Seattle can be a tricky place to write about for me this time around. I used to live in Seattle, so when I go to visit, I don't visit as if I was a tourist or seeing the city for the first time - although I make some stops that would count as a touristy thing to do. Instead, it consists of visiting spots I miss, places I haven't really been to before, or as it mostly was this trip, just time spent hanging out with friends.
I put a lot of thought into how I wanted to approach this post. Did I want to write about the touristy things to see, my favorite spots in the city, or just about what I do as I make my travels each time. And while I'm not sure what the best thing to do is, I decided I just wanted to write about my travels. And every once in a while I can reflect on other things and try to put together little itinerary things. For example, last year in Seattle I did an Olympic Peninsula road trip, and I think it'd be really fun to write about that in another post. But I thought I'd start with just this trip immediately so I can just talk about my experiences now as they happen.
The reason I decided to kick off my remote working journey in Seattle was mainly to be able to visit two of my closest friends as they celebrated some big events happening in their lives. One had a big birthday going on that she'd been planning for years and the other is getting married. So really, this visit was to spend time with friends and nothing else. Although, I still got to see new things and visit some of my favorite food spots.
The first thing up, was my friend's birthday. We drove out to Skykomish to stay in a cabin for the weekend. The drive we took was pretty scenic, with lots of cows. While staying in the cabin, we did some stargazing and hiked up to Lake Hope.
Then, back in the city, besides working during the week I just spent time going to dinner with my friend and playing video games. Read about my days exploring while working remotely in my "Week One of Working Remotely" blog post. In it, I talk about how my friend works out in Bellevue for the Pokemon Company. And so getting to see that office was a highlight. Another was watching the Blue Angels practice. This is something that I've seen multiple times before. They come every year for Seafair! And although I didn't go to any other Seafair events this time around, if you're ever in Seattle at the end of July/beginning of August, that's something to check out! There's all kinds of activities that go on around the city, especially of boating and water activities.
After spending time with that friend, i went to go stay with my friend who was getting married. We did much more exploring of the city. The first night with her, I got to go on a tour around the Amazon Campus and Spheres, which totally blew me away. Everything in that campus is so fun and there are ways to just throw ideas down somewhere on almost every wall of that building, even the elevators have white boards in them! We then went and did an escape room - and yes, we did escape!
The next day we went down to the University of Washington Waterfront Activities Center and rented a rowboat. Three of us and a small dog fit in it and it was so nice and relaxing, and we got some exercise in from it. We saw an Osprey, some geese, lots of dragonflies and lily pads. It's a pretty good deal down there. It cost us just $12 total for the rowboat that we could have stayed on for the whole day if we wanted at no extra cost. Because Seafair was going on then, we were restricted to staying in just the reserve area of Union Lake. But on other days, you can go and explore more. They rent out kayaks and canoes too. We then went to grab a late lunch over at Rachel's Ginger Beer at University Village which was nice and refreshing after a day out in the sun.
The rest of the week was spent with visiting different parks, bars, another escape room - there's so many options in Seattle! - wedding dress shopping, catching up with other friends, and of course lots of food! I'll talk about some of the different places we visited that I think are worth mentioning.
Volunteer Park - It's a nice park out in the Capitol Hill area. We went there in order to try to visit the Volunteer Park Conservatory, but we were too late, they close at 4! However, while walking through the park, we found a nice little pond, a dahlia garden and a piano for people to play! I think the piano isn't always there though and it's a little summer program where pianos are put in different parks throughout the city for a few weeks. There were also a few art installations that we saw being set up as that night there was going to be an art festival going on.
Kerry Park - As famous a place this is, this was actually my first time going here. It's hidden up back near the South Lake Union area and it's not exactly a park. But what it is known for is it's gorgeous views of the city skyline and the water. I personally like the view from Gasworks or Alki better, being right next to the water, but it's a nice place to go and snap a picture from up above. Those two other places just mentioned, I didn't visit on this trip, but go check those out if you're in Seattle - and maybe I will write a blog post more specifically about spots to visit in Seattle.
The Nest (bar) - This was my first time to this bar too! But it came highly recommended from several of my friends who still live there. It's a rooftop bar near the waterfront. So you get gorgeous views of the Waterfront. It also felt like this somewhat classy bar but you could dress as casually as you wanted. There was an outdoor area and an indoor area. The indoor area though does have huge windows that still give you that view. And you can make a reservation here that does put you at a table that's a bit more private in the outdoor area. But those reservations have to be made weeks in advance and they come with a $50 fee. But reservations aren't required, there was still a lot of space for us to find a spot and relax to enjoy our drinks and get a nice view too. The drinks are a bit pricey here though, but I'd say it was worth it.
Flatstick Pub (bar) - This place is much more reasonably priced and it was huge. We started on the side with the bar and restaurant area where it feels like a sports bar environment. We got pizza, garlic fries and some beer. Their beer selection is pretty nice and vast. Then we went over to the game side. There were all types of games to play, table ones, giant jenga and even a mini golf course. It's a very cool concept and the mini golf was super fun! There are 9 holes and they do get harder as you go along and you can carry your drinks around with you as you play.
And now for the food, these are about my favorites, they're places I always want to go back to each time I visit. I didn't get to all my favorites, but these are some. (Sorry! I didn't get pictures of all the food. I'll try to be better about that)
Un Bien - This is my absolute must go. If you're ever in Seattle and you thought, I only have one place to try food at, this would be my suggestion. It's Caribbean styled sandwiches. They're most well known for their pulled pork sandwich but I usually get the chicken one. They're all good! A lot of people are surprised by the kick of the jalapenos though, so if you don't like spicy, make sure you ask for it without jalapenos. But I love the kick. The location in Ballard is in the middle of a residential area and so when trying to find it, if you're surrounded by houses, don't worry, you're in the right place. This does make it a little out of the way if you're trying to just hit tourist spots, but it's well worth it. The restaurant originally used to be Paseos which you can still find in Fremont. And both restaurants have a similar menu, but there was a dispute about ownership a few years ago and thus Un Bien was made by the original owners. Paseos is in the middle of a residential area too, so it's not more convenient, but if one was easier to get to than the other, and you don't care much about who owns which business, you could check that out instead.
Molly Moons - This is another one of my absolute must go tos. It's an ice cream shop local to Seattle. They have unique flavors and make their own waffle cones. Just their ice cream alone is a reason they're my favorite, but they also team up with a lot of non-profits and local businesses. You'll notice they sell Chukar Cherries - another local business and their mint chocolate flavor is called Scout Mint and uses Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies. Those are just examples of some of their collaborations, they do all sorts of other cool things that you can read about in their newsletters, or I'm sure if you ask at one of the shops, they'll tell you all about it. The line is always long at any of their locations, but it moves fast and it's well worth it.
Salt and Straw - This ice cream shop is originally from Portland and I personally like Molly Moons better, but I know others who say this is their favorite. We went to one out in Ballard. If you go to that location you can walk down the street and just go through all the little unique shops there.
Katsu Burger - They're a burger shop that generally makes their burgers with Katsu (food breaded with Japanese breadcrumbs and fried) Besides the unique burgers, they also have three different french fries to choose from - Nori, Sea Salt, and Curry. And numerous kinds of dipping sauces from you to choose from too.
That wraps up all I have to write about this trip to Seattle. But leave a comment or message me if you have any questions and/or want me to do a post about anything more specific. Any type of feedback would be appreciated! Otherwise, stay tuned as I continue my travels and figure out how I want to post :) Thanks for reading!
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