getting to seattle from seatac airport is pretty convenient on the citys light rail. 30min and youre there, and wow the trains in seattle are CLEAN!
the light rail drops you off at the westfield center, seattles main shopping hub. we then lugged all our crap over a mile to our hotel near the space needle... we didnt find out about the monorail til later whoops!
we were starving when we got there, so we hit up dicks drive in, which has been a seattle tradition for many years and is similar to our in n out drive in. the burgers were pretty damn good, but in n out is hard to beat!
the first place we went was the seattle center, since it was right by our hotel. the seattle center is a huge arts and entertainment center in seattle, with the space needle as one of its main attractions.
we realized there was also a childrens museum there so we thought we would let aiden run around in it for a while. we dressed him up as a construction worker and put a bunch of construction stuff in his shopping cart.... all he wanted to do was push this cart around the museum!
next we went to the top of the space needle... just to say we did it. the view at the top observation deck is awesome! but man it was cold... and so windy that it blew aiden over onto the floor!
view of lake union
another view from the top
i could have spent a whole day at the experience music project (emp) museum! they had an awesome nirvana exhibit, as well as a jimmy hendrix exhibit, guitar exhibits, an avatar exhibit, and rooms where you can play different instruments and try out various portions of recording studios.
this is the monorail that takes you from emp to the westfield center
and here is nanci trying to take a cool pic of me in front of the museum... philippines next top model?
we took a bus up to kerry park, which is supposed to have the best postcard view of the seattle skyline. i was once again amazed, the buses in seattle are SO CLEAN!
aiden waiting patiently for the bus, they did tend to run behind...
from the bus stop we had to hike up three STEEP blocks to kerry park... i pushed the first two and heres nanci about 5 seconds into the third block
but kerry park was totally worth it!
tourist shot #1
tourist shot #2
tourist shot #3
me and nanci (aiden was knocked out)
although rain was forecasted all 4 days of our trip, we totally lucked out and got MAYBE 15 min of light rain our whole trip! but we were still prepared with aidens stroller weather guard and plenty of blankets to keep him nice and toasty, which came in handy because it was still WINDY and COLD!
next we decided to head to the farmers market at pikes place. definitely the most awesome farmers market ive been to. so much fresh vegetables, fruits, and SEAFOOD... among so many other things. we loved it there!
these are the fish that the fishmongers throw but i couldnt get a shot of them throwing them it got too crowded
first thing we ate... dungeness crab cocktails mmmm
we went to pikes place chowder to eat lunch, this was some seriously good chowder! we tried the regular chowder, seafood bisque, salmon chowder, scallop chowder... plus a dungeness crab hoagie! it was so good we went there again on the way to the airport on the way back home
family photo
the original starbucks is right across the street from the farmers market
a peek inside... the floors are the original floors from 1971. i dont think the baristas are from 1971.
a lot of people suggested we take a washington state ferry to bainbridge island, so since the weather was nice we headed over.
excited to take the ferry
view of seattle as we traveled across the puget sound
we werent sure what to do in bainbridge, but we figured the best place to go was downtown to the historic winslow area
winslow is a very small town. to give you an idea, this is their mall. if i tried to take my mom and sisters to this mall im pretty sure they would punch me in the face
strip mall and church
nanci and i have always followed the food networks suggestions on places to eat, and they have never let us down. i was SO excited to try the dungeness crab melt at cafe nola
but it was a lunch only item, and we went at dinnertime!!! sooo bummed, but theres dungeness crab cakes and truffle cheese fries helped make up for it
that night we wanted to go to a place called serious pie, but it was PACKED... so we knew it was good. we went around the corner to a place called dahlia lounge for a snack to wait out the crowd. food network recommended their dungeness crab cakes as well, and they were awesome! i think its safe to assume at this point that nanci and i are a fan of dungeness crab.
we finally got to serious pie after it died down, and it was so worth the wait. one of the best pizzas ive had! it was too dark to take pics, so i stole these from the interwebs
we got the truffle cheese pizza with buffalo mushrooms... it was so good. the crust was thin and buttery, and the toppings were packed with flavor!
fremont is kind of an alternative, artsy community in northern seattle that a lot of people recommended we check out. one of the most popular places to visit is an art piece of a troll under the aurora bridge leading into fremont. the troll sculpture is clutching a real vw beetle in its left hand
this is the bridge the troll lives under
some shots around fremont
fremonts controversial statue of lenin
the fremont rocket, an old cold war rocket that was never used and adopted by the city as its community totem
tried eating at this place called homegrown, which had great sandwiches and used all locally grown, all organic ingredients
fremont was a lot less busy than downtown seattle, so we let aiden roam around before we headed back
next stop was seattles international district, also known as chintown. we browsed around the biggest market in the area called uwajimaya. they had lots of little food stands in the market, but only aiden ate we were so full from all the eating!
another thing we heard good things about was the seattle underground tour at pioneer square. in 1889, part of seattle burned down in a big fire, and instead of rebuilding the city at its original level the city just rebuild everything on top of the old parts (this time using brick instead of wood). the underground tour takes you to the original storefronts of seattle that are now underneath the citys street level. it was really interesting and informative
seattle is known for coffee, and we couldnt leave without trying some of the citys best. this place vivace was awesome, some of the best coffee nanci and i had ever had!
i didnt realize until after reviewing all of our pictures how much we squeezed into 3 days! we were definitely ready to come home after such a packed weekend, thanks for the memories and the tasty food seattle!
Thanks so much for sharing your trip! I always look forward to reading what you guys have done and it is inspiring! This makes me want to go to Seattle! -Karen V.
ReplyDeleteHey Karen thanks! You guys should go, we went for less than $100 r/t after taxes, cheaper than flying to the bay area!
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