seattle continued

The second half of the Seattle trip actually started with Steve's last day there. He flew home Sunday so that he could work the next day, and I stayed until Wednesday for extra time to hang out with Chrissy and Elliott. Steve's flight was around noon on Sunday, so we were able to go out for brunch at Lola before dropping him off at the airport. I had the little doughnuts like two years ago, and Steve got Tom's Big Breakfast again: octopus, a poached egg, and various seasonal vegetables.

After brunch, we stopped at a bakery in Columbia City to pick up some pretzel rolls for future breakfasts, then dropped off Steve at the airport, and headed to Capitol Hill to walk around a bit. What we hadn't considered was that it was before noon on a Sunday, so not everything in Capitol Hill was open just yet. We were able to kill some time at Melrose Market, though. It's a collection of food vendors/restaurants and little stores that was still in the process of coming together two years ago. It's quite nice now! When it was finally noon, we stopped by the Cake Spy Shop, which was where I got my fake mushroom terrarium on the last visit. They still had really cute stuff, but I didn't get anything on this occasion.

Then it was about time for lunch at Oddfellows Cafe. Steve and I ate there for lunch on our first visit, and I had had a nice caprese sandwich. The sandwich choices turned out to be a bit more limited at Sunday brunch, but my bacon lettuce avocado tomato (B.L.A.T.) was really good. We got ice cream at Molly Moon's nearby afterward and then headed back home for a while.

Dinner was some salmon and corn on the cob, both cooked on the grill. Chrissy and I had picked up the ingredients at the grocery store while Kevin and Elliott were napping in the afternoon.

197/366 lola doughnuts again

On Monday, Chrissy and I went shopping (with Elliott) at University Village, where there was a Land of Nod store and a Pottery Barn Kids. I wanted to see if they had some of the items I was looking at online for the nursery, since there happen to be no Land of Nod locations in the Bay Area. (It's Crate & Barrel's kids branch.) I didn't end up finding the rug or the rocking chair I had wanted to see, but I did get to look at some of the curtains and the table lamp that I had in mind.
We had a quick lunch at an Italian deli/takeout before deciding to head home. But on the way back to the car, we passed a Trophy Cupcake shop and had to get some cupcakes to take back with us. Kevin was working from home that day, so we got one for him too.

In the afternoon, Chrissy and I took Elliott to Green Lake for a walk. There's a 2.8-mile path around the lake, and we did a full circuit. We also stopped to sit for a while in a shady spot about halfway around, since Elliott needed a break from the carrier and the stroller. Surprisingly, I didn't take any pictures of Green Lake while we were there, pretty as it was. Instead, I took pictures of Elliott while we were stopped.

198/366 afternoon with elliott

Tuesday morning began with a walk to storytime at the Ballard Library with Elliott. When that was over, we went back to downtown Ballard. I wanted to get some of the cute cards that I had seen at a shop there on Friday, and there was still a bit more of the area that we hadn't explored. I knew there was supposed to be a toy store called Clover in the general vicinity, and we ended up finding it. Since I didn't take many pictures the rest of the day, it was a good thing I shot some of the windows at Clover.

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating lunch at a taco truck on the way home, driving to Target for a few things, and watching the Downton Abbey season finale in Chrissy's basement. And for dinner, we went to Skillet Diner in Capitol Hill. There was a bit of a wait, but we got in eventually and had tasty food that I didn't photograph at all.   

199/366 toy boats

Wednesday was the day of my flight home, so I had to say goodbye to Chrissy and Elliott. I took a few pictures of them in the nursery that morning, before we left for the airport. On the way to the airport, we planned to stop at the Top Pot Doughnuts in nearby Renton. It took us a while to find the place, because we had somehow missed the fact that it wasn't a typical store location but a mobile Airstream unit parked in front of a hardware store. Not exactly what we were expecting, but they had delicious doughnuts anyway. It probably would have been more convenient to go to the new location in Ballard; however, they didn't finally open until the end of the next week. (So much for that planned June opening date...)

