Seattle

Our last stop of the trip was Seattle. We only had the car for the first day in the city (parking is expensive and public transportation is relatively easy to use), so we decided to check out the last coffee shop on my list before heading to our airbnb. The coffee shop is called Slate and is located in the neighborhood of Ballard, which was easier to get to by car than by bus. (Side note: I would highly recommend a trip to Slate! The friendliest coffee bar with the best coffee in Seattle) After we got our coffee and hot chocolate, we headed to Capitol Hill to drop off our luggage. Unlike our previous stops, we had to get literally everything out of the car and into a suitcase so that we could return the car the next morning. We were sad to have to say goodbye to the car, but it was definitely nice not to have to worry about paying for parking downtown.

We had one more iphone to purchase before Luca and Salpa flew back to London and Italy, so we headed for the Apple store near the University of Washington. I was able to get a glimpse of boats going out on the water from the car, and that was really cool. The Apple store was in University Village, an Eastwood Town Center-like outdoors mall, and we decided to grab dinner there after doing some more shopping. We ended up going to Veggie Grill, a west coast chain. It reminded me a lot of Noodles and Co. with less carbs and more vegetables. It was definitely a welcomed meal after our McDonald's lunch stop. We headed back to our airbnb after dinner, which had an amazing view of Lake Union from the deck.

Lake Union from our apartment on Capitol Hill

The car rental had a drop-off location downtown, which was super convenient and only a couple blocks away from Pike Place Market. The market sits on a steep hill overlooking Elliott Bay. First opened in 1907, it is one of the oldest continuously operated farmers' markets in the country. Pike Place is known by many as "the place where they throw the fish." Sure enough, as soon as we walked into the market, we spotted a crowd around one of the seafood vendors, all with cameras and iPhones and anxiously awaiting the next toss. They even let tourists with zero fish catching ability try to catch the flying fish. It was quite the show. We spent awhile enjoying the flying fish before moving on to the other vendors and unique attractions, such as a massive chewing gum wall on the outskirts of the market. I had a pretty big craving for fresh seafood after visiting Pike Place Market and the flying fish. We asked one of the guys working at the seafood vendor where he would go for seafood in the area. He suggested getting the salmon burger at Seatown, which was just up the street, so we headed there for lunch and did just that.

After lunch, we wandered around the downtown area a bit. We stopped at the Olympic Sculpture Park, found a neat map store, searched for gelato, and ended up at Seattle's Public Library. The central library building is a really interesting building. It was designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In a way, the exterior of the building reminds me of the Broad Art Museum at MSU. The interior of the building was interesting, too. Our first stop was the restrooms. Imagine my surprise when I walked in and realized I could see over the stall doors without even trying. Very strange. We then ventured upstairs, and stumbled upon a room called the Red Hall. The floor, walls, and ceiling are all a strikingly bright and plastic looking red. Luca had a great idea to take photos on our DSLRs with long exposures and play with the weird lighting. As you can probably gather from the photos, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the Red Hall.

We had hit the "main" sites of Seattle on our first full day, so we decided to ask our airbnb host for some more local recommendations for the remainder of our trop. They suggested walking to South Lake Union. The area is home to, among other thing, the Center for Wooden Boats. Our walk to South Lake Union was... interesting. Some of the areas we walked through were picturesque, some were freeways. I guess that's the risk you take with Google maps. The Center for Wooden Boats had a wide range of boats: sail boats, fishing boats, rowing boats, etc. I was beginning to think they didn't have any rowing shells when I turned the corned and looked up to see an original Pocock single hanging over my head. So. Cool.

Our next stop was another local favorite: Serious Biscuit. Our host told us that these were the best biscuits he'd ever had, so naturally we had to go. On our walk to the restaurant, it occurred to us that we weren't sure if he had meant biscuits as in cookies or biscuits as in southern biscuits and gravy. When we walked through the restaurant doors, we realized he had meant the latter. Serious Biscuit is owned by Tom Douglas, who appears to have a very successful restaurant presence in Seattle (he also owns Seatown). Serious Biscuit is part of a hybrid sort of restaurant. Biscuits are made on the ground floor, and Serious Pie (pizza, not dessert) is made in woodfire ovens on the second floor. We split the fennel sausage, egg, and fontina biscuit and a buffalo mozzarella pizza. Pretty perfect lunch, if you ask me.

It was a gorgeous day and we had plenty of time left in the afternoon, so we decided to walk to the Space Needle. It's definitely an interesting area. It feels futuristic, but in the "this was meant to be futuristic in the 70s" sense. It reminds me a bit of the Jetsons. We didn't go into any of the exhibits or up the needle because admission was pretty expensive, but it was still fun to look around. We then made our way back up to Capitol Hill, with a quick stop at a market for a bottle of wine to enjoy on the deck.

Post group nap in front of the Space Needle

It was our last night together, so we decided to go out for dinner and drinks on Capitol Hill. Our hosts recommended a great neighborhood fish house and oyster bar called Coastal Kitchen. I ordered "Cuban Pete's Shipwreck"-- clams, mussels, and chorizo with peppers, tomatoes, and rice. It was delicious! After out dinner, we walked a block to the infamous Liberty Bar and re-met our friend Willi from Slate! He had told us while we were at the coffee bar about this great dive bar with awesome drinks on Capitol Hill that we must go to on Saturday. He later confessed that he worked there, so we obviously had to stop for a drink. I ordered the "Point of No Return," which is a gin and absinthe drink that they light on fire. It was bittersweet to leave Liberty, knowing that packing, repacking, and a longgg day of travel awaited us the following afternoon.

