Sleeping Near Seattle

Carol and the girls had never been to Seattle before, so there was a lot to see. I love Seattle – it’s one of the great American cities like Boston, NY, Philly, DC, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Denver – where there is lots to see and do. Oh, there’s arguments to be made for others (and some would argue against Phoenix, although to me the setting is beautiful).


(Btw, it’s early Monday morning – we started on Friday, so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!)

Anyhow, after checking into the hotel at the airport, we headed into Seattle. Our first stop was Pike’s Place Market – which I think is the top spot in the city. Carol and the girls were blown away by it – the fish markets, the artisans stalls, the vegetable markets, the flower stalls. The challenging part is that it was lunchtime, so the place was thronged with people. The girls were starving from the flight. The first two restaurants were overcrowded, so we found a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant one level down. The food was great, and reasonably priced. Ravenous, we tore into it – not sure any was left.

After lunch, we walked around Pike Place Market some more, although we didn’t buy anything except a couple of bottles of wine for the cruise (which I fear might go unconsumed if we don’t get to them soon!).

From there, we headed to the ubiquitous Space Needle – we paid our money, got our ticket, and went up. It’s a great view, and neat to do. It’s hard to believe that thing has been around since 1962 (the year I was born!).

After that, we headed for Theo Chocolates – an organic chocolate maker that came highly recommended on Trip Advisor. It wasn’t worth the drive, although to be fair, we did not take the one hour tour, which is supposed to be good. We did taste their different types of chocolate, and then – of course – bought some.

The next place we went was also recommended by Trip Advisor – and was great. Kerry Park (which may end up being renamed for a more successful lib Senator someday – just kidding) is perched high above the city on Queen Anne’s Hill – part of the town I had never been to. The views were great, and then we went down the street to another small park that had commanding views of Puget Sound. We walked through some public gardens and marveled at the beautiful homes and the views.

(Weather update – I can see a patch of blue sky – I’m hoping for the best for today’s weather – seems like the fog is clearly, albeit slowly).

From there, we headed down to the Sculpture Gardens. The garden is right along the shoreline, and while the artwork wasn’t that interesting, the walking around was quite pleasant.

Given the East to West time zone thing, I had set an early dinner at Wild Ginger, an Asian Fusion restaurant recommended to me by my friend Randy Pepple. Dinner was great – the food is served so we can all share it, so we had some really good duck, seven flavor beef,chicken tai pad, and mandarin chicken. It was all tasty and plentiful. Our waiter was great – one of the top five I’ve ever had, so he received a generous tip. (You know the service is good when Torie says that I have to tip him well.)

(New weather update – scratch that about the fog – can still see some blue sky, but we’re rolling right back into more fog – visibility has been cut. There are some early risers up looking out on the fog – once I’m done blogging, I’m going outside again to revel in it.)

After that, it was back to the hotel and an early night to bed. It was a great day in Seattle – sunny, warm (80 degrees), and commanding views of Mt. Rainer. There are more things we would have liked to see (Lake Washington, Alki Beach, Chittenden Locks to name a few), but given that we had less than six hours for sightseeing, we made some good choices. I’m also glad I used points to get a rental car – gave us the ability to cover a LOT more ground quickly than walking/public transportation. We never would have got Queen Anne’s Hill, for instance. No doubt Seattle is a very pretty town.