200/366 a farewell to seattle

Back home again on Thursday, I busied myself with editing Seattle pictures. I also edited my baby clothing inventory, adding the hand-me-downs from Elliott that I had brought home with me. Below is a picture of the bag that's holding newborn and 0-3 month stuff, along with some fleece swaddles. I'm sure the tiny newborn shoes from Elliott are completely impractical, but they're also completely adorable. Maybe we'll get a picture with our baby wearing them, assuming he doesn't grow out of them before we get the chance.

201/366 hand-me-downs

And from Elliott pictures back to Elsa pictures. Friday was pizza night, of course, and I went down a bit earlier than normal to hang out with Carmen and Elsa. Carmen was getting some stuff done in the nursery, and Elsa was using her crib as a playpen, having woken up from her nap not long before.

202/366 back to this kid

Finally, Saturday was my usual self-portrait day, so I took my 26-week shot after lunch. It was nice to get back to the setup I'm used to, after trying to kind of replicate it at Chrissy's house the week before and not completely succeeding. Once that was done, I knew I needed to go looking for a picture of the day. (Can't use the weekly self-portrait for every Saturday, unfortunately.) It was a warm day in SF, prompting me to suggest a trip to Humphry Slocombe for some ice cream. That got us outside for a nice walk, and we got some cold treats. I opted for the Eton Mess—strawberry with marshmallow fluff—and the rather less exciting, but very tasty Tahitian Vanilla. It was good that they went well together, because they were definitely melting into each other by the end.

203/366 a humphry slocombe kind of day

off to seattle

Moving on to week 28, we begin with some strawberry shortcake. Steve had gotten yet more strawberries at the farmers market that week, so I suggested he branch out from making tarts and try baking some buttermilk biscuits for strawberry shortcake on Sunday. Using the recipe from Ad Hoc at Home, he did just that. The biscuits came out a little flatter and denser than I would have hoped, but the flavor was good. And the strawberry shortcake was good too.

190/366 strawberry shortcake

I wasn't feeling very creative the next day, so I decided to take a picture of the biscuits by themselves. I figured Steve would appreciate having a shot of them alone for his recipe program anyway. Since then, he's managed to get subsequent batches to be fluffier. His biscuits from his third attempt, yesterday, are about right. Unfortunately, the official picture is still of the hockey puck version, at least until I take a new one.

191/366 buttermilk biscuits

On Tuesday, I had my 24-week appointment with my OB. I left myself plenty of time to find street parking this time, which of course meant that I found a spot right away near the medical center. To kill time, I walked around a couple blocks and found these white-tinged hydrangeas to photograph.

192/366 fancy hydrangeas

Wednesday was packing day, since we were leaving for Seattle on Thursday. Therefore, I took a picture of my mostly packed suitcase. (Very exciting.) I brought a gift for Elliott, Chrissy's 4 month-old, and ended up stuffing my suitcase completely full of hand-me-down clothing from Elliott on the way back. Good thing it was expandable. It's actually the same suitcase I used for the Spain and Italy vacation last year; I was just more careful to pack everything in ziploc bags with the air squeezed out for that trip.

193/366 packing up

We arrived in Seattle just after lunchtime on Thursday, and Chrissy picked us up at the airport. That afternoon, we took a walk through Chrissy's neighborhood to Sunset Hill Park, with a stop at a Swedish bakery on the way for some snacks to eat while we were there. The park itself was pretty, with a nice view of the water and the mountains in the background, but I didn't really take many exciting pictures. I opted for a sleeping Elliott shot for my picture of the day instead.

After Kevin got home from work that night, we headed to Delancey for dinner. It was one of the few must-visit places on my list and a repeat from the last trip. And it just so happens that Chrissy and Kevin live mere blocks away. When we got there, the dinner rush had already started, so we gave them a phone number and walked to a bar for some drinks while we waited. By 9pm, we had our table at Delancey, where we ordered 4 pizzas to share. They were all great, but the surprise favorite was actually Chrissy's choice of bacon and onion. It had a nice balance of salty and sweet. 

