April 13, 2014

This is the second part of 2-part documentary of the epic Seattle Lovers Getaway. If you missed the first part, don’t fret; here’s a link! With that we begin: PART 2

Day 2: February 28

We slept in a bit this morning, well for us we slept in a bit…7:30AM. We had a proper Seattle breakfast at Starbucks (thank you Aunt Mary for the gift card!), which happened to be attached to our hotel. If we wanted to, we could have just stayed in the hotel eating at Whole Foods and Starbucks every day without even going outside! But that’s not how we roll.

So today was going to be the quintessential TOURIST day. We planned to take in all of the most popular and classic Seattle attractions; The Space Needle, The Chihuly Gardens, City Center Park, Museums and Armory. All of these attractions are also conveniently located in the same quadrant with mere steps between them. So we headed out on foot to Seattle Center (aka – Tourist Center). It was a perfectly clear and sunny morning about 57 degrees today.

The first thing we had to do was The Space Needle (attraction #1). Now most people would say don’t waste your time or money going to this attraction, because it isn’t really worth it. But c’mon people this is SEATTLE! Seattle and Space Needle are synchronous. We decided we didn’t care about cost. So we got in line with all the other out-of-towners, paid our $38 hard earned dollars for a 520 foot elevator ride up the 1962 World Fair’s centerpiece. Honestly, it was great fun being inside a cool piece of history and it really did have the most amazing 360 degree views of the city, mountains (Mt. Rainier) and water. We spent a good hour and a half walking around, reading the history, and of course taking far too many pictures. Did you know the space needle is not actually called the space needle? it’s just a nickname. The architect believed that all buildings would look like this in the future (it was built in the early 60’s), so he took it upon himself to design a building he believed would emulate that of others. Of course, that didn’t ever happen. But I digress.

We came back down to sea level and decided we were hungry for a snack. We didn’t want to eat too much since we booked a food and walking tour for later in the afternoon so we got a snack from The Armory (attraction #2). The Armory is a super cool converted real Armory into a food-court, children’s museum and performance center. The food court was NOTHING like a traditional food court at a mall or something, but a conglomeration of local restaurant fare. Everything was local, organic, fresh and gourmet. We went to this place called The Skillet (attraction #3), which is one of the most popular up and coming restaurants in town. We enjoyed a waffle topped w/ scrambled eggs, pork belly and doused with homemade honey-maple syrup. The picture does NOT do this snack any justice. It was rediculously good.

Next on the list (and at the top of Jilly’s to-do list) was the Chihuly Garden (attraction #4). If you haven’t heard of Chihuly – look it up. The glass pieces are so freaking cool. The Garden is more like a museum with indoor and outdoor spaces, glasswork that tells a story and has a really cool dichotomy with the environment. A trip here is sort of like being on an acid trip, while listening to Pink Floyd and laying in your parents basement (though I can only imagine since I’m an innocent humble boy who would never dare trifle with such things). Needless to say, we spent about 2 hours there and I had to drag Jill out or it’s likely that she would still be there today on her knees taking more photos (she took about 400 pics here, alone).

One of our new traditions is some sort of food and walking tour in any new location we visit. It’s a great way to learn about a new city and all of the hidden secrets you wouldn’t know unless you lived there and you get to feel social for a few hours. Hanging out with a dozen strangers — soon to be friends — for several hours eating glorious food and drinks — learning lots of fun things about a new place — it really doesn’t get much better.

The tour was a 3 hour eating and walking trek through the city with other foodies like ourselves. We walked in, out, and around the city through to Pike’s Place Market. We went to 10 different locations, including a trip to the gum wall, a brewery and spice shop. I will let the video speak for itself, but by the end we were well-fed and not feeling much pain (due to the hard booze, wine and high % alcoholic beer we just inhaled). After the tour, we hit up one additional place that the tour recommended; a cheese factory that boasted the best mac n cheese. We were pretty full before this, but we couldn’t pass it up, so we shared a small serving…and wow. just wow. so good.

By then, we were pretty much ready to pass out from a food-coma. But we had to walk the 15 minutes back (up) to our hotel, which felt pretty good since we were so stuffed. Though it was still early in the evening, we decided to call it a night early, and hang out in the room watching good bad TV. You don’t often realize it, but people spend a lot of money on the hotel that they rarely actually get to enjoy. We were not those people. We hung out in our room a ton because it was so comfy and swank. It almost felt like our little hovel where we could coze in and relax (like home!). We cuddled in bed and made our plans for the next day.

Day 3: March 1

Low and behold our last full day arrived way too quickly. We awoke ready to tackle the day with breakfast and a visit to the aquarium. This morning was really cloudy and cold, about 44 degrees, so we put on just about all the clothes we packed and loaded up with our rain gear, umbrellas and cameras and headed out.

Jill found this place called “Biscuit Bitch” (attraction #6) online earlier in the trip and thought that we HAD to go there simply because of the name. With rave reviews and meals called “You lucky Bitch” & “Smok’in hot Seattle Bitch” we knew this place was PERFECT for us. We walked out into the more typical gray and misty Seattle world with our rain coats and umbrellas in full swing, and shortly came upon a tiny and crowded cafe…and I mean crowded. The line was out the door, and the cafe itself only had 3 bar tables and 2 smaller tables in the back. We ordered our food, which came very slow because they make everything from scratch and made-to-order; so we actually had enough time to wait until tables opened up (we didn’t have to eat in the rain!). We waited for about 30 minutes and as soon as our food came out, we realized what the fuss was all about. Biscuit Bitch had the most tasty and amazing biscuits we had ever had – I got a sandwich with eggs and bacon, Jilly got biscuits and gravy with eggs and cheesy grits. All homemade and ALL SO GOOD.

