Day 1

We had such a wonderful day in Seattle and to think it was a half day (after the easiest possible trip out here!). We arrived to our hotel around 12:45PM and admittedly were all famished having had only a handful of plane snacks. We’re staying at the Thompson hotel which is two blocks from Pike’s place market. We ended up in a room with the most beautiful view of Puget Sound. 

We walked down through the streets by the markets, passed the first ever Starbucks and several very popular bakeries. We grabbed lunch at a seafood place – Seatown market. Rawls and William shared a seafood basket and Rawls tried his first “squid” – a fan of the rings but not the leggies. S and I opted for Salmon burgers — really a Salmon filet. Very good!

After cleaning up and chilling for… a moment, we walked back down to Pike’s place market – beautiful flowers and fun stalls.

We walked father to Miner’s landing where Rawls picked two activities – a virtual reality ride “Wings over Washington” which took us on a “tour” of several places we’ll be visiting. It was actually really well done and all had fun. Afterwards we went on the Ferris wheel and while we were waiting, we saw one of the pods setup with formal settings / raw dishes / salads / bottles of white and red – and then the pod just kept going with out anyone going into it. We’re still confused. But we had fun seeing the city from the many vantage points of our Ferris Wheel pod!

We ended the day in an industrial / fishing area of Seattle where a fun strip of restaurants has opened (and adapted to the times with very creative outdoor seating everywhere). We had dinner with the boys at the Walrus and the Carpenter – amazing oysters (Rawls loved, Shepherd tried.. twice but not so much), grilled sardines, broccoli rabe, steak tartar.. ending with the most amazing dessert per Rawls (maple bread pudding). I left to visit the ladies room and upon returning, it was MIA 😉  Both boys were super adventurous and we had a great time.

Ending the day ogling at the amazing view from our room!

Day 2

Another full and fun day in Seattle hitting up the obvious spots to visit and some others.

I woke up on ET and killed time until the (original) Starbucks opened and headed to grab coffee for me and William. It does feel like they’ve kept the original setting largely in tact but the coffee options are v similar.

After the boys woke up, we walked back to this strip by Pikes Place market to bring some breakfast options back to the hotel. We went to Piroschky Piroschky first which has a line down the block when we’d walked by in the afternoon the previous day. Salmon Pate Piroschky, poppy seed cinnamon bun and white chocolate cherry tarts were delish! Because vaca we also visited the “very French patisserie” next door, Le Panier, where the boys picked out macarons “for later” and a couple almond croissants bc “dad’s favorite”.

When we were all fueled up for the day, we got out to explore all the things, staring with spending some more time in the markets around Pike’s place. Shepherd was gung Ho to visit the “gum alley” – so we did and it was as gross as you’d imagine.

But we loved seeing the many seafood, vegetable, bread and even cheese making spots.

After Pike’s we walked to the Olympic statue park along the Puget Sound (public art everywhere here)

After lunch at “boys choice” Zeeks pizza, it was time to visit the Space needle and Chihuly glass and gardens. The history of the Space needle was presented as you walked to the elevators. At the top, Shepherd discovered he was not loving the heights and especially the glass, rotating floor.

Great views though and we headed from here to the Chihuly galleries. Just utterly beautiful // especially loved the garden area and the boys enjoyed the glass making demonstration after the tour.

Short break at the hotel and we ended the day visiting the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. The gatekeeper of the neighborhood- the troll – was a quick visit on our way to the Fremont brewery (great spot across from the water with the most beautiful planters and – I suppose – good beer ;).

Dinner was at whale wins – and such a memorable family dinner. All enjoyed the spicy salmon starter, butter poached shrimp and the roasted chicken dish — especially loved shepherd proclaiming that clams are his new favorite food (green curry clams with pickled fiddlehead ferns)