Seattle

June 30-July 8, 2018

Believe it or not, I have never ventured to the Pacific Northwest! I've been wanting to go for the longest time, and Seattle definitely topped the list of most coveted destinations. When my friends, Dasha and Elle, suggested Seattle as a potential spot for our annual friends vacation, I enthusiastically agreed! We've been to some amazing hiking destinations in the past like Jasper National Park and Banff National Park, so Seattle felt like the perfect fit! With our little boy on the way, surviving the hike up the mountain felt like an extra huge accomplishment ;)

Steven and I arrived on Saturday, June 30 and eagerly planned a full day of touristy Seattle activities!

Our first stop? Pike Place Market for the infamous Pike Place clam chowder. Even though we arrived a whole half hour before it opened, a long line had already formed out the door. Someone handed us a card with a pro tip that we could save time by ordering online for pickup instead. Bingo!

We immediately left the line the visited Mee Sum Pastry instead! They are famous for their enormous buns. We ordered the BBQ Pork & Curry Beef. The curry beef was incredibly tasty. Would highly recommend! 

We watched the famous fish tossing and munched on the buns until our soup was ready. Steven's classic clam chowder came with a bread bowl while I ordered the bowl of lobster & corn chowder. Both soups came as a meal with an apple and water. Absolutely delicious!

The infamous gum wall...just as nasty as you'd expect! Kind of incredible how many pieces of gum there are though (aka tourists).

From there, Steven and I decided to visit the Seattle Art Museum or the SAM for short. It's pretty big and full of interesting exhibits. In addition, admission is pay however much you want so we made a nice donation to support the arts. 

After touring the museum, our old friend from Indiana turned Seattle resident, Mona, picked us up with her boyfriend Johnny!

We visited the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, which is massive and the ultimate Starbucks experience. Steven ordered a flight tasting of coffees from different origins. So much coffee!

After a while, we noticed a big black car pull up to the front of the Starbucks and large crowds starting to congregate by the front door. 

A tall man with white hair got out of the car. It was none other than Bill Clinton!! What a surreal and random sighting. He happened to be in town for a talk he was doing later that night promoting his new book, "The President is Missing," which he co-wrote with James Patterson. Such a small world!

From Starbucks, Mona took us to the best ice cream place of all time. Salt & Straw!! I've had a lot of good ice cream in my day, but Salt & Straw greatly exceeded expectations! The delicious smell of waffle cone fills the store and you have no choice but to sample all of the delicious flavors! Absolutely loved it!

From there, Steven and I began an adventure in the world of Amazon! We visited the new Amazon Go store, which you get access to through downloading the Amazon Go app. They have sensors everywhere so they know exactly what items you've taken and then you're charged after you walk out the store. They had a special where you got a free reusable grocery bag if you bought something. Nice added bonus! 

Amazon also recently added a new piece of architecture called "The Spheres" to their corporate buildings. It's a greenhouse and apparently very humid inside. We didn't get a peek inside the spheres as you need an Amazon friend to get in, but you can basically see it all from the outside!

Our friend, Evan, arrived from Rochester, MN that evening so we swooped him up from the airport and went to none other than Din Tai Fung for dinner. Apparently there are more Din Tai Fung's in Seattle than all of Californi! How is that possible?! No idea, but it was superb as always.

The next day, we met up with Dasha, Sal, Elle & Alex at Trader Joe's and stock piled tons of goodies to take with us as we drove to the secluded city of Quilcene for our quaint and modern Airbnb cabins near Olympic National Park. The main cabin had a beautiful kitchen and living room area where we played many games of Exploding Kittens, Bang, and more courtesy of our game queen, Dasha.

For meals like breakfast and lunch during the day, Chef Alex took control and helped make sure we ate like kings! At night, we had campfires with games and s'mores under the night sky. 

