Seattle

For my boyfriend's 23rd birthday, I booked a short trip for us to go to Seattle. We've always wanted to go but finally decided to book this trip for January during my winter break.

Flying from SMF to SeaTac.

Prior to our trip, we received a lot of recommendations from friends and family. One thing we decided on was to not rent a car since we were staying fairly close to downtown Seattle. Parking per night was $30/night at our hotel and we heard it would be hard to get around in a car anyway so we decided to use the Link Light Rail, Uber, and our feet.

From the airport, follow the signs for the Link Light Rail. Once you arrive, buy your tickets from the machine and get on. It is $3.25/person for each way. Although there wasn't an attendant when you hopped on the light rail, during one of the stops, they came in and checked everyone's tickets. The trip is about 50 minutes each way so plan accordingly. Pictured above are all the stops from SeaTac to the last stop,Westlake, which was our stop.

Us on the link light rail. After we got off the Link Light Rail, we walked about half a mile to our hotel. Our hotel was about 10 blocks away from the Pike Place Market.

Because we arrived late, we decided to grab dinner, a snack, and walk around for a bit before heading back to our hotel to rest for a busy day tomorrow.

We ate burgers at a little hole in the wall mom and pop joint called Lil Woody's. It was so good! I ate my whole entire burger before Tim finished his and that doesn't happen often! After that, we stopped at this cute little crepe place and shared dessert.

The Pike Market is pretty dead at night besides some hidden bars. We just walked around to see how it looked like. It reminded me a lot of San Francisco's Pier 39 without the fishy smell.

The Seattle Great Wheel was such a beautiful sight from afar!

Up close.

The lady at the front desk of our hotel gave us this map and circled some routes and places for us. The next morning, I attempted to take us to Kerry Park via bus and failed miserably so we called for an Uber.

$4 later, we got dropped off at Kerry Park. Kerry Park is a park with a beautiful view of the Space Needle. It drizzled a bit and because we were so early, there weren't many people there.

Us at Kerry Park :)

After Kerry Park, we took an Uber to try this dumpling place called Din Tai Fung that was recommended by everyone who had ever been to Seattle and it was the BEST thing ever.

We read reviews and heard that the wait is usually VERY long to get in so we got here before it opened at 10 and waited in a short line. Best decision ever to do that because when we were done eating, there was a long line waiting to get in. Pictured above are workers making the dumplings right in front of you.

While we were waiting in line, they gave us these sheets so we can have an idea of what we wanted to order. We marked them and handed them to our server.

Best. Dumplings. Ever.

7 months later and I STILL crave for Din Tai Fung.

On our way back to the hotel from Din Tai Fung to meet our friends, the sun wanted to peek out and we had a nice view of the Space Needle.

Best friend joining us in Seattle!

Piroshky Piroshky is a popular Russian Bakery at the Pike Place Market. It is located next to the "first" Starbucks.The line was insanely long but we waited and got our pastries. It was so good!

Starbucks in hand and walking around the Pike Market.

Us four!

We visited the infamous Gum Wall. It was amazingly cool and disgusting all at the same time.

Birthday boy leaving his germs on the most disgusting wall ever. :)

This wall was scraped clean not too long ago but as you can see, tourists didn't let that keep them from sticking gum and building the wall again.

I booked the four of us on a food tour so that we can try a little bit of everything and it was one of the best things we did. There are so many food tours but we went through Savor Seattle Tours. Pictured above is the BFF and I with delicious Clam Chowder from Pike's Place Chowder in Post Alley.

Side note: If you ever decide to split up with friends and plan to meet somewhere later on, do not say "Let's meet at Post Alley". I feel like everywhere I turned, there was a sign that said Post Alley.

Here is a picture of us and our food tour guide Justin Oba. He was a fantastic tour guide and you could really tell that he is passionate about Seattle's Pike Place Market and he really knew he stuff! He was funny and kept the group in good spirits.

Seattle's weather is SO unpredictable. At one point, it started pouring out of no where.

Here is the four of us at the end of our food tour.

After resting from our food tour, we went to dinner to celebrate the birthday boy. We had dinner at Dahlia Lounge. A kind of expensive restaurant with delicious duck and crab cakes.

Us four :)

Birthday boy!

This duck was SO delicious.

Yummy crab cakes.

I think donuts are popular in Seattle. Everywhere we went, they kept gifting us donuts for Tim's birthday.

Happy birthday to my boo!

On this night, we decided to ride the great wheel. It was like $15/person.

