Seattle Recap

It appears that I took a blogging hiatus last week. The hiatus was an effect of spending all weekend out of town, from 10PM on Friday to 10PM on Sunday, and trying to catch up on everything in the few short hours between getting home from Jazzercise and going to bed. I didn't write a single blog post, fold my clothes from the dryer, or check the mail, but I did manage to shower every day and pack a lunch almost every day, so I'm counting it as a win.

Shall we talk about Seattle?

{Get comfortable, this recap is a bit, ahem, detailed.}

SATURDAY:

To be perfectly honest, I planned the entire trip around where I wanted to eat in Seattle. Saturday morning, Noah & I took the light rail to an area south of Downtown Seattle to eat at Macrina Bakery. The prices were pretty steep, but the meal was so delicious. We both ordered the fried egg sandwich, and Noah said it was the best thing he ate all weekend.

After breakfast, we walked into the downtown area to take the underground tour of the city. I had heard that the 90-minute tour was a must-see. It was definitely a fun experience to learn so much of Seattle's founding and history. The tour guides are funny and good at what they do. The tour itself was a good time; I loved seeing all of the old items left underground.

We spent some time walking around Downtown Seattle, and I loved seeing all of the unique little landmarks. I spotted a beautiful garden with a waterfall and, after I entered, I saw that it was built to honor the people of UPS. Sort of weird, but definitely beautiful.

Next, we decided to explore Pike Place Market. It was lunch time, and I was determined to have macaroni and cheese from Beecher's Handmade Cheese. It was so divine. The marketplace was certainly lively with musicians performing and workers throwing fish. I loved seeing all the fresh flowers for sale. We ended up spending quite a bit of time in some independent bookstores in the area.

We left the market & took off for the Space Needle. We were using my iPhone's map for directions and walking and walking and walking. The map showed that we were practically right next to the Space Needle, but we still couldn't see it. It sort of just snuck up on us while we were talking about how it's probably a hoax. It definitely isn't.

At this point, it was time to have some birthday dinner. The Italian place where I had originally wanted to go was probably going to be a tad too fancy for our attire, so we scrapped that plan. Actually, we weren't even that hungry at this point, having stuffed ourselves with Beecher's Homemade Cheese not too many hours earlier. We spotted an AMC and decided to see a movie while we waited. What we had thought was just an AMC turned out to be a whole high-rise shopping center, complete with many restaurants. We decided to eat at this Mexican place after reviewing our choices on Yelp {thank you, iPhone}. Best decision ever.

After dinner, we headed back to the AMC to see The Lincoln Lawyer, which I really liked. I also really liked that, even though we were on a special trip to Seattle for my birthday, we still had a traditional dinner + movie date, too. 

SUNDAY:

So, I had read online about this toast. Apparently it is the most delicious toast that has ever been toasted in the world. How could this toast be so much more delicious than other toasts?, I asked myself. On Sunday, we took a ferry to an island to find out about this magic toast. Well, we actually walked to a light rail station and took the light rail to a station about 30 minutes away and then made a 20 minute walk to the ferry station. Except, the ferry had just left. We bought tickets for the next ferry, but we were so hungry from all the toast traveling we'd done so far that morning. We did some more walking to try to find a quick breakfast place to hold us over until we could eat the Magic Toast. Finally we were on the ferry to Bainbridge Island {Land of the Fabled Toast}. I just love being on ferries, don't you?

Bainbridge Island is such a wonderful place. Not only do they have Blackbird Bakery {where the toast is, as I can attest, more delicious than any other toasts that were ever toasted in the world}, but also tons of unique & beautiful boutiques and shops. I fell in love with a bookstore while I was there. Nothing can beat the marina, though. I just might retire right there.

We took the ferry back to Seattle and found a very authentic Chinese restaurant in the International District. We hurried through our lunch, because we were cutting it awfully close to our flight time. It was time to come home.

I am so grateful to my mom for giving me such an amazing birthday present.