Travel Tuesday: Seattle, Washington
Tuesday, April 21, 2015Welcome to today's Travel Tuesday! As you know, I spent this last weekend in Seattle visiting my friend Tyler with one of my best gal pals from college, Lucy. If you've been around the blog for a while, we made a similar trip last year to St. Louis when Tyler still lived there.
Funny thing is that on my last day in St. Louis Tyler got this job offer in Seattle. For selfish reasons I convinced him to take it so we could plan another trip! And that's what we did. I had never been to Seattle so I was pretty excited about it. I got in late Thursday night and left Sunday night (took the red-eye back to NYC). Enjoy!
Thursday:
After a half-day at work, I flew out of JFK to Seattle. Thankfully my favorite airline, JetBlue has a nonstop flight so I was sure to hop on that! I had my movies and music ready and it was actually the first time I've used WiFi on a plane! They have it for free on the flight which is so clutch.
Flying over Montana was SO BEAUTIFUL. Oh my gosh. The mountains, the water, the sunset. It was just too beautiful.
Once I got in, we drove along the water (with a quick stop to take a picture of the skyline) and then were off to dinner.
I was craving queso and guac so obviously the clear choice was to get Mexican food. Tyler took us to Cactus on Alki Beach and it was delicious! After dinner it was off to bed since it was like 2 am back on the East Coast and we had a lot planned for the next day!
Friday:
Being on eastern time, I woke up everyday around 7 am which was nice since it was easy to take full advantage of the day. In the morning, Lucy and I went up to Tyler's roof to see the view (and to get out of the way for his conference call).
We couldn't have asked for better weather during our time there. It was consistently 65 degrees with clear skies which is what I'm all about. I also loved the Seattle skyline (which you will come to realize). It was just so beautiful. It was amazing to look one way and see this gorgeous downtown and then turn around to see all this greenery and forest.
After our morning at the apartment, we were off to kayak in the Puget Sound (the water around the city). We used Alki Kayak Tours and they were great. It was super easy to just go and rent a kayak for an hour. Tyler, Lucy and I decided the best (and funniest) decision to make was to do the triple kayak. Because, why not?
Kayaking was a ton of fun (minus all the water Lucy threw on me by being in front) and I would totally recommend it for anyone visiting Seattle! It was such a cool way to view the city while also doing something totally out of the norm. We really couldn't have asked for better weather during this either. Even the three-person kayak turned out to be a great idea, and we only threatened each other's lives a couple of times #teambonding.
After a long, hard day on the water (a total of 45 mins -- 15 of which were spent kayaking against the wind) we decided it was time for lunch and time for us to eat ALL OF THE FOOD. We ate at The Bridge and it was soooo goooood. I got a burger but that's not the important part. Listen closely: this place lets you order (amazing) fries and then it comes with SO MANY DIPPING SAUCES. I ate my weight in french fries and I'm not even sorry about it.
After lunch we went ran a few errands and then got ready for the Mariners game. One of the things I was looking forward to most (other than seeing my friends) was going to the baseball game. I had never been to Safeco Field and (as a baseball fan) I wanted to check it off my list.
The park was beautiful and I couldn't have asked for a better view. It was great to be there, walk around and see what the park had to offer (yes, it had Dippin Dots). The Mariners didn't end up winning (that's okay because they were playing the Rangers) but it was a great game and a great night!
Saturday:
Saturday was our day downtown doing all the touristy things. We started out at Pike Place Market and went to Lowell's for breakfast. It was so dang good! And the water view was nice too :)
After breakfast, we walked around the (packed) market and just took it all in! We stopped by the first Starbucks and Pike Place Fish Co. Both of which I was very excited to see but was deterred because of the large crowds. At least I got some photos!
After walking around the market, it was time for the GUM WALL. I don't know how this wall came to be, but I think it's so cool, I mean, what a random thing to happen! We bought our bubble gum to prepare and started chewing. Blowing a big bubble is harder than I remembered!
Now here's where the story gets good. We bought a pack of five pieces of gum thinking we'll be good. One for each of us (three) and then save the rest for later. Well, Lucy's first time blowing the bubble she accidentally swallowed it. I think we made her laugh and then all of the sudden it was gone hahaha. So she took another piece and didn't mess around this time. Then I started to blow mine and it was hard! I couldn't get a big bubble and I tried so hard the gum flew out of my mouth and on to the ground!
Everyone around had a good laugh (including myself) and so I just picked it up and literally threw it on the wall (see below):
Thankfully I had ONE piece left and mastered the art of blowing an okay sized bubble (see below). I then chewed it up and left my mark on the wall! Tyler played it safe and just stuck his on like a normal person.
After the gum wall, we took an Uber a uptown to go to the Sky View Observatory of Columbia Tower. Columbia Tower is the tallest building in Seattle and a lot like the Empire State Building or the Willis Tower, this building has a top floor observatory that looks over the city. It was a cool experience being up so high and seeing all of Seattle in one view. One of my favorite things about the city is that off in the not-so-far distance are all these beautiful mountains.
After the observatory, we went to Kerry Park. I think one of you recommended it to me and I can't thank you enough! This was by far my favorite view of the city. Getting to see the skyline from this side was a nice change of pace but what I really loved was the skyline + the mountain view.
After Kerry Park, we went over to the Space Needle. I have to admit that I was a little underwhelmed at how small the needle is! I thought it was this huge iconic thing but it wasn't really downtown and it was small! We decided to skip going up to the top since we got a better view from the sky deck but we still checked out the grounds.
For lunch, we stopped at the EMP museum and had a few drinks before heading back to the apartment for some Netflix and a nap! After our nap we went out for dinner, drinks and karaoke at Talarico's. I ended the night by rapping "Shoop" by Salt and Peppa.
Sunday:
Sunday started early (of course) and at Luna Park Cafe. Driving by, you would totally overlook Luna Park Cafe but it's definitely one of the really good local spots in the city. It was quaint and styled like an old school diner but it was some of the best breakfast I've had in a while! I also loved that it was super cheap :)
After breakfast we drove about an hour outside the city to Snoqualmie Falls. Oh man was it beautiful!! We started out at the top to see this view:
Then made our way to the bottom to get real close and personal. Getting down and back up from the waterfall was quite a trek and makes for a great story but I'll leave this one out and just let you see how beautiful the place was:
After a lot of rock climbing, we made our way back to the city with a stop at Lake Washington. Tyler took us to this little private beach that he loves to visit and on our way up we saw a naked man coming out of the water! I was in shock and we all started laughing until we saw a little nudist community taking up this beach. Then we really started laughing, we just couldn't believe it! It was a sight but hey, more power to them!
After that little adventure, we stopped at McGilvra's for lunch and then drove back to the apartment. We hung out on the roof for the last few hours I was there and enjoyed the beautiful weather and the view.
So overall, I had a horrible and boring trip. Can't you tell?! Hahah but really, it was one of the coolest weekends ever. I was able to do everything on my list and then some. I got to enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery Seattle had to offer AND I got to hang out with some of my closets friends. Sounds like a pretty awesome weekend to me!
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