After our adventures in Portland, we were thrilled to arrive in Washington! Seattle isn’t that rainy, or dreary, so don’t let that discourage you from a visit! Seattle has become one of my favorite cities, hands down, there are so many activities to do, and restaurants to try. There are so many positive elements going for Seattle, it is highly walkable, most days we didn’t even use the rental car and just walked around the city so that we wouldn’t have to deal with parking and traffic.
Pikes Place Market is an absolute must when you visit Seattle. Now one of the oldest continuously operating farmers markets in the country and one of the city’s most popular attractions (10 million people visit each year). Once upon a time though, Pike Place Market began with just eight farmers in 1907. Pike Place Market sprawls across nine acres, with 11 buildings and six levels of approximately 500 shops, restaurants, and vendor stalls. It can be a lot to take in. It is full of flower vendors, with brightly blooming bouquets, and crates of fresh produce being carefully arranged into pyramids. A sea of people rushes past, admiring the artisans that create glistening jewelry, glowing candles, and other delicate crafts. Meanwhile fishmongers in rubber boots and overalls toss freshly caught fish over the heads of the crowd and shovel ice into their displays. You can also find the infamous Gum Wall down a narrow staircase in Post Alley. Pikes Place Market is a loud, bustling crowd, everyone eager to explore the market. It can be easy to get lost here, but that’s entirely the point, in Pike Place Market, there’s no such thing as a wrong turn.
Obviously, since everyone is sleepless in Seattle, they rely heavily on their coffee. Pretty much any local coffee shop you visit will be amazing, and I highly recommend getting your daily dose of caffeine somewhere different everyday! The city also boasts the first Starbucks (which is right by Pikes Place Market, along with one of the prestigious Starbucks Reserve stores. Since I am a self-proclaimed Starbucks addict, I, of course, had to go visit! Be prepared to wait a in a long line for a coffee from the first Starbucks. With all the acclaim, commotion and the long wait, does the cup of coffee taste just a little better than usual? Not at all, but it is still delicious and refreshing! Getting a coffee experience at the Starbucks reserve is a tad expensive, but it’s worth a visit to watch other people get a five-star coffee experience by highly trained baristas.
Seattle has a lot of street art, and it’s beautifully enthralling. Keep your eyes peeled for beautiful pieces of art, you can visit this website to see where high concentrations of street art is throughout the city. There are a number of parks that will give you a view of Elliot Bay and the central city, such as Kerry Park, but a hidden gem is Gas Works Park, which will give you an unparalleled panoramic view of the skyline of Seattle.
If you want to visit somewhere magical, a place that shows the height of imagination of human mind. Then you will have to make time for the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. I have never seen such creative artworks constructed out of glass. There is a tremend
ous amount of variety, scale and lighting surrounding these elegant glass sculptures. Every room showcases a very different atmosphere, and there are small videos along the tour that detail the life of Chihuly and
his artwork. The gardens with glass and flowers contrasting and blending are also very relaxing, and provide a great view of the Space Needle. Keep an eye out for a blue glass ball in the garden that has a beautiful reflection of the Space Needle, it’s a neat experience.
The Space Needle is the iconic observation tower, and the tallest structure west of the Mississippi at 605 ft. This is a huge landmark, with elevators that catapult people up to the Observation Deck (520ft) at 10 miles an hour. The views at night are beautiful, and you get a complementary picture on the observation deck, so keep an eye out for that!
One thing I almost didn’t do was the Museum of Pop Culture, and I am SO glad I did. It was one of my favorite parts of the Seattle trip. MoPOP is right next door to the Space Needle, and is a MUST. The interactive exhibits change to fit the recent trends, but when I visited there were exhibits on Hello Kitty, Star Trek, the Fantasy genre, Horror movies, Sci-Fi and an entire room filled with indie video games that could be played. It was absolutely over the top, and incredibly revolutionary. I would gladly go back in a heartbeat.
Warm sunshine, energetic, chirping robins and longer days are all hallmarks of spring in the Pacific Northwest. But at the University of Washington, springtime can only mean one thing,
cherry blossoms. I, luckily, was able to see the Cherry Blossom trees in full bloom, with white and pink buds filling the campus. It’s an absolutely gorgeous sight and something everyone needs to see once. Bloom timing varies each year and depends mostly on the amount of daylight and consistency of temperatures. The Cherry Blossoms are expected to be in full bloom March 26th, 2017, so go ahead and book those plane tickets!
A fun day trip is taking a short ferry ride to Poulsbo, which is known as “Little Norway”. Paulso is a historic waterfront town, home to all things Scandinavian. The historic downtown is filled with boutiques, antiques, bookstores and lots of café drawing visitors. It’s a great place to go when it’s drizzling, because you can pop in and out of shops and restaurants, or play a few hands of blackjack at the casino. When the sun is shining, it’s a perfect day for an ice cream cone, and renting a kayak to paddle through Liberty Bay. The Bainbridge ferry is drive on or walk on, but we decided to drive on, since we were going to the airport directly after visiting the island. It is about a 20-minute drive from where the ferry drops you off to Poulsbo, so if you walk on, there is a bus that will take you there. Beware though, the lines to get onto the ferry get very, very long after about 3pm, so if you’re trying to catch a flight (like we were) don’t stress yourself out and try to do it the same day, or be sure you give yourself more time than you think you’ll need.
All in all, it was quite an adventure, and I have officially fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest. What else do you feel like is a must do in Seattle? Let us know!
XOXO,
Lexi
