A Long Weekend in Seattle

Bestest Friend and I spent a long weekend in Seattle - we met up at the airport on Friday morning and she left on Monday morning (I spent the whole of Monday at the airport, but pretend that never happened). 

I'm going to condense this because is there anything more boring than somebody else's trip, but here's what we did if you're interested in the TL;DR version. I'll go into all the details below.

*****************

Friday
Seattle Aquarium - Okay. Maybe I wouldn't normally pay that price for what it is, but it was fine. 
Public Market - This place is so much fun. Very crowded, so be prepared for that. 

Saturday
Underground Tour - Eh. Bestest Friend and I are bad at guided tours. LOL. Maybe it was our fault more than the fault of the tour. 
Seattle Center - What a beautiful area to wander around. 
Permanent jewelry - So much fun. 

Sunday
Whale watching tour - Really fun!
Fremont Market - Very impressive!
Gas Works Park - Beautiful!

*****************

Accommodations

We stayed with our friend Jason. Jason went to Bowling Green with us and if you can stay with Jason, I would recommend it 10/10. His condo is beautiful, he gave us explicit instructions on transit, and he gave us a list of things to do every day. He had Perrier for me every morning. He has a million board games and owns more scarves than I do. He is the perfect host.

*****************

Getting Around

Transit in Seattle is amazing. We took light rail from downtown and then busses everywhere we went. Google maps has amazing instructions, so we didn't even need a separate app. We bought an Orca card ($3) at the light rail station and then put $20 on it to get through the weekend. $30 would have been even better!

*****************

What We Did

We met at baggage claim! It took forever to get bags. I wore a mask most of the time when I was in the airport or on a plane because it was so crowded. 

Seattle Aquarium - $54.95

There's an octopus! And sea lions! And giant manta rays. This was fine. I thought it was kind of expensive, though, for what it was. And it was very crowded. As someone who is still currently of the "we're in a middle of a pandemic" mindset, this was a challenge. I am not sure I'd highly recommend it, but if you're into marine biology, it's fun. 

Pike Place Market - This is the place where they throw the fish, you know? It's a warren of hundreds of restaurants, shops, buskers, and entertainment. We just kept ending up here and finding new places to eat and shop and admire. It's right on the water and only a couple of blocks from the bus stops downtown and I was so glad we spent as much time here as we did. 

In the middle is Jason, our host. In all photos of me with Jason, I am closing my eyes. It's just a thing. 

There is a skywalk between the top of the Ocean Pavilion of the Aquarium and Pike's Place Market that has breathtaking views of the city. We were there when the weather was TOP NOTCH and the sky was blue and the temps were in the mid-70s with no humidity. There are NO BUGS in Seattle, so I didn't even worry about not having any bug spray on me.

Taken from on top of the Ocean Pavilion. 

Beneath the Streets Underground Tour - roughly $32 a person

So, there was a fire and original Seattle burned down. They wanted to rebuild, so they did crazy things like building on top of existing foundations. That means that in the oldest part of Seattle, there are underground tunnels that were original Seattle streets. That sounds cool, doesn't it? Unfortunately, this is tour guide dependent and our tour guide just wasn't as amazing as he could have been.

Okay, this is a cool fact. These are leftover skylights from the underground. They were clear at one time, but the sunlight has turned them purple. They're so cool and now if you see them on Seattle streets, you'll know what they are. 

She looks like she's going on a real expedition here. 

Seattle Center - This area of the city is where the Space Needle is, as well as a couple of other museums and the International Fountain. There were street vendors and a concert going on when we were there and it was fun to just hang out in the wide green spaces and see people coming together in community. We didn't go into any of the museums or anything, but it's very pretty.

Storica Studio - Ever since Stephany wrote about getting permanent jewelry with her book club, I've been wanting to do it. Bestest Friend and I had a couple of hours to kill and I sort of jokingly said we could get bracelets and she was so excited to do it! We made an appointment at Storica Studio and were there in half an hour. 

This wasn't cheap, but Nina, the lady who welded them on for us, said it should last 18-24 months. I guess we'll see! I'll obviously update you when I break it because you know I will break it. 

We took a photo with Nina. Of course we did. 

Whale watching tour - $137

We were out on a deluxe ship for four hours watching whales. There was a naturalist on board telling us where to look and about the different marine mammals. Huge thumbs up. Definitely worth the price of admission. There was a dog named Motown on board.

There are sea lions on that buoy. 

It was no one's fault but my own, but I was underdressed. It was chillier on the water and I was wearing a dress and my duster, but I was just not warm enough. I should have packed a pair of leggings, but I did not and I would have enjoyed this more if I had some leggings, but that's my fault, not theirs. 

Fremont Market 

The Sunday Market in Fremont is hundreds of vendors selling vintage, homemade, and kitsch. We had so much fun.  We got there with only about forty-five minutes to wander around and I wish we had left ourselves a bit more time. 

Gas Works Park 

I have to admit that we were pretty exhausted when it was suggested we go to Gas Works Park. But we were assured that the view was amazing and that it would be worth the effort. I was so glad we did. This park used to be the site of a gasification plant and you can see the industrial remains still. There's a big hill with glorious views.

*****************

Eating

Just picture me doing this the whole time

We ate a lot at Pike's Place. Three standouts are The Crumpet Shop, Jack's Fish and Chips, and Mee Sum Pastry. 

Crumpets. I legit ate most of that. I think Bestest Friend ate maybe 1.5 of those crumpets.

We ate dinners at a Mexican restaurant (where we had dinner with Jason's friends - is there anything more that I like to do than bring straight Midwestern lady energy to a gay man's birthday party? I'm sparing you the photos, but I think you all know exactly what it looked like) and a Thai place that were both good, but I do not have their names. We ate seafood at a place called Chinook's the last night we were there and the seafood chowder was to die for.

Mixed reviews on Biscuit Bitch, but I did eat that biscuit like I hadn't had carbs in years, so if you're willing to wait AN HOUR for biscuits, give it a shot. The crumpet place is better, though.

I did not have bad food in Seattle. 

*****************

There was an incident where we got to a bus stop and there were fire trucks and an ambulance. Some guy had ODed and we watched them Narcan him. He came to, refused treatment, they all left, and he ambled off. All of this happened in the eight minutes we were waiting for a bus.

There are a lot of unhoused people in Seattle, especially in the downtown area. They all seemed polite and reasonable to me, but you should know that going in. 

*****************

Have you ever been to Seattle? What's your favorite thing to do there? If you haven't, what would you like to see there?