48 Hours in Seattle
For someone who has always had pretty neutral feelings about the west coast (I know, I know, west coast is the best coast) I feel like I really found a city to love in Seattle. It is so laid back with so many intelligent people around. You can go to dinner in whatever clothes you want and find yourself across the room from engineers from Google. Seattle’s vibe was such a nice surprise and I thought I’d share my wonderful experience in this city.
DAY ONE
I stayed with a friend in Seattle, who lives in the Queen Anne neighborhood. And if you live on the top of hill like she does, on a clear day you can see all the way down to the harbor.
Since I new that I would be arriving at night we played it safe and just made late drink reservations at Needle and Thread, which is a speakeasy- bar. The place is actually the upstairs section of Tavern Law with an entrance that has rotary phone to dial up to the bar beside the door. Upstairs the lighting is dim and the seating is eclectic, which definitely adds to the prohibition-like ambiance. The best part of the experience is that there are no menus. You give the bartender your drink profile (the type of liquor you want and if you want sweet, or savory, or sour, etc.) and they make up a special drink just for you. My drink profile pretty much always includes gin and I was not disappointed.
To finish up the night we had ice cream from Sweet Lo’s for dinner, which is one of the few perks of being a grownup. Sweet Lo’s is a relatively new ice cream venture available only locally in Seattle. Lauren Wilson makes it all from scratch and I was definitely looking forward to trying her take on lemon bar ice cream. Lemon bars are probably my favorite dessert, and the chunks of it in her ice cream had a buttery richness that I was not expecting. She definitely does not skimp on the ingredients.
DAY TWO
Brunch is a habit that this girl refuses to quit, at least not when I’m on vacation. Portage Bay Café is a small chain just in the city that focuses on local, organic, and sustainable food. Everything on the menu sounded great and I am always more confident in my food choices when I know the ingredients are going to be super fresh. I had the Farmer’s Hash with apple chicken sausage, and I fully credit this dish with my new obsession with Trader Joe’s maple chicken sausage.
We took a ferry over to Bainbridge Island and mostly puttered around looking in shops, tasting wine, and eating more ice cream. When you get great weather in Seattle, you have to take advantage of it with a cold treat.
After relaxing on the ferry back to downtown Seattle, we walked around Capital Hill and then had dinner at Skillet. I really enjoyed the Chipotle Cheddar Mac & Cheese. The home-style mac & cheese with a little bit of kick was right up my alley.
The night was clear, so it was the perfect time to take in the view of the city from Kerry Park in Queen Anne.
DAY THREE
We started off the day at Pike Place Market. It’s surprising how much actual shopping goes on in such a touristy place. I always love the flowers at open markets, and this one was no exception. While we walked around, I sipped on a white peach Rachel’s Ginger Beer. Since I love ginger, it was super refreshing. I’ll definitely have to order some to be shipped home as a special treat later in the summer.
We took the sunny weather as an opportunity to walk along one of the beaches in the area, before heading back to Queen Anne to have lunch at Bounty Kitchen, I had the Potlicker Bowl with Rishi organic blueberry iced tea and the bowl really was “potlicking” good. I may have also tried some of the Cha Cha Chicken, which was like a more hearty southwest salad with a few twists. Also highly recommended.
In the afternoon we toured the Theo chocolate factory, which was full of free samples. Even better than the free samples, was the fact that this chocolate is fair trade and does not take children out of school to pick cacao pods.
We were lucky enough to snag reservations at The Pink Door before I had to catch my late night flight, which is known for having things like trapeze, burlesque, and music. We were seated in the back room with a great view of Elliot Bay. I had the Butter Poached King Crab Risotto and it was so great. The perfect warm meal for a restful (as possible) sleep on the plane.
I will definitely have to go back to Seattle.
