Extra(ordinary) Days in Seattle

I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed in Seattle. After Vancouver Island, we drove to Seattle for a few days to close out our west coast trip. We talked through a basic plan for the first day, which included several must-see tourist sites. It began with a visit to the famous Pike Place Market, a destination for 10 million people each year. But when we got there, I just wasn’t feeling it.

Tourists watching fish throwing

I’d been to Seattle twice before- once, during my solo trip around the country at age 19, and a second time five years ago for a work conference. I went to Pike Place both times and liked it enough- there are hundreds of businesses, great food, gorgeous flowers, interesting people to watch. It’s a vibrant place. But on this day, it felt crowded, touristy, and completely overwhelming. There seemed to be more tourists than locals and everyone was jostling to take photos. When I saw the very first Starbucks- and the twenty people outside taking photos of it- I practically tripped over myself running in the opposite direction.

Seattle seems to attract a lot of hardcore backpackers

After a half-hearted attempt at touring the market, we met up with a friend for lunch at Purple Cafe & Wine Bar. The restaurant’s patrons were primarily locals on their lunch break and it was a relief to settle into a calmer environment for a delicious meal and good conversation.

Purple’s wine collection

During lunch we asked our friend, Sarah, for advice on what to do while we were in the city. She quickly listed a few things, but said “Seattle doesn’t have a lot of touristy things to do per se, but it’s a great city and you should just walk around and enjoy it.” And as simple as that, we discarded our plans and reset our thinking, and from that point on everything changed.

Sometimes when I travel I feel guilty if I don’t visit all of the recommended sights. I fear that I’m missing out on something or that I’ll regret it after I return home. Seattle has some amazing tourist attractions (the Space Needle, the Seattle Aquarium, Experience Music Project, Olympic Sculpture Park, etc.), but by doing our own thing, we were able to discover the real Seattle in a more organic way.

After lunch, Sarah suggested we stop by the Seattle Public Library since it was only a couple of blocks away. She insisted that it was a site to behold, and while going to the library wasn’t exactly what we had in mind for the day, we shrugged ‘why not’ and wandered over. I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was stunning. World-class-museum stunning (I’ll be dedicating a blog post to it next week!). We tiptoed around quietly gawking and clandestinely taking photos, but it turned out we didn’t need to sneak and we weren’t alone. Throughout the building we found other people standing and staring in amazement at a door, a wall, a ceiling.

Over the few days we had in Seattle, we discovered an aesthetically beautiful, well-rounded city with a great quality of life. The days were long, the skies were clear, and we spent quality time just taking in the city with one another and with friends and family.

As expected there was an abundance of coffee shops, bars and eateries, each with a unique theme and personality; regardless of the place, people were friendly and the vibe laid-back. It wasn’t uncommon for us to go into a fancy restaurant and find wait staff with tattoos, piercings and multi-colored hair (and without a hint of irony).

Coffee and hand-forged donuts made with a “secret 1920s recipe” at Top Pot Doughnuts

Old school and new pinball machines in the back room of Shorty’s, a circus-themed dive bar

Playing games (the table is a working Pac-Man machine!) and having a veggie dog at Cyber-dogs

There were a lot of strolls. The city resonates with a creative energy and spirit, and public art is around every corner so we never knew what we would run into.

Left: Waiting for the Interurban, a statue locals often dress for the occasion
Right: Popsicle sculpture that just showed up one day in Seattle

Picture frame looking out to Lake Union (although there appears to be an obstruction)

The famous Fremont Troll, holding a real Volkswagen Beetle, under the Aurora Bridge

Outside, taking a picture of the inside of a design school

The best part of Seattle is that despite the fact that it’s cosmopolitan and replete with tall buildings and concrete, it’s also close in proximity to the Cascade and Olympic mountains and offers plenty of green spaces (it’s not called the “Emerald City” without reason) and access to various bodies of water.

Lake Union

House boat (can you believe this house actually floats and moves??)

Ballard Locks where the saltwater of Puget Sound and freshwater of Lake Washington meet. The two bodies of water are at different elevations. Boats enter the lock and the water is pumped in or out to change the elevation up to 26 feet so that the boats can pass from one body of water to the next.

Water slides to facilitate the movement and survival of young salmon (smolts) through Puget Sound

Bird’s eye view of a portion of the 21-step fish ladder that allows adult salmon to swim upstream to spawn

In order to maintain (or perhaps, inspired by) the extraordinary natural resources and landscape, the city employs extreme measures to be environmentally responsible. Wastewater treatment rates are exceptionally high (read: huge water bills) because the city goes to great lengths to ensure that nothing threatens the health of the Puget Sound or the fish in it. Roads are never salted, even after a snowstorm. Most produce is organic and the complex recycling system ensures that nothing is unnecessarily wasted.

Complex trash disposal process required in public and in private homes

We ended each day in the serene Magnolia neighborhood where we stayed with my boyfriend’s family. Magnolia, though technically part of Seattle, feels more like a small town and it was a wonderful change of pace to retire to this enclave. Such blissful days in an extraordinary city, and a wonderfully satisfying way to close out our west coast trip.

Magnolia Village Auto Show

Flowers from the small farmer’s market

View of the Puget Sound from Magnolia at sunset

Sunset in Magnolia

Miles of blackberry bushes growing wild