What a great weekend I just had! Kevin and I visited Seattle and I loved every minute of our time there. The weather was perfect and the scenery was amazing! This was my first time visiting a western state other than California and my love for that part of the country just keeps growing deeper.
{friday}
We were aiming to leave on a flight in the early afternoon but due to some storms in the area we were delayed until late in the evening and didn’t arrive at our hotel until around 12:30 AM which is 2:30 AM Chicago time. We stayed at the Hilton Seattle which was right downtown so was in walking distance to most of the places we visited.
{saturday}
We started our morning by making the short walk to Pike Place Market.
Thanks to the recommendation of Kristin we stopped at Ellenos to grab some greek yogurt for breakfast. This yogurt was thick and seriously tasted like cheesecake. It was so so good! I don’t know that I can ever eat any other kind of yogurt again! We shared two flavors: lemon curd and marionberry.
With our yogurt in hand, we proceeded to walk around the market to see all it had to offer. We stopped at the fish market where they are famously known for throwing the fish. We saw several fish being thrown but I never was able to snap a good picture.
The market offered tons of fresh produce and we were able to sample some white peaches and pink lady apples which were crisp and delicious.
The flowers were also beautiful and only $1 per stem! Gorgeous sunflowers and dahlias were in full bloom and the arrangements were gorgeous. I wish I could’ve taken some home with me!
At the market we also visited the original Starbucks location. The line for coffee was ridiculously long so we decided not to wait but it was still fun to see the original Starbucks.
We picked up a coffee from another local spot in the market and then headed down to the piers to take a ferry ride across the Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island.
The ferry ride takes about 35 minutes and has great views of the city! It only costs $8 round trip so is definitely worth doing.
Once across the sound, we had about an hour to explore the town of Winslow before heading back on the ferry. The town was full of a cute shops and restaurants.
We walked through their farmer’s market eyeing the gorgeous produce and found the most delicious homemade coconut ice cream!
We picked up lunch from a local cafe and ate on the ferry ride back to Seattle.
If you looks closely you can see Mt. Rainier way off in the distance.
Back in Seattle, our next stop was to see the famous gum wall. It was kind of cool yet disgusting at the same time. Although we did not add any contributions to the wall, I did manage to step in some gum…so there was that.
Next we decided to walk to see the Olympic Sculpture Park which is park of the Seattle Art Museum.
We spent a few minutes walking around looking at the art before heading to see the Space Needle.
Once we got to the Space Needle, the line was really long to actually go up in it so we opted to stay on the ground and look up instead of out.
There is a monorail that links the Space Needle to downtown so we rode that back to our hotel to charge our phones and pick up the rental car to explore some other areas.
Our first stop was about a 15 minute drive from downtown to see the Fremont Troll. This troll was an art project that was part of an attempt to restore the area that was becoming an area for drug dealers.
From there we walked under the Fremont Bridge to see Lake Union which was a beautiful area lined with houseboats. I could’ve stayed there forever.
Just a short drive away is Gas Works Park. The park is located on Lake Union and was created from an old gas manufacturing plant. The park itself provides great views of the city and was full of people out enjoying the beautiful day.
Another thing that was so awesome about Seattle is the leaves were already starting to change colors on the trees!
We continued our drive exploring a few other areas like Ballard which was full of trendy restaurants. We also drove through Capitol Hill which is home to Seattle University.
At this point, we were hungry for dinner so we visited Dahlia Lounge which is one of Seattle’s popular restauranteur, Tom Douglas’, spots. As of a couple weeks ago I have decided to eat vegetarian so I opted for the heirloom tomato salad and zucchini fritters for my meal while Kevin opted for the oysters and halibut. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals.
After dinner we headed back to the market area and stopped in The Pike Brewing Co. where Kevin tried one of their IPAs before heading back to the hotel for the night.
{sunday}
We didn’t have a whole lot of time on Sunday since I had an early afternoon flight home. Thanks to Lauren‘s recommendation, we had brunch at Lola which is a sister restaurant to the place we had dinner and happened to be right across the street. I ordered the heirloom tomato scramble which had dill and feta and came with bacon (I gave to Kevin) and smashed potatoes.
Kevin ordered the Tom’s Big Breakfast which had grilled octopus and corn. He loved it!
After brunch we walked around the city centre and did a little window shopping before it was time to head to the airport.
I absolutely loved our time in Seattle! The city itself was very clean and easily accessible by walking everywhere. The city felt very calm and peaceful which I loved. It reminded me of a less hilly San Francisco which is one of my favorite cities! The scenery was gorgeous and the weather was perfect! I would love to go back and explore more of Washington after this trip.
Mary says
Looks like a fabulous weekend! Love all the pictures!
Paige says
Thanks, Mary!!
xo Paige
Erin Alexander says
Yay! Looks like you had tons of fun! I think the ferry is one of my favorite things to do! And that apple sign is correct Honeycrisp apples are the best in the whole world, but they are WAY better on my side of state! The orchard down the street from my house sells them for .90/lb! I stock up every year!
Paige says
Erin – we LOVED Seattle! And .90/lb for apples?? I wish that was the price of Honeycrisps here in IL!
xo Paige