The view was spectacular!

After this, we walked to the Columbia Center in light drizzle so that we could go up to the Sky View Observatory. This was one of my favorite places. The view was just SO amazing. $9 with student ID and you can just buy it on the first floor in a kiosk. The guy didn’t check our IDs when we got up top but maybe have one person carry one just in case.

The views were just magnificent.

After Sky View Observatory, we went to a hole in the wall bar called Radiator Whiskey to grab some beers and chill. They are known for their pig head that you have to order in advanced. This place was very hidden up on the second story. If you are looking for a small bar area to drink and snack, try this place. It did get very hot in there though.

On our last morning, we went to the Space Needle.

My sister made reservations for us to have brunch here and it was really nice. I enjoyed our meal and it wasn't super expensive. The only thing about how early it was, was that it was a bit cloudy so we didn't have a great view to start. It eventually cleared up.

I can't remember where we got sticky notes from but we would write little notes and stick it on the glass and see everyone else's notes as the Space Needle was spinning. It was so neat.

After brunch at the Space Needle.

After the Space Needle, I knew we only had time for one thing, either the Chihuly Garden & Glass or the EMP Museum. If I had the choice, I probably would have gone on both but time was not on our side that day. We had a flight to catch shortly and had to choose so we chose the EMP Museum. It was $22 to get in. I enjoyed this place so much but barely took any pictures. There were different exhibits such as Sci-Fi, StarTrek, Fantasy, Music, and more. It was SO fun and everything was interactive. Here are a few pics but not nearly enough to describe my experience. We easily spent two hours in there before rushing back for one more bowl of clam chowder and to pack up. We really enjoyed this place.

That's my face :)

The scream room.

After the EMP Museum, we grabbed chowder, back to grab our luggage, and headed to SeaTac via the Link Light Rail to catch our flight.

Our trip to Seattle was so much fun and one to remember for sure. It was a great experience and I even told my boyfriend that if I could drag every one of my friends and family there, I wouldn't mind moving there :) I look forward to planning my next trip to Seattle and experiencing even more!

Here are some additional suggestions from my experience besides the pictured and discussed above. Also some recommendations from friends and family as well.

Packing:

Layer up. Every outfit of mine was literally: Inner shirt, a light sweater or cardigan, weather/rain proof jacket with a hood, and a scarf. Do not forget comfy walking boots that are also waterproof. Rain comes n goes around there and happens out of no where. I recommend carrying a crossbody or backpack because you do pick up some little things or just to carry water and stuff. Bring pepper spray just in case. I walked around a lot at night and you’re in the city. You never know what can happen. I didn’t use an umbrella and I was perfectly fine because it was never heavy periods of rain.

Food:

Din Tai Fung:

So good it's worth mentioning again.

Lola’s

Serious Pie

Tap House Grill:

Has over 160 beers on tap.

Ellenos Real Greek Yogurt:

If you like Greek yogurt and want a snack, this place is SO good. It was part of our food tour and we all scarfed it down. It’s right across from the fish toss place in the corner.

Beecher’s Cheese:

Must try their Mac N Cheese AND grilled cheese.

Pike’s Place Chowder in Post Alley:

I liked their basic new England chowder. There’s 2 of these “Pike Place Chowders”. One is in the mall by like 4th or 5th street and there’s this one. I liked the one at post alley.

Etta’s or Rub with Love Shack:

Our food tour guide took us here for crab cakes. I imagine it’s expensive dining here but I had their crab cakes and I enjoyed it!

Pear Delicatessen and Shoppe:

This was one of the last stops at our food tour and we tried sandwiches from here. They were delicious!. They also have a lot of beers and the boys downed theirs real fast. I also brought home really good caramels from here as souvenirs and everyone enjoyed them.

Things to do

Fremont troll

Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Lee graves

“Ride the Ducks” tour of downtown Seattle

Everyone in Seattle recommended for us to go to Capitol Hill for the night life for people around our age (20s-30s). They weren’t lying either. It was PACKED PACKED PACKED on a Saturday.

Some bars/dancing/club scenes:

Rhino Room

Unicorn

There’s a bunch of bars around there within walking distance

DO NOT GO TO STOUT – rude people but it wasn’t packed

One place to definitely stop by in Capitol Hill is the Starbucks Reserve Roastery & Tasting Room

They have Starbucks coffee beans here that are made just here and it’s very different then the other. It’s cool to watch too.

If you decide to go to Seattle, check some of these places out!

#Seattle #PikePlaceMarket