I have been to Seattle before. A lot. It’s close to Vancouver, and one of our quick and easy weekend getaways. I now at least feel like I don’t have to do all the tourist things each time I go. I enjoy shopping in some different places, getting great food and occasionally taking in a different activity like a show or a sports game. For my latest weekend away, the reason was to go see a show. My boyfriend Jeff bought me tickets to see “Come From Away” for my birthday. Instead of waiting 6 months for the show to come to Vancouver, he decided a weekend in Seattle would be more fun. Gotta give him major boyfriend points for this one. Such a great gift.
Visiting the Emerald city
From Vancouver there are cheap bus options to Seattle with either Quick Shuttle or BoltBus for around $50 rountrip or sometimes less. There’s also the AmTrak train, however it leaves at about 6am and I’ve been unsuccessful the last two times I’ve taken it. The first time there was a mudslide so we ended up on a bus anyway. The second time, also a mudslide/flooding so we had to disembark before Seattle and again take a bus. We decided to drive as it’s much easier.
From Vancouver to the border is about 45 minutes to an hour. Then to Seattle is about an hour and a half to 2 hours. Plus by driving you can stop at the Outlets on the way down!
Since we were going for the weekend we decided to drive down Friday after work. Prepare for border waits on Fridays and around long weekends especially though.
We were through the border surprisingly quickly though. Our first stop was for food. I’m not overly proud of this, but my guilty pleasure when we got to the States is Jack In The Box. It’s fast food, but they have jalapeno poppers which are my kyptonite. And we don’t have this place in Canada. After refueling with grease and cheese, we continued our drive down the I-5 and we arrived in Seattle around 8pm.
Our home for the next two nights would be the Fairmont Olympic hotel. It is such a beautiful old hotel, close walking to everything in Downtown. I love the feeling of the old hotels. There’s a really nice bar just off the lobby that does some great cocktails.
The extra special touch from the hotel was really awesome though. Knowing that this was a birthday trip for me (although not my actual birthday) we found some nice water and chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us.
Around Pike Place Market
My number one favorite thing to do in Seattle is head down to Pike Place Market. If you’ve read my post on Granville Island in Vancouver, you’ll know how much I love a good market. Pike Place Market is a little less polished than Granville Island, a bit more rough around the edges than it’s Vancouver counterpart. But it’s much bigger, and feels just as busy.
The market is filled with stalls and individual shops. There are antique stores, book stores, and pet stores. You can buy flowers, clothing and accessories or locally made toiletries. There are art galleries, and art stalls with pictures of the area as well as other crafts. Then there’s the food! Fair warning now, I’m going to talk a lot about the food. If you’re hungry at this point you might want to grab a snack.
Welcome to the market
We walked from our hotel at the Fairmont Olympic through downtown Seattle to Pike Place Market. I opted not to have breakfast before we got there, knowing how much I’d end up eating that day anyway. At the entrance to the market we were greeted by Rachel, the 550 lb bronze statue of a pig. Behind this unique statue we joined the crowd of people watching the fishmongers throwing the fish to each other. Full of energy they entertain the market visitors all day long.
We walked through a few of the stalls on the main level, checking out what they all had for sale. Then we went to the basement level of the market. I spent quite a bit of time in the bookshops, looking at the second hand books. There were some amazing stores with locally made crafts and pictures for sale. After that we wandered outside the market near the main entrance around the statue. We passed some cool pieces of street art.
Around the corner there was a little alley, Post Alley, that leads to the Gum Wall. I you’ve never heard of the Gum Wall, you’ll probably turn up your nose when I tell you what it is. It’s a wall in an alley that people literally stick their used gum to. All the colors of the rainbow and more are shown on this gross tourist attraction.
Despite what we’d just witnessed, we were getting hungry so decided to start looking for food. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? But where to start? So much choice!
Food glorious food
Seattle is a food lover’s paradise. The city where Starbucks was born also solidifies Seattle as a coffee loving city. I have found a lot of nice restaurants in Seattle, but one of my favorite things to do is head down to Pike Place Market and sample some of the food they have on offer.
Crumpets – like pancakes but classier
Our first port of call was actually outside of the market, opposite the entrance to Pike Place. The Crumpet Shop takes a very plain, but delicious, English food and turns it into a gourmet snack.
There are sweet and savory options but I decided to go sweet and ordered the crumpet with cream cheese, maple butter and walnuts. Absolutely no regrets.
It’s all Greek to me
One of my favorite things to eat is Spanakopita. There’s a Greek restaurant in our neighborhood in Vancouver that does amazing food. The spanakopita is delicious. If you’ve never had spanakopita before, it’s an incredible pastry filled with spinach and sometimes feta cheese. As a vegetarian, I love it, but Jeff eats meat and loves this almost as much as I do.
Along the front of Pike Place just down from The Crumpet Shop, we found a wonderful Greek place. It was called Mr. D’s Greek Delicacies. A takeaway joint with all their tasty looking pastries on display, I watched them take some fresh spanakopita out of the oven. I had to have one. Piping hot but delicious, the spinach filling was seasoned just enough. I’m thinking about walking back to Seattle for one as I write this, it was that good.
Cheesecake is the best cake
Further along the street we found a hole in the wall cheesecake place, The Confectional. Proper baked cheesecakes, and looking so enticing it was hard to stop at one. OK maybe I had more than one. The first one I had was the New York Style. I mean, if the cheesecake is that good, you shouldn’t really need a flavour right?
