Food, Vacation

My Trip to Seattle


I’ve been sitting here for a while trying to figure out what to write. I kind of hate writing about trips I’ve taken because I’m really bad at describing events. At least I think so. My friend decided to meet me in Seattle this weekend. Let’s call her Natalie, since that’s her name. We had a great time eating, shopping, and sight-seeing. But mostly eating. Here is the full account of our trip. Hopefully you’ll feel like you were there in spirit.

The first day we ventured out towards the Space Needle. Buildings that distinguish cities are always the first stop. Paris = Eiffel Tower, NY = Empire State Building, Chicago = Sears Tower, etc. And by “etc” I mean that I can’t think of any more examples.  We walked along the waterfront for a while. There are lots of souvenir stores and seafood stands which made for a fun walk. We got to look at all of the piers with the ships lined up. As well as the new Ferris Wheel that was erected (heh) during July.

The Space Needle was made for the 1962 world’s fair to demonstrate what buildings would look like in the 21st century. Hmm nice try architects.

I had been to the top of the Space Needle during my previous visit, but only to the rotating restaurant. Natalie and I went to the observation deck. We weren’t expecting much, but we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the top. Tourists are able to walk around the entire 360 degree crown of the Space Needle. We took some good pictures. There was also a Starbucks and plenty of places to sit. Sitting is definitely one of my hobbies. Bonus points!

Later that day we did some shopping and then ate at this cute little Italian restaurant called Luigi’s Little Italy. It would’ve been super romantic if Natalie and I were a lesbian couple, but alas, we were not. The food was super good and put us into a carb-coma for the remainder of the night.

Mmmm yum!

On day two we went to Pike’s Place and the Original Starbucks which are both next door to each other. There’s not a whole lot that distinguishes the Original Starbucks from any other except the sign out front is brown with the first drawing of the Mermaid instead of the green, modernized one we see today. Other than that, just a regular old Starbucks.

I can’t remember if she’s a siren or a mermaid. I wonder if she can walk on those two tails of hers….?

Pike’s Place is basically just one big market. People sell things from leather goods to flowers to mini doughnuts. There’s a huge fish stand there that is famous for their workers who throw and catch any fish that’s ordered. They sing and yell–it’s a fun watch. I managed to find a creperie and ordered one Crepe au Chocolat (Crepe covered in Nutella). Natalie, not having ever had a crepe or Nutella, finally tasted heaven.

After that (I hope no one is still reading this…) we went to Seattle’s Underground tour. It was cool because we actually got to go underground (weird, right?) and see where Seattle’s original streets were. Apparently the city was 15 feet lower than it is today. They had to raise the city streets because the ocean kept eroding the land and making the streets muddy and stuff. I don’t know, I zoned out half way through.

At night we went to a really good sushi restaurant called Nijo. We had something called Dancing Shrimp and omigosh it was amazing.

On our last day we went to the Seattle Art Museum. It had some good stuff, but it wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be. They had some Georgia O’Keefe, John Singer Sargent, and Robert Reid so it was definitely worthwhile.

Love me some Georgia.

After that we went on a boat tour of the bay which was fun. It was nice to see the city from afar. I like city-scapes. But I don’t like them enough to go on the deck of the boat when it’s cold out. So I stayed inside the boat for most of the ride and observed from the windows.

Overall it was a great trip full of fun memories and lots of food. My deepest apologies for this long post. I hate myself for writing this much.

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31 thoughts on “My Trip to Seattle

  1. Ha! About once a month I allow myself a LONG post, usually around 1400 words. I’m sure people would hate me for it, but they’re asleep by 1000. So technically I’ve given them the gift of napping…

    And that pizza looks ridiculously good. I wish I were eating and not standing here in the rain at my kid’s soccer practice. A jar of nutella would work too. Dammit, this post is not helping with the hunger…

    • Haha yeah leave it to me to talk about food. I should’ve just made this post “Food I ate while in Seattle”. Standing in the rain? Are you sure YOU’RE not in Seattle right now? Haha yeah I don’t like writing long posts because I personally don’t like reading them, but every so often I’ll write one…! Glad you liked it! You’re a gem.

  2. Pete Howorth says:

    Lol! I love this post! You should write this much all the time, “They had to raise the city streets because the ocean kept eroding the land and making the streets muddy and stuff. I don’t know, I zoned out half way through.” That’s exactly the approach I take when people are trying to teach me stuff.

    I like how you remember what you were eating and where you ate more than anything else about the trip.

    Also I always forget you’re about 6 foot tall, it makes for great “Natalie went to Seattle with Xena Warrior Princess” pictures.