194/366 warning: extreme cuteness

Unlike most trips that Steve and I take, this one was not highly planned out. We were staying with Chrissy and co., so I knew we'd need to be flexible. Elliott would need to eat and take naps throughout the day, as babies do. We had also already been to Seattle two years before—for Chrissy and Kevin's wedding—and we were able to check off most of the key tourist destinations then anyway.

One of the places we didn't really get to explore fully in 2010 was the neighborhood of Ballard, so it worked out great that Chrissy and Kevin had moved there. On Friday morning, we walked with Chrissy and Elliott to Honore Artisan Bakery, next to Delancey, for breakfast. It had been closed by the time we got to Ballard for dinner two years ago, so we hadn't gotten to try it then. We remedied that on this trip, and the pastries were worth it. While we were eating inside, it started to storm. Kevin graciously dropped off a couple of umbrellas and Chrissy's rain jacket on his way to work, so we were able to walk back home without getting too wet. Incidentally, the weather reports for our time in Seattle were pretty useless.

After chilling at Chrissy's house for a while, playing with Elliott during the last of the morning's storm, we headed back out and over to downtown Ballard. We did some shopping, had BBQ for lunch at The Boar's Nest, and then walked to the Ballard Locks. The locks were another thing that had been dropped off my to-visit list for lack of time on the last trip, so I added it to my shortlist for this trip. At the locks, we watched some boats go through (see below) and looked at the fish ladder from the viewing windows underneath. It was probably the most touristy thing we did on this vacation, but it was fun.

For dinner that night, we attempted to eat at Staple & Fancy Mercantile in downtown Ballard, but we got there late enough that we wouldn't have been able to get a table until about 10pm. So instead, we got an early reservation for the next night, went back to Chrissy's house, ordered Chicago deep dish pizza, and played Cards Against Humanity. (It's like Apples to Apples, but much less appropriate/PC and much funnier.)

195/366 ballard locks

Saturday started with another trip to Honore Bakery for breakfast. Then it continued with some Cuban sandwiches from Paseo Caribbean Restaurant for lunch, followed by Chrissy helping me take my weekly self-portrait. (Of course, it wasn't a self-portrait this time, since I didn't bring my tripod.) In the afternoon, we drove back to downtown Ballard and walked around a bit. There was a small Bastille Day celebration, as well as the larger Ballard Seafood Fest, so there was a lot going on that day.

At the appropriate time, we headed over to Staple & Fancy for our dinner reservation. That was the other restaurant idea on my list for this trip, because Steve and I hadn't made it to an Ethan Stowell restaurant on the previous visit. We purchased Ethan Stowell's cookbook last year, so we had even more reason to try out his food this time. And being located in Ballard, Staple & Fancy was the logical choice. Chrissy and Kevin decided to share a first course and an entree, as did Steve and I. For that first pasta course, Steve and I chose the tagliarini with clams, pictured below. It just seemed like an Ethan Stowell dish to me with the fresh pasta and the seafood. It was spicy from the red chiles, but the housemade pasta was great. Meanwhile, Chrissy and Kevin shared the gnocchi. For our entrees, both couples ended up getting the strip loin with apricots and goat cheese. I thoroughly enjoyed it. What's not to like about stonefruit and goat cheese with steak? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

196/366 staple & fancy dinner

That wraps up the first half of the Seattle trip. More in the next post!

leaving seattle

And finally, it's time to leave Seattle.  Our last day there was really just a morning.  We had decided to get up a little earlier and head back to Tom Douglas Land for one last breakfast. 
  

tom and his fish

   

We had eaten at Lola for breakfast on Friday morning, but on Tuesday morning, we went across the street to Dahlia Bakery for a quicker bite.

 

dahlia bakery & breakfast

  

Steve got some coffee, and we shared a chocolate eclair and a coconut cream pie bite while sitting at one of those tables outside.  The eclair was relatively small, but it was good.