Love getting out in nature with this group! It's such a departure from the city and good to challenge ourselves physically and mentally :)

We did a bit of a fake hike the first night as we were tired and ended up driving our cars up a steep trail. The following morning, however, we decided to climb a legitimate mountain. Mount Ellinor had elevation gains of 3,300 ft and culminated in a hailing, icy mountaintop complete with fierce mountain goats and a Level Hard eating. As a pregnant woman, I probably shouldn't have said yes to the challenge but am so glad I did. No regrets!

Luckily, I had the best crew to get through it with me. Steven helped me find enormous "walking sticks" and helped guide me up and down steep steps, Evan supplied the group with turkey meat sticks and pistachios, Dasha and Elle provided endless encouragement, and the overall group never gave up despite the seemingly never-ending uphill ascent! By the end, our phones said we had walked way more than the original 6.2 mi journey. It ended up being more like 8 miles. Astounding and definitely a life accomplishment!

After our crazy time on the mountain, we drove back to Seattle to celebrate July 3rd and 4th in the city! We got to try new spots in Pike Place Market including Beecher's Homemade Cheese for their incredible flagship grilled cheese sandwich and Piroshky Piroshky, the Russian bakery. We actually didn't love their recommended item of the poppy seed cinnamon roll, but it was fun to try something new anyways!

On our relaxing July 4th holiday, we started the day with the most incredible lunch at Homegrown. Absolutely adored this healthy but mouthwatering place and would come back in a heartbeat. Please bring it to Chicago?! Pictured below are the matcha chicken salad, kale & white bean soup, and pastrami sandwich.

We also strolled through the lovely Kerry Park for a beautiful view of Seattle. You can even see Mount Rainier in the background if you look closely! 

We found a great dual package deal to go up the Space Needle and visit the one of a kind Chilhuly Garden & Glass Museum for $44! To start, we toured the Space Needle, which happened to be under construction at the top. As a result, we really only had a 180 degree panoramic view rather than the traditional full 360. Steven and I have visited the tops of many buildings, but this one actually stood out as worth the visit! Really enjoyed it.

With varying outfits showing off our patriotic red, white & blue, it made for the perfect photo opportunity. Also, it turned out half the group owned Allbirds shoes. Any chance we can get sponsored as models? 

Next up, the Chilhuly Garden & Glass Museum! I actually met Dale Chihuly many years ago when he did a special exhibit at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. My mom brought me and my siblings for a special workshop and I remember it being such a fun childhood memory.

The museum did not disappoint, with the most extraordinary sculptures and explosions of color. Their outdoor gallery and garden area can even be used as a wedding reception venue!

On our last morning together with the crew, we got a box of Top Pot Doughnuts for the group to share! Very sugary, but hit the spot and felt like the perfect ending to an amazing 4 days together.

Steven, Evan, and I ended up detouring to Vancouver for an action (i.e. food) packed 24 hours in Canada!! Check out that post (coming soon) for all of our foodie adventures :) We got back to Seattle on Friday in time to hang out with Mona again. 

Mona brought us to Boiling Point in Bellevue, a hot pot chain with rich flavors and *very* hot soup. It was delicious and the perfect comfort food! We finished the night at a super cool board game bar called Mox Boarding House with every board game imaginable!

The next day, we took an hour long ferry ride to Bremerton Island to see a little bit outside the city. So exciting, idyllic and fun! We had some fun taking a few model shots as we had sunshine overhead and the most gorgeous weather leaving the shoreline.

We stopped by Fraiche Cup for quick cups of coffee before walking to Nightshade for brunch! They had small portions and the spiciest hot sauces available to accompany their healthy brunch options. Service is slow, but we had all the time in the world. #islandlife

After arriving back in Seattle, we went to an enormous food festival and tried a feast of foods ranging from mini donuts, fish & chips, Philippino sausage and rice, loaded fries, gelato with affogato and even fried rabbit. Johnny, Mona's boyfriend, joined us at the very end and we ended the night bonding at Art Marble 21, a popular bar with the best garlic fries.

Overall, such an incredible time with so many friends for our first time in the beautifully breath-taking & delicious Pacific Northwest. It was the best relaxing week away and we are so thankful for every trip now. We're not taking them for granted with #BabyChen coming in October.

Until next time! :)