    • Hahah omg anyone that stands next to me will surely be dwarfed. It’s sad but true. Food is the best part of any trip, let’s be real.
      Haha yes! I always remember one fact perfectly and then pretty much forget everything else and end up staring at a wall for an hour. Normal.

      • Pete Howorth says:

        Well I for one didn’t know that the whole city used to be lower so you’ve teached me something on this day and tomorrow I’ll find a way to work it into a conversation at work and make myself look really cultured.

      • Hahahah please do! I always do that. Especially with other people’s jokes. I think I stole the “Let’s call her Natalie, since that’s her name” from you actually! Hahahh..

  3. A gripping life says:

    I Love this post!! You crack me up! Let’s call her Natalie, since that’s her name. Also, I lol’d that you came up with 3 landmark buildings! Haha!
    great pictures. Glad the underground tour was so memorable.

    • Haha really? Maybe I should document some of my other travels like Norway and stuff? Haha I didn’t know any other landmark buildings! Lol Natalie and I snuck out at the end of the tour so we didn’t have to tip our tour guide. Hahaha

  4. You know, this post isn’t even that long! Your stories are fun to read anyway. (“Let’s call her Natalie, since that’s her name.”) You’re so funny. 😉 Sounds like you had a good time. I mean, with good food, how can you go wrong? 😀

    • Haha if my post is over 4 paragraphs I consider it sooo long! Haha I was always the person in school to write the very minimum I could on essays. I don’t know why! Thanks for thinking I’m funny! That makes me feel good 🙂 But yeah food is the best and most important part of any trip!

  5. Damn Lily. Your legs are really long haha
    And I hope no one actually starts their trip at the empire state… it is one of the dirtiest and most crowded ny neighborhoods.

  6. This was a really good post. I could relate. I’m supposed to be visiting my grandparents at the first of the year in Seattle.

    I’ve been up in the Space Needle but I don’t remember anything about it. I do remember going to Pikes market a few years ago. That place is crazy cool. My grandparents go there often enough the have their certain shops they go to and have made friends with the vendors. I’ve never down the underground thing, but that sounds pretty cool. The last time I was there we did the bay cruise thing too. Really nice.

    • Thanks Bro Jon! That’s awesome! You’ll have a great time for sure!
      That’s cool that your grandparents know the vendors at Pike’s. It doesn’t surprise me because Seattle isn’t a very big place. I feel like I know it through and through even after only being there a couple times. Yeah the underground thing was different and cool. Maybe try it out.

  7. I love seeing designs from the 1960s, where they try to predict what stuff would look like now. It’s a gap of 40 years, yet they acted as if it was some far off date that they might not see because the Russians would nuke them first.

    This was a funny post actually, it’s the extra details you throw in that make it.

    I reckon you should design a building that shows how life would be in 2052. It would be the best building, EVER.

    • I know! It’s pretty hilarious. I’m pretty sure everyone thought we would be living in glass dome houses and using flying cars by now. Oops. We were too concentrated on building the next Apple products.

      Thanks Michael!

      For sure. We should probably get started on the blueprints!

    • I KNOW. I was seriously disturbed. I had to take action. I think my reaction time to her not ever having Nutella was faster than if she was on fire or something.

  8. For some reason I thought you’ve been to Seattle a bunch of times yet you seemed as if you just discovered its existence. You managed to do everything I’ve seen people on The Amazing Race do when the final leg is in Seattle so kudos to you.

    P.S. Toronto has a big weird looking space needle ripoff building. I forget what it’s called but it’s taller and I hear it’s very boring.

    • I had been there once before for like 2 days. Nothing crazy. I definitely like playing tourist and seeing all of the sights. I kind of do that everywhere I go. I’m sure if I go to London again for my 45th time, I’ll still be taking pictures in red phone booths.

      Yes! I know what you’re talking about. The name is really stupid too…I’m looking it up now. The CN Tower. Ugh. I’ve never been to Toronto, but I’m pretty sure I hate everyone there.

    • Hah yes! It all started there! Glad you could come along for the ride. It was actually sunnier than I thought it would be. It only rained for an hour really!

  9. I think it’s funny that we did TOTALLY different things when we visited Seattle! I went *near* the space needle, but not in it, I went through Little Italy with a small Chinese man who called himself “Jackie Chan #2,” I ate sushi in Japantown but I don’t think it was the same place, and went on a ferry ride, but it was to go somewhere else. Star-crossed, we are.

    • That is really weird. I didn’t even realize there was an actual Little Italy section or a Japantown. I think I’m the most oblivious person in the world to be honest. We really are star crossed soul mates.

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