  

pie bite

 
I wanted to try the coconut cream pie bite, because the Dahlia Lounge's coconut cream pie was supposed to be amazing.  The pie bite had all those layers of coconut filling, whipped cream, and coconut and white chocolate on top; but in the end, I think it would have been better in standard pie form.  The crust to filling ratio was off: there was just a little too much crust and not enough room for the various coconut creams.  And obviously, the tasty filling is the reason for pie.  The crust shouldn't overshadow that.
 
Walking back to the hotel, I took a moment to notice the random trees growing in the middle of downtown.  Cool.  I can't think of too many other cities that have that.  SF certainly doesn't have huge trees growing in the financial district.
 

a tree grows in seattle

 
We also made one last stop on the rooftop deck at the hotel.  I think I prefer the light in the evening shot from the night before, but I got a ferry in this one.
  

morning market

  

And that is the last of the Seattle pictures.  We went back to the room, packed everything up, and checked out.  From there, we walked our luggage to the lightrail station and caught the train back to SeaTac Airport.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I ate the rest of my chocolate chip cookie from Delancey on the plane home to SF.  It was a fitting farewell.

 

Overall, we had a great trip.  We were happy to find that Seattle is a good food town with some quality restaurants.  It definitely doesn't have the embarrassment of riches that we have in San Francisco, but we ate at some wonderful places—Poppy and Delancey being our favorites.  And there are plenty more that we didn't get to visit on this trip.  I still have a list of restaurants for our next visit, although we have no idea when that would be.

 

As far as neighborhoods go, we hit a several of them: Pike Place & downtown, Belltown, Capitol Hill, Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, and a tiny bit of Ballard.  For the next trip, more exploration of these (and others) may be needed, especially Ballard, since we didn't actually see the main drag there.  There were also numerous coffee shops and ice cream places that we didn't get to try, because we were always too full or saving room for dinner.

I probably wouldn't want to live in Seattle—too much rain/drizzle/cold for too much of the year—but it is a fabulous city to visit.  I highly recommend it. 

I leave you with some stats.  (Perhaps now it will be obvious why my feet were always so tired and why it took so long to post all the pictures after the trip.)

  

Approximate Miles Walked
Thursday: 3.1 miles
Friday: 7.1 miles
Saturday: 3.7 miles
Sunday: 6.1 miles
Monday: 7.6 miles
Tuesday: 0.9 miles

Total: 28.5 miles

Pictures Taken: about 2,800 :)

queen anne & the pintxos

Monday afternoon, after checking out Seattle Center, Steve and I walked up to Queen Anne.  And by "up," I mean "up."  We climbed a monster hill on Queen Anne Ave N to get to the main commercial area of the neighborhood.  It was like the worst stretch of hill that we often walk up in our neighborhood, except that it went on for about 7 blocks.  We saw someone on a bike that was going about as fast as we were walking.

When we finally made it up the hill, we found that Queen Anne was pretty nice.  It was quite noticeably quieter than the other neighborhoods had been (and less edgy too), perhaps because of that hill.  Anyway, we found a cute diner that had been on my list of lunch places at one time.  We had already eaten lunch that day, but I took a picture of the sign, since I liked it.  This was also about the time that I realized just how many neon signs we had seen on our trip.  Seattleites must like neon signs.
 

five spot

Walking around, we stopped at a toy store called Once Upon a Time on Queen Anne.  It was a nice-sized house that had been converted into a toy store.  The downstairs seemed like a normal boutique toy store with the typical strollers and things, but the upstairs was more surprising.  There were several rooms, each devoted to something different: books, games, dinnerware with designs, dress-up clothes, etc.  We looked around for a while, but we ended up coming back downstairs and buying greeting cards, of all things.  We found some adorable birthday cards, cuter than many that I've seen in San Francisco, so we stocked up.  Afterward, I took a picture of the wooden animals in the store's window.
  

two by two

We continued up Queen Anne Ave, passing a fancy grocery store and another restaurant that's on my list for next time: How to Cook a Wolf.  It's the Ethan Stowell restaurant that had the most appealing menu to me, but we weren't going to be around Queen Anne at dinner time on this visit.

