 206-682-3377.

• Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. 319 Second Ave. S.; 206-220-4240, www.nps.gov/klse

• Odyssey Marine Discovery Center. Pier 66; 206-374-4000, www.ody.org

• Pike Place Market. First Avenue and Pike Street; 206-682-7453, www.pikeplacemarket.org

• Seattle Aquarium. Pier 59; 206-386-4320, www.seattleaquarium.org

• Seattle Underground Tour. 608 First Ave. S.; 206-682-4646, www.undergroundtour.com

• Smith Tower. 506 Second Ave.; 206-622-3131, www.smithtower.com

• Uwajimaya. 600 Fifth Ave. S.; 206-624-6248, www.uwajimaya.com

• Wing Luke Asian Museum. 719 S. King St.; 206-623-5124, www.wingluke.org

• Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Pier 54; 206-682-5844, www.yeoldecuriosityshop.com