Seattle is one of my favorite American cities. There really is nothing like it. Its colorful buildings, the water surrounding it, its distant mountains, its amazing Asian food, and its (almost) always predictable weather is all unique to the city of Seattle. I love this city and I wish I had longer than the 3 days I had, but at least I have a reason to go back. Here is what I did in my limited time in Seattle. I hope if you visit Seattle someday, you will do these things too!
Day 1
My mom and I went to Seattle for a weekend for the birthday of her great-aunt. Our first day in Seattle was really only spend in an airplane and car. We flew out of the Minneapolis airport late on a Thursday night. We arrived around 11:00 pm Pacific time and got to our hotel around midnight, making it 2:00 am our time. We definitely slept well, but if I were to do it again, I wouldn’t have that late of a flight. Although, the city looks very beautiful at night when flying in. That was a really cool thing to see.
Day 2
This was our first real day in Seattle and probably the most touristy. We started our day with a drive to the Space Needle and it was an absolutely beautiful drive. You are always surrounded by mountains and water in this city.
Lucky for us our wait for the Space Needle wasn’t very long. It wasn’t very busy, because we were there in January. Honestly, I think January was the best time of year to visit. The weather was nice, around 50 degrees, which was warm for us because we were coming from Minnesota. Also, everything was green and it was actually sunny when we were there, which is weird since Seattle is usually cloudy and rainy. The best part was that it wasn’t the peak time for tourists, so we never had to worry about crowds or lines. Especially at the Space Needle. I would have waited in line though if I had to, because the Space Needle was really cool.
The bottom floor had a gift shop and a little exhibit about the history of it. It actually was built for the 1962 World Fair and included a restaurant. Edward F. Carlson had the idea for the tower after a visit to Stuttgart, Germany. Soon his tower became a part of the Seattle Skyline and one of its leading attractions. My favorite part of the Space Needle was the view of the city from the observation deck.
My pictures don’t do the view justice. It was amazing and I felt like I was on top of the world. On one side you could see the city and Mount Rainier, another the water, another the mountains, and another endless buildings. This was my favorite part of the trip. I am always a sucker for amazing views. After the Space Needle we took a train to the famous Seattle market, Pike Place Market.
I really enjoyed Pike Place Market. There is a lot of fish vendors, but there are also a lot of other great shops and food stalls. My mom and I came across a really good Persian food stall for our lunch. It was off to the side down the cutest little alley I have ever seen.
The Persian food was amazing and different from anything I have tried before. I can’t remember exactly what I ordered, but I remember that it had pomegranate in it, because I am a huge fan of pomegranates. I love them!
I wish I could remember the name of the stall, but if you find yourself at a Persian food stand at Pike Place Market, please order something. After some more wandering we found a bunch of little gift vendors selling things like bracelets, Italian marble tiles, t-shirts, and wood carvings. My mom and I both bought “Sassy Bracelets”. Mine was a copper one with “I’ve Fucking Got This” engraved on the inside. Then we found ourselves some more food from the best bakery I have ever been to. It was busy, but I’m not surprised. They had lots of delicious baked Russian goods.
The Russian bakery was called Piroshky-Piroshky. We ordered a caramel cinnamon roll and a cardamon roll to share. It was amazing and a great afternoon snack. After a little more exploring we headed back to the hotel. This was maybe my favorite part of the day, because we ordered delivery. I love cities just because you can do this. We ordered some Thai food and it did not disappoint. There really is nothing like eating Thai food on a hotel bed in a new city while watching a movie.
Day 3
This was a short day of exploring, because this was the day of the event that brought us here, my mom’s great-aunt’s 100th birthday party. We spent the morning at Discovery Park on a hike to a cute old lighthouse. It was probably about a 45 minute hike to the lighthouse, so in total it was about 1 1/2 hours, but really it was like 2 hours including picture stops, relaxing breaks, and other exploring.
The lighthouse was really cool and it was a beautiful day to be hiking. It was good for us to get outside and explore the natural aspects of Seattle too. After our hike we went to the birthday party for the afternoon. We actually spent a lot of the day driving, but that is ok. It is a great way to see things. Then we went back to the hotel for another round of delivery. This time Indian food, which is some of my favorite food.
Day 4
This was our last day in Seattle. We would be flying out that night. We still had all morning and part of the afternoon though in Seattle. After some research we decided to check out China town. I think it is the best decision we made that whole trip. We drove to the Chinese neighborhood and were amazed by the arches that awaited us.
It was really cool. The neighborhood was full of restaurants, little stores, markets, and Bubble Tea shops. We decided we wanted to try Bubble Tea. This would be our first time trying it. This was also when I fell in love with Bubble Tea. I love Bubble Tea! I always order Bubble Tea now when I come across anywhere that sells it.
I ordered the Oolong milk tea. It was great of course! As we drank our Bubble Tea we explored some markets and shops. We found a market that sold products from all over Asia. Of course I bought a little toy Japanese cat, because I love cats. Then we found ourselves somewhere to eat lunch. We went to a little hole in the wall Chinese restaurant. We ordered a lot of food, because we can’t help ourselves when it comes to Chinese food.
We ordered potstickers, soup, and dumplings. It was maybe the best Chinese food that I ever had had. After lunch we did a little more walking around. We liked that the road signs were also in Chinese. We could pretend that we were in another country.
Then we said good bye to one of our favorite American cities. There really is nothing like Seattle.
I hope that this will inspire your next trip to Seattle. Make sure you order some kind of Asian food, explore the outdoors, walk around some markets, and enjoy the view from the Space Needle.
The Journal of Wanderlust 