Seaside Seattle

Aaron and I arrived in Seattle, bright and early on Memorial Day. We flew United Airlines and were upgraded, free of charge, to the economy plus section… not that I really needed the extra leg room, but I’ll take it! We had originally planned to meet up with my cousin, Laura, and her husband and son in Seattle, however they were unable to come. So Aaron and I arrived with all of our luggage with no hotel to check in to until 2:00, so we came up with a plan. Rent a car. Drive to Mount Rainer. And that’s what we did. Neither one of us had ever rented a car, so it was a fun experience. Aaron was extra cautious with the rental as we drove through the beautiful backside of Washington towards the mount. After a while of driving up and around hills and curves we pulled over to a side parking area. Even though there was tons of snow all around, we hopped out without any jackets into the best weather we had experienced thus far on the trip. It was absolutely breathtaking outside. The air was crisp, skies were clear, the snow glistened, and the sun shone brightly.

After visiting beautiful Mount Rainer, we headed back towards the city. All I have to say is, I’m glad I wasn’t driving. The roads in Seattle are weird. Not only are there tons of one-way streets, which I hate a lot, there are also a lot of streets that connect on angles. Weird. It took us a while to get to the hotel and then over to the satellite rental car drop off site. By the time we had accomplished all of that, we were starving. We headed out through the side streets of the city towards the needle, but were distracted by a delicious smelling pizza place. Zeeks pizza. Yum. We got to sit at a table right by the window and watch all the crazies walk by. People wear the craziest things over there. And everyone is “tatted up” – as Aaron would say. We even saw one guy drop kick the cross walk button. Haha. We were just cracking up as we again enjoyed just sitting back and people watching. After lunch, we headed over to the Seattle center to see what it’s all about. It was a happening place. There were tons of people, everywhere. Apparently there was some sort of folk festival going on. Inside the main building there was a music/dancing group on the big stage teaching the crowds some dances. I tried to get Aaron to go in and dance with me, but he was having none of it! We then decided it was time to see the city in all its’ glory from atop the needle. At first I was slightly afraid of riding to the top of the needle but as Aaron said, it was just like riding an elevator in a tall building. The sights from the top were INCREDIBLE. I absolutely loved looking from all the different sides. There were so many different things to see from the top. I absolutely loved it. We stayed up there for quite a long time. We hung out outside taking pictures and looking around, then went inside and sat at an overlooking table while having a snack. I really wanted to stay for the whole night, but we were beginning to get hungry for some dinner and also beginning to get tried from the incredibly long day we had. So we hopped on the tram and headed into the heart of the city to find some yummy food. We ended up wandering around for quite some time, as many of the restaurants were closed for Memorial Day. We eventually stumbled across a really nice guy that recommended a delicious restaurant right by the fish market. That night I had the most delicious halibut ever. It was my 1st time to try halibut, but the guy highly recommended it since it was in season. I ended up ordering halibut about 3 more times on our trip. It was delicious every time, but nothing compared to that 1st place.

The next day Aaron and I wandered back through the Seattle Center to see more sights before heading down to the Pike Place’s market. It was a really neat place, filled with unique smells, people, and sights. We even got to see the guys throwing fish around. Later we took a water taxi over to West Seattle. I loved riding on the taxi and looking at the beautiful city skyline. We loved Seattle!

Seattle Album