I decided early on after I found out I’d be working in Ketchikan, AK for the summer that I had to make a stop in Seattle. I’d heard so much about this fabled city from friends and family who had either lived there or visited previously! …And they all made it clear that it was somewhere I needed to go!

So, my friend and coworker, Shelby and I arranged to fly from LA up to Seattle for a few days before beginning work in Alaska. She had been previously to visit family,  and I wanted to check all the “must-see” places off my list in addition to visiting Friday Harbor and the San Juan Islands.

After a long day of travel (golf cart -> ferry -> car -> plane -> car) we arrived in the evening, stopped by Elysian Brewing (a cornerstone of craft brewing in Seattle) and hit the sack early to prepare to dive into Seattle!

Of course, the obvious first place to stop was…

Pike Place Market of course! The first morning we slept in a bit, and the market was already crowded with hoards of people milling around and trying to take shelter from the rain. But oh, the RAIN! After months of being on dried-up Catalina in extreme drought conditions, it was truly incredible to feel steady rain coming down. I think I grinned uncontrollably the entire way down the highway from the airport to our lodging because of how incredibly green and lush the vegetation was everywhere I looked. I didn’t realize how much the lack of greenery (green cacti don’t count) had worn on me.

Which brings me to the miracle of having farm-fresh berries… If I could live off berries alone, I would. One of the most unfortunate things about living on an island are the delays and gaps for produce to be delivered. These berries were my very own delicious miracle that morning.

 

 

And, I mean, if you start buying one thing from a market, you just keep going…

 

Quite possibly the most delicious cinnamon roll I’ve ever had.

 

The throngs of tourists beat us to the original Starbucks on day 1, but on day 2, we were ready and there at 6 AM when they opened – no other tourists in site! I got the obligatory drip coffee and a picture. Say what you will about Starbucks, but they really were the driving force behind the incredible coffee culture still present and strong in Seattle. I definitely over-caffeinated this entire trip. Worth it.

 

On day 1, I also noticed that a little bakery near the Starbucks had a line even longer! Day 2, curiosity got the better of me, and I had to figure out what on earth a piroshky was. Turns out they are a delicious traditional Russian fried dough pastry! It was delilious! I definitely recommend going there (and getting in line early) if you’re ever in that part of Seattle.

Okay, I promise I’ll stop typing about food now… Just one more picture… My friend, coworker, and travel buddy, Shelby, and I having a fantastic breakfast at the Sound View Cafe at Pike Place overlooking the sound. The picture really doesn’t do the delightfully rainy view of the Puget Sound justice!

 

Then we ran all over downtown Seattle seeing all the sights we could! Here’s the Fremont Troll, an unbelievable art instillation under a bridge at the so-called “center of the universe”. The scale of this piece is incredible – the VW bug in its left hand is an actual car!

 

And what did I find by the troll? A geocache of course!

If you don’t know what Geocaching is, it’s a world-wide treasure hunt of sorts that has become my favorite hobby! Using the Geocaching website and a smartphone or GPS, anyone can search for remarkably well-hidden “caches” all over the world. Most are like a puzzle – your GPS or phone will get you close to the location, and then you have to figure out where the cache is using a few hints. Some containers are puzzles themselves, requiring some ingenuity to retrieve or open the container, and other ones are just incredibly well-camouflaged in plain sight! Here’s a typical geocache:

Every cache contains a log for the finder to sign with their geocaching name and the date, and some have room to trade out trinkets or other goods.

One of my favorite finds was in Post Alley off of Pike Place, notorious for it’s bubble gum wall:

And after some unfortunate accidental sticky contact, Shelby and I found the cache!

But, not all of our adventures were cache-centered! We made our way over to the Seattle Aquarium, and I got to hang out with their two lovely Giant Pacific Octopuses (note: the plural of octopus is not technically octopi, but I’ll forgive you if you still use it). This amazing species is accepted as the largest octopus species in the world! They can change both color and texture, and have the intelligence of a 3-year-old human child. They can solve puzzles, recognize faces, engage in play, and trained. If you’re looking for an interesting read on octopus intelligence, I recommend The Soul of an Octopus, which I finished last month. It’s much more so a naturalist than a scientist’s perspective, but is an incredible read overall.

 

Shelby and I also had a wonderful dinner on top of the Space Needle! The dining area slowly rotates 360 degrees every hour, and we were lucky enough to squeeze in without a reservation and catch the sunset. I would have loved to get a picture that would do the view justice, but I don’t think the people in the outer ring of tables would have appreciated me climbing over their dinners for a photo!

And, of course, there’s no way I could visit Seattle without getting a picture of the Space Needle from the outside!

I took this picture from the Chihuly Garden and Glass, and incredible museum at the base of the Space Needle. All of the artwork – most of it consisting of hundreds of pounds of glass and metal – is the brainchild of one individual, Dave Chihuly. Working with a team of glassblowers and many other workers, he has permanent and temporary installations all over the world.

 

 

I think this was my favorite piece:

And the museum adventures didn’t stop there! We headed to the Pacific Science Center to check out a travelling exhibit, The Art of the Brick, consisting of art made completely out of LEGOs. The artist, Nathan Sawaya, used to work as a lawyer and built with LEGOs to relax after work, and eventually his LEGO art turned into a full-time career! The pieces were often larger-than-life, and unbelievable:

 

In addition to original creations, the exhibit featured some 3-dimensional takes on classic works of art:

 

We got to be a part of the artwork, too!

I really loved this “be different” piece (despite the cheesiness), as I was heading to Ketchikan, Alaska, the salmon capital of the world, in just a few days!