As well as full individual cheesecakes, they also had some dipped cheesecake treats on a stick. Salted caramel and Red Velvet…a tough choice. I had to go with the red velvet though. Jeff offered to hold my things while I sampled the flavorful treat, but seemed more interested in taking photos of me enjoying them (for documentation purposes).
There’s always time for more food
Now that we’d eaten our way around the market, there was only one thing left to do. Go for dinner. Trying to get away from all the snacks, and really beginning to feel the sugar crash, we went in search of a proper meal. I’m a vegetarian and Jeff isn’t, so we often take longer to decide on a place to eat than a lot of couples. You can never really go wrong with a good pub though. Jeff get’s his chicken wings and I can always find something to eat. This time we ended up at Yard House which had a great selection for both of us. I got buffalo cauliflower wings and a pizza and salad combo. They were delicious. The beer was amazing too.
Piroshky dessert time
After dinner we still had a bit of time to kill before our show, so we wandered back to the market to find a nice dessert to wrap the day up. Earlier in the day we’d passed a place with the longest line at Pike Place that wasn’t a famous coffee shop. Piroshky Piroshky had a line out the door, and always has had a line every time I’ve been to Seattle. I’ve always wondered what made it so good, but I don’t have the patience for a long line.
As luck would have it, by the time we got down there after dinner there were only a handful of people waiting outside this usually busy shop. I decided it was now or never, and joined the line. Piroshky are Russian pastries, mostly an enclosed pie with a filling. They have sweet and savory options, and you can even watch them making the delicious looking pastries through the window. I was mesmerized watching a guy make dozens of cinnamon rolls.
Since I was looking for dessert I went with one of the sweet options and got the cherry and white chocolate piroshky. Delicately dusted with powdered sugar, and still warm from the oven, the cherry flavor was so good. I would like to go back and try one of the savory options too, so I might have to go back at the same time of day and hope for no line.
Come From Away – It’s showtime!
After all this food we had a well needed walk back to our hotel to get ready for our evening at the theater. Going to the theater is always fun. I love getting dressed up. It reminds me of when I was younger and my Mum would take me to the ballet. It was amazing, and I always got to wear my nicest dress and shoes. I felt like a grown up. I still love the theater though. Usually the theaters are in some of the nicer buildings. In Europe the theaters are always very old and ornate, and small enough that you can actually see what’s happening instead of a huge arena where you’re watching a dot on stage!
The 5th Avenue Theater was where we went to watch our show Come From Away. Dating back to the 1920s, the theater is very grand looking inside and has a Chinese style to it. The beams and ceiling are all very decorative, and it’s a classic mixture of gold and red, further adding to the elegant look and feel. There’s a little bar for snacks and drinks – even with plastic-lidded cups to put your wine or beer in so you can take it in with you. I was all set for the show.
An evening in Newfoundland
Come From Away is a new-ish Broadway show. When Jeff bought me the tickets I’d honestly never heard of it. Now though, I’m seeing it everywhere and everyone I talk to it seems is eagerly anticipating seeing it. I love shows and musicals, so I knew I’d like it. The story follows the residents of a small town called Gander in Newfoundland, Canada. On September 11, 2001 all planes were grounded around the United States and many were diverted to Gander, a former hub for refueling of transatlantic flights. Stuck there for days, the show tells of the warm hospitality shown by the locals to the visitors (Come From Aways). It’s really funny and with some catchy tunes. But also a very emotional show given the content. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen though. I highly recommend anyone seeing it.
Leaving for Vancouver
On our final day we were up bright and early to head back North to Vancouver. I had a work event I needed to get back for so we had to leave around 6 am to drive back. With a full stomach still from all the food the day before we drove back to Canada. There was no-one at the border when we got there so we were home by 8:30 am which was quick. Usually I like to stop at the outlets on the way back from Seattle, but unfortunately no time to for that this time. As always Seattle was fun, and did not disappoint.
What else is there to do in Seattle?
If you have time make sure to stay longer than a couple of nights. We live not too far away so I can easily go back to Seattle but if you’re coming further you should spend a few days and really experience what this city has to offer. I always find something new to do.
If you’re a first time visitor I think you have to do the Seattle Space Needle. The views can be spectacular, although it’s also Seattle so rain could always be on the cards. If it is, you might not see as far as you would like. On a great day though you can see Mount Rainier and Mount Baker, and some wonderful views over Puget Sound.
In the same area you can find the Museum of Popular Culture (previously known as EMP – Experience Music Project). Seattle has some famous hometown heroes of pop culture including Kurt Cobain from Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix. The Museum of Pop Culture celebrates them as well as many others, and has one display guitars once owned and played by Cobain and Hendrix.
I went down to Seattle one summer to watch a baseball game. Vancouver doesn’t have an MLB team, but the Seattle Mariners game is always a fun time. We went when they were playing the Toronto Blue Jays and were cheering on the Canadian team. I also recently went down to Seattle to watch the Seattle Seahawks NFL game. Seattle has some good sports teams and it looks like they’re now set to get a NHL hockey team too.
Take a trip on the ferry to Bainbridge Island. Tickets are pretty cheap, you get to go out on the water on a short ferry boat ride, and you get to see somewhere just outside of the city. I only spent a couple hours there, and looked around some of the small individual craft shops, and walked around the island a bit, but it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.
Whatever your interested in, you’ll find something you like in Seattle. But if you’re heading to Pike Place Market, make sure you go with an empty stomach.
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