I had so much fun on my first trip to Washington. Check out all the fun things we did in Seattle!
Seattle was stop #5 on my road trip with Kyle to our new home in Dayton, Ohio. Follow along on our 2 1/2-week road trip by clicking the links below:
Stop 1: Destin, Florida
Stop 2: Tampa, Florida
Stop 3: Harry Potter World and Orlando, Florida
Stop 4: Charleston, South Carolina
Stop 5: Seattle, Washington
Stop 6: Orcas Island, Washington
Stop 7: Our new home in Dayton, Ohio
Prefer to watch our visit to Seattle?
This was my first trip to Washington, so I was super psyched when Kyle suggested we add a flight to Washington on our road trip to Dayton. We traveled coast to coast from Charleston to Seattle and to say I was unprepared for the weather would be an understatement.
DAY ONE
We had a direct flight to Seattle, but it was later in the day, so we got there a little late. For us, it was even later because we lost three hours traveling from Charleston.
After checking in to our hotel, we met up with Kyle’s sister, Emmy, and one of her friends at a place called North Star Diner. On one side of the building is a bar with some pinball machines, and they do karaoke. On the other side is a traditional-ish diner.
We all ordered drinks, and I was starving and craving Asian food, so I ordered the special, which was a shrimp and kimchi pancake. I was so mad when I finished eating because I wanted so much more. Really, it should have come with two. Seriously, delish.
DAY TWO
We woke up super early the next day to meet up with my friend, Dann. If you’ve been following my blog since last year, you know that I worked on a cruise ship for about ten months. During that time, I met Dann who became my ship bestie, and we wreaked havoc all over the Carnival Elation. It was fun times. I was so excited to get to reunite with him in Washington. I made sure Kyle and I planned our trip around when Dann’s ship would be in port so we could hang out.
We picked Dann up from the port around 8 am, and the three of us went to breakfast at Cafe Campagne. It’s a French bistro that’s located right outside of Pike Place Market. Kyle and I both had mimosas, and for breakfast, I had the crab quiche, which was pretty tasty.
After breakfast, we walked around Pike Place Market, which is one of the oldest farmers’ markets in the U.S. It’s located on the waterfront, and you can find all sorts of food, handmade goods, flowers, spices, artwork and so much more. Kyle bought me a sunflower and we also bought a couple oils for bread dipping as a gift for Emmy and her partner, Wendy.
When we were done wandering through the booths at Pike Place Market, we walked over to the Olympic Sculpture Park, which was less than extraordinary, but some pieces were really neat.
Located near Pike Place Market is the famous Gum Wall. It’s absolutely disgusting, and I’ll likely never go there again on future visits, but I suppose it’s cool to say I did it once. I bought a pack of gum, and we all chewed our pieces, blew some bubbles and stuck our gum on the wall. So unsanitary, but also very colorful.
Dann and I have a tradition of going to breweries when we get together, but we couldn’t find a proper one with regular tours. Most of the ones I looked up just had bar tops and places for you to sit and drink. We had to settle for Pike Brewery where we just grabbed a couple drinks and chatted. I got the market mule, which literally just tasted like pink lemonade. It would have been dangerous if I had time to stay for more than one because it was so sweet and good, and the alcohol was masked very well.
Our last stop with Dann was to Piroshky Piroshky. This is also located near Pike Place Market. Almost every article and blog post I read about Seattle said this was a must stop, and I definitely understand why. We got a potato and mushroom piroshky and an apple cinnamon piroshky. Both were phenomenal.
After dropping Dann off back at the port, Kyle and I went to the Space Needle. If I ever go back to Seattle, I think I’d want to go again because apparently I didn’t get the full experience. 1) It was under renovation, so most of the neat things to do up high weren’t available and were replaced with unfinished floors, and 2) it was really smokey from the fires that had been happening at the time, so in addition to the fog, the views were also smokey. I still had a great time though.