Coming to the end of the commercial area, we crossed the street and turned around.  We looked around at a game store, and then we found Chocolopolis, a chocolate store.  Steve and I each picked a truffle to try, and we sat down to eat them.  His wasn't memorable, but mine—adzuki bean, white ganache, and raspberry—was really good.  We ended up buying a little box of truffles that included another adzuki bean truffle and others from the same collection.
  

fancy chocolat

Because we were due for another coffee shop, part two of our afternoon snack was at Caffe Fiore, down a side street.  Of course, coffee didn't actually sound that good to me at the time.  It seemed a shame not to take advantage of the high quality coffee, but all I really wanted was a big glass of water.  So Steve got a cappuccino, and I got up to refill my water glass a few times. 
 

caffe fiore & inside

From there, we walked to Kerry Park.  It's a park in the middle of a Queen Anne residential area, and it has one of the best views of the Seattle skyline.
  

kerry park view

I took some pictures, Steve stood in the middle of the big sculpture, and that was about it.  As far as scenic overlooks go, it was a good one.
  

steve & scenic overlook

I had read about another overlook a few short blocks away, so we decided to check that out next.  On the way, we walked through the neighborhood and ogled a few gorgeous houses.
 

picturesque

The second scenic overlook was facing more westward, so the view was of Smith Cove, rather than downtown Seattle.
  

alternate viewpoint

Kitty corner to the overlook, there was a public garden.  We did a quick pass around the place and found it to be small, but charming.
  

parsons memorial gardens & little flowers

It was pretty much just a circular path through some trees, around a little clearing, but they had some nice poppies for me to photograph.
 

poppy meadow

Retracing our steps, we walked back to Kerry Park and then headed down the hill, taking quieter streets through the neighborhood rather than Queen Anne Ave.  That way, we got to see some more fun houses on our way.  We were trying to get to 2nd Ave in Belltown, but we ended up detouring through the Seattle Center again, since 2nd Ave didn't go straight through from Roy St.  In the process, we found a fountain set to music and a skate park (no interesting pictures to post of that).  Finally, we reached Belltown.
 

now entering

We walked down 2nd Ave, passing Chrissy and Kevin's apartment building and reaching our dinner destination.  It was about 5pm—a little early for dinner—but we were hungry already.  And since our feet were tired from walking all day, it made sense to eat while we were near the restaurant, rather than having to walk back and forth again later.

The restaurant in question was Pintxo, named after the Basque version of Spanish tapas.  I came across a restaurant named Txori while I was doing my research for the trip.  It sounded like our kind of place, and the pictures I found on Flickr looked great, so I put it on our list.  This was probably around March.  Then, when I got back into serious trip planning mode in May, I found out that Txori had closed.  But, wait!  A couple of their regulars were opening their own very similar restaurant (Pintxo) in the same space that very week! 

The story gets more interesting, though.  When I emailed my "to do/go/eat" list to Kevin and Chrissy, they told me that a friend of theirs was one of these new owners and that they were planning to have their rehearsal dinner at Pintxo.  That pretty much cemented Pintxo's spot on my list.  We were invited to the rehearsal dinner on Friday, but I conferred with Chrissy and decided that we would skip it and go ourselves on Monday.  It worked better for our schedule and saved their families some money.
  

pintxo & pea spread

When we arrived at Pintxo, we were the only ones there.  Sadly, their outdoor seating in the back wasn't open, so we didn't get to sit out there.  (The weather had gone from sunny and warm to a little chilly and threatening to rain.)  Instead, we sat at a tall table with a view of the little kitchen and bar.

pintxo kitchen

  

We were served some crostini with a pea spread to start (see above).  The pea spread was good, but the toasts seemed a little stale.  Meanwhile, we looked over the menu and tried to decide what to order.  I let Steve take the lead on this one, and our first dish was the Rice Morcilla.