Our flights left later in the day on Sunday, so we spent a leisurely morning walking around the park in the neighborhood, packing (and repacking), and swapping photos from the trip. Early afternoon we got an Uber to take us downtown so we could get on the Central Link light rail to the airport. It all went smoothly, and we got to the airport pretty early. I hate goodbyes, and was feeling kind of sad when we got to Luca and Salpa's gate. In order to make the goodbye easier, we decided to tentatively plan a trip to London during my winter break next year. Who knows if it will happen, but I certainly wouldn't be opposed to spending Boxing Day in London. My trip home didn't go smoothly (delays, cancelled flights, literally flying in circles across the country, lost luggage), but my persuasive skills got me a travel voucher, so perhaps I'll earmark that for London! ;]

Pacific Northwest Coffee

The south is the home of BBQ, New England is the home of lobster rolls, and if you ask me, the Pacific Northwest is the home of coffee. That's not to say that other regions can't do coffee well, but when I think of good coffee, I think of Oregon and Washington. Three of the ten best coffeehouses are located here, and I was able to visit two of them on my recent trip to Portland and Seattle.

The first coffee stop of the trip was Heart Coffee Roasters in Portland. This coffee shop has two locations, one on the east side of the Willamette and one on the west side. While it's next to impossible to pick a favorite of the trip, let alone of the list, this one might take the cake. Well roasted coffee beans + latte art + community tables where you can read or work on your Macbook = sold. It also didn't hurt that it was raining outside while we sipped on our coffee, which contributed to the quintessential Portland coffee experience.

The coffee is roasted inside the coffee house space.

While still in Portland, we also visited Stumptown. Though technically not on the (subjective) ten best coffee houses list, this place is definitely worth a visit. The original Stumptown opened in Portland in 1999, and they now have cafes in four cities: Portland, Seattle, LA, and New York. Good lattes, funny ugly dog art, and a garage door that let you enjoy the fresh air even if it was raining outside.

Our last noteworthy coffee stop on the trip was Slate in Ballard. Much more of a coffee bar than a coffee house, Slate would be an excellent first stop in Seattle for even a non-coffee drinker. The second we walked through the door, we were greeted by Willi, the friendliest barista I have ever met. He brought us to three empty bar stools at the counter, asked where we were from, what we were doing in Seattle, and if we liked coffee. He agreed to make Luca hot chocolate and then started working on the coffee drinks. Drinks at Slate are served in wine glasses, if that gives you any indication of the funky nature of Slate. This place definitely takes the award for friendliest and most unique coffee shop. Even the other locals sitting at the bar were friendly. Before we knew it, everyone was shouting out recommendations for restaurants, bars, and getting around Seattle. 

If you do make it to Slate, be sure to ask for Willi. He's the best!

Olympic National Park Part II

The apartment we rented in Port Angeles was definitely the nicest place we stayed on the trip. In addition to the usual bedroom, living room, and bathroom, it had a full kitchen, steam room, and hot tub. We picked up a bunch of groceries on our way into town and Salpa made pasta with sausage and a cream sauce for dinner (yum!). We celebrated our birthday at midnight with a dense brownie that sadly looked much better than it tasted. When you go grocery shopping when you're starving, you buy all the things.

We had saved the next day for hikes around Lake Crescent and a trip to the Sol Duc Hot Springs. We had learned the previous day that options for food are scarce in the park, so we decided to make sandwiches to bring with us. Without giving it any thought, I put the sandwiches in the fridge while we finished getting ready. When we were about ready to leave, I started putting ice cubes in plastic bags to put in the cooler bag I had brought with me. Luca and Salpa, who had apparently been trying to figure out what the heck I was doing in Italian, finally asked me what the ice was for. I replied, "the sandwiches" with a bit of a "duh" tone. They exchanged a "she's crazy" look. Then I remembered the differences in meat/dairy refrigeration needs in Europe. Apparently they go hiking in the Alps for days without refrigerating meats.

Our first stop of the day was a hike to Marymere Falls on Lake Crescent. The trail from the lake to the falls was a mile at the most, but it was a pretty walk with moss covered trees. When we got back to Lake Crescent, we retrieved our sandwiches from the cooler and found a dock to eat our lunch on. Growing up in Michigan, I'm more than used to lakes, but most of our lakes include jet skis, speedboats, and pontoons. There were hardly any other people around, let alone motor watercraft. Later that afternoon we headed to Sol Duc Hot Springs. Sol Duc Hot Springs has three different mineral hot springs that are temperature controlled, but uses water from melted snow that mixes with volcanic rocks. I would definitely recommend it for a relaxing afternoon, especially after a couple of days hiking in the park. Port Angeles isn't a big town, so we spent our birthday evening back at our apartment making dinner, drinking champagne, and watching Prisoners in the hot tub, because it wouldn't be a birthday with Luca if I wasn't coerced into watching a scary move ;]

Lake Crescent

Marymere Falls 

We spent our last morning in the park on Hurricane Ridge, which was less than a mile from our apartment. We were expecting that we would be able to do a mini hike, but when we got to the visitor center at the top, we realized that the mountains were still really snow-covered. We had all dressed for weather at the bottom of the mountains, but the views were pretty spectacular, so we didn't mind the cold.

Hurricane Ridge

We headed for Seattle after Hurricane Ridge, with a quick stop for lunch in Sequim, one of the towns that the main character in The Boys in the Boat lives. The quickest way to get to Seattle from the Olympic Peninsula is to take the ferry from Bainbridge Island. The only ferries I've ever been on either don't take cars (the ferry to Mackinac Island) or seemed a lot more like a ship to me than a ferry (the ferry/boat/ship from Helsinki to Tallinn). I definitely felt very Meredith Grey-like as the ferry got closer to our next and final stop on the trip.