Chihuly Garden and Glass was the highlight of Seattle and our next stop after the Space Needle. I knew nothing about Chihuly prior to this trip, and I went in with zero expectations. Even weeks later, I’m still in awe of the incredible pieces of artwork we saw at this exhibit. Everything was absolutely gorgeous.
When we left Chihuly, we met up with Emmy, who works at Amazon, so we got to go inside the Amazon Spheres, which was so neat! I had no idea these even existed. The Spheres are basically a work space for Amazon employees, and it’s also home to over 40,000 plants from over 30 countries. It was beautiful to walk through, and I’m envious that I don’t have a work space like that to use for blogging. While the space is mostly just for use by Amazon employees, they do do tours two days every month. If you want to learn more about the space, there’s also an Understory, which is a museum that’s open to the public.
After our tour of the spheres, Emmy took us to Amazon Go where we got to shop without having to go to a check-out counter or cashier. Kyle and I shared a bag, but somehow it could tell which items belonged to who based on who picked them up. I don’t understand the technology, and I’m still baffled.
We enjoyed some Moscow mules at a nearby restaurant called Kiki Ramen before Emmy took us on a driving tour to see a couple sites before dinner. We passed by the Lennon Statue and a giant troll statue that’s under a bridge.
Emmy took us to her neck of the woods in Ballard where we had dinner a spot called The Walrus and the Carpenter. What was neat about this restaurant is that everything is built into your bill, including taxes and gratuity, so you don’t have to stress about leaving a tip since it’s already done for you. What I appreciated about this is that even though the tip is already built in, it didn’t take away from the service we received. Our server was super friendly and attentive, and the food was so freakin’ good. To drink, I, of course, had a Moscow mule, and to eat, we got some bread and butter to start then had some cheese (because y’all know how much I love cheese), an assortment of oysters and some steamed clams. It was basically the perfect meal.
We walked off the incredible meal with a walking tour of Ballard. Emmy showed us some of her favorite spots and talked a little bit about how the area has changed. Our last stop was to Locust Cider where we all picked a cider to try then we took turns played Super Mario 3 on Super Nintendo.
It was such a jam-packed day. I honestly don’t know how I survived without a nap.
DAY THREE
We started the day with breakfast at 5 Spot. It’s a cute little restaurant that’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. What’s neat about it is that they change up the theme of the restaurant every season, and I’m not just talking about their menu. They also change up their decor too, which I thought was pretty cool. The theme when we went was New Mexico, and some of their decor featured aliens, including some recognizable cartoons.
After breakfast, we went to MoPop, aka the Museum of Pop Culture. We paid extra so we could go to the temporary Marvel exhibit, which was 100% worth it because it was my favorite part of the entire museum. We spent the most time here and for good reason because there was so much to see.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go to every single exhibit, but the ones we did go to were extremely well done. Besides the Marvel exhibition (because nothing can compare, obvs), the Scared to Death exhibit was a highlight for me. It took you behind the scenes of horror films and characters. I love scary movies, even though I’m also a big chicken, and this exhibit was so interesting and well done.
Other exhibits we visited were Fantasy, where you learned about magical worlds in films and books like The Wizard of Oz, Princess Bride, Narnia and more; Nirvana, which would be interesting for big Nirvana fans, and while I like some songs by Nirvana, the history behind their success wasn’t super exciting to me because I didn’t grow up listening to them; and Science Fiction, which was not as interesting to me as I thought it would be, but I think I learned that I’m not as big of a nerd as I thought I was. Even though not much interested me in the Science Fiction exhibit, I appreciated how awesome the room was set up. Honestly, every exhibit in this museum is so well done, and I hope to go back and visit some of the ones I didn’t get to see on this trip.
Our last day in Seattle was a short one because we had to catch the ferry to Orcas Island, and we didn’t have any kind of reservation. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of our trip to Orcas Island, but it was amazing, and I can’t wait to share that trip with y’all next!
Have you ever traveled to Seattle?