Full of meat gravy and over-the-top tasty biscuits, we waddled down to Pier 59 and into the Seattle Aquarium (attraction #7). Jill and I both LOVE all things sea-life, so we knew this was a must-see for our growing list of Seattle attractions to visit. Fish, fish, super cute birds, sea-lions, otters oh my!! We even got to pet starfish, coral, anemone’s and other strange and exotic (and beautiful) sea creatures. We always have a super fun time going to these types of places especially when everything is brand new. We saw several scuba divers, octopus, salmon, learned about the natural reefs and coral in and around Seattle, which was kind of shocking but its so cool and interesting!

We had already been to Pikes Market each day, but since it’s 4 blocks long and 5 stories high, where the street is the top floor and the bottom is the Puget Sound, there was still plenty to see and do. There was no way the ‘classic Seattle weather’ was going to keep us down. We got a half-dozen homemade donuts from the famous “dozen doughnuts” (attraction #8), which are super tiny, and a fancy Americano from the worlds 1st Starbucks (attraction #9), while we waited out the rain and enjoyed some people watching.

 
So I am not the kind of guy who likes to shop. If you know me at all, you know I have no patience for it. Usually about an hour is my tolerance, maybe a bit more if the promise of a snack is involved. I certainly never shop for myself and will generally wear clothing until its so thread bear that my wife makes it ‘vanish’. But when Jill came across an Exoffico outlet store in the downtown area, (note: gift ideas for Jake, the only clothes he really loves are Patagonia, Prana and Exoffico) I simply couldn’t say no. These clothes are truly made for life, travel, adventure; they fight off smells and are durable enough to handle good hard use; so I was excited! With so many fun things (but with only small backpacks), I only allowed myself to buy one shirt; though I did try on about 10. This was the first time that I truly understood how many women feel when they shop all the time. Jilly also tried on a bunch of cute things, but she fell in love with a new purple synthetic down jacket, which also converts into a travel pillow (HOW COOL), is super light-weight, super cute, and SUPER warm. OH and it was all 50% off!

By then it was mid-afternoon, and we were a bit chilly and laden with bags and gear, so we decided to head back to the hotel (which was about 2 blocks away) to drop everything off and lighten our load. We realized that we had yet to have a proper sit-down meal to celebrate our anniversary since we arrived. We were purposely waiting until we got to Seattle to make any definite plans since we figured we would learn about the best places to eat from the food tour (which we did!). One of those places on said tour was called Von’s GustoBistro. They make their own Vodka, Beer, Sourdough bread, noodles and other goodies. We LOVED this place on the tour, so we knew it was going to be our home-run dinner.

So we headed back out in the cold and walked down to Von’s. The atmosphere was really cool and we enjoyed another delicious salmon cake (which is what we had on the tour that made us fall in love with this place). I had fish and chips while Jilly enjoyed a homemade noodle dish. For dessert we indulged in homemade cinnamon-sugar beignets, which are like donut holes, only way way way way better because they also came with creme freshe and raspberry sauces for dunking. The local brew was mighty refreshing and all-in-all it was a really awesome way to wrap up our vacation. OH and because it was one of the tour locations, we got an additional 15% off of our bill — SCORE!!!

We headed back (up) to the hotel to pack our stuff and settle in for a movie. We had a very early flight out the next morning, so we wanted to get some R and R. It was the perfect end to another fantastic day in Seattle.

Day 4: March 2

Departure day came a little too soon, but nonetheless, we were packed and headed out the door before the sun came up. We walked to the train station to catch the train (which we almost missed), and made our way back to the airport. Check-in was a pretty standard affair, but once we were in the airport, we found a whole mess of rocking chairs by the COOLEST feature of an airport ever witnessed…a huge arching window that spans the entire length of one side of the airport with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the runway. It was so cool to sit in rocking chairs, watching planes take off, drinking Starbucks coffee and tea.

We even did some last-minute shopping in the airport shops (which were surprisingly cool for an airport). Jilly wanted to get something with Seattle on it, so she got a new coffee mug and a Christmas ornament (which we try to get with any new place we visit). I got some famous salmon jerky that I heard so much about. Distracted by the fun new goodies, we lost complete track of time and realized that our plane was boarding (and we were not near the gate yet!) We bolted and barely make it before the “B” folks started to board (we had “A” positions), so at least we got to sit together for the flight home (whew). A great flight and an easy drive back to Boulder…though much colder than we would have liked.

Mini Movie
Here’s a fun mini-movie of the trip. Jilly did a great job editing all the footage, and putting together the final film which you can view now. We shot around 3 hours of footage and narrowed it down to 15 minutes of actual movie-magic. This is our first attempt at any kind of movie but its fun and hopefully you will watch to the end…lots of funny little nuggets till the end!

–PS–

Seattle is an amazing place to visit. It has a youthful air to it, and unlike many other cities in the US, people seem happy, fit, trim and active. There is a great food consciousness (FLOSS) Fresh, Local, Organic, Sustainable, Seasonal; which we love. People are also crazy for coffee in this city. There are plenty of independent cafes all over town, not to mention the 150 Starbucks locations within 4 square miles within the city, itself; Everyone seems overly pumped up and excited – I guess they are just really happy about their coffee…or highly caffeinated!

But it’s also VERY expensive city which makes me wonder how anyone can afford to live there (I guess if you work for Amazon you are okay), but if you love a place you will always find a way to make it work. In Colorado, we have about 300 days of sunshine a year…Seattle has about 300 days of gray skies a year; only 50 days of sunshine. Along with the fact that this city is quite large (lots of crime, homelessness and other typical big-city problems), we would probably not choose to live there, but would definitely visit again. We had an amazing time and if life brings us back to Seattle we will be happy to embrace it with open arms.

Good bye for now Seattle, you were a fantastic lovers getaway ~ we loved you!