Rice Morcilla  

3 seared slices topped with piquillo peppers, popcorn, bittersweet chocolate, paprika salt

  

rice morcilla

They were slices of sausage with several unexpected things on top.  The piquillo peppers weren't surprising, nor was the paprika salt, but I certainly wouldn't have thought to pair all that with popcorn and bittersweet chocolate.  I really liked it.

Next, we got couple bacon-wrapped dates, but more on those later.  After those came the pork belly dish that Steve wanted to try:
 
Pork Belly with Garbanzo Beans
Slow roasted pork belly served on a bed of spiced garbanzo beans stewed in vegetable broth
  

pork belly with garbanzo beans

It was just okay.  I don't go wild over pork belly anyway, but Steve didn't think the skin was crisp enough.  The beans and broth were good, but again, the bread was a little stale.

We tried a bocadillo (sandwich) next:
 
Prosciutto Sandwich
Olive spread, roasted peppers, and a young manchego cheese atop locally baked bread
  

bocadillo

The combination of flavors was good, but the bread was a weak link.  Hopefully it was just an off day; otherwise, they really need to get a better source for their bread.  (Daily.)
 
We continued Steve's survey of all things pork with some sliders.

Pork Sliders
Stewed in vegetable broth with cayenne, lemon juice, cinnamon on brioche with chimichurri

chalkboard & sliders

I enjoyed these, and I don't remember having issues with the bread for once.  Mostly, I just remember the pork having a nice combination of acid, sweetness, and porkiness.

Continuing our second round of food, we had some steamed clams and mussels.
  
Steamed Clams and Mussels
Penn Cove Mussels and Manila Clams steamed in a Garnacha Rose and vegetable broth
  

steamed clams and mussels

 
Clams and mussels: good.  Bread: meh.  That about sums it up.
  
At this point, it was time for dessert.  None of the desserts really called out to me, so we just requested another order of the bacon wrapped dates that we had had earlier.
 
Bacon Wrapped Dates
Sweet dates stuffed with a creamy goat cheese and wrapped in bacon
  

dessert

 
Our first order was only two dates, but they doubled it for our second order.  It was a perfect ending for our dinner.  Bacon-wrapped fruit is always a good idea, especially stuffed with goat cheese.  Usually, we do plums at home, but the dates worked perfectly too.  Best part of the meal.
  
We dragged ourselves back to the hotel after dinner and made one more stop at the fifth floor viewing deck.  I had taken pictures there after dinner on Friday night, but these came out better.
 

deck view

   

So that was the view from the deck of the Inn at the Market.  After that, we were really happy to go back to our room and not do much the rest of the evening.

Total miles walked that day: approximately 7.6 

manic monday

Monday was our last full day in Seattle, and it was also one of our busiest.  For breakfast, we headed to Top Pot Doughnuts' downtown location for some "hand-forged" doughnuts.  It's a nice airy shop with lots of seating and cool bookshelves.

 top pot & inside top pot

  

I've had two specific doughnut (donut?) cravings the last few years: the cherry-glazed doughnuts that we used to get at Dawn Donuts in Lansing when I was a kid (before it closed) and the plain cake doughnuts that I've gotten more recently at Uncle John's Cider Mill in St. Johns, MI.  With the exception of the occasional creatively-flavored doughnut at Dynamo Donuts, I really don't eat many of them at home in SF.  Probably a good thing.  Something about the normal doughnut store that I pass on the walk to Noe Valley just doesn't appeal to me—too greasy, I think.

  

Anyway, all of this is to say that Top Pot was a good opportunity to satisfy that craving for a good, classic doughnut.  Since they didn't have cherry ones, I went for the plain old fashioned.  I'm not sure what the difference is between the "old fashioned" and a plain circular cake doughnut, but the old fashioned ones are more aesthetically interesting.  I got a mocha to go with it, and it was the perfect combination.  The doughnut was fresh and cakey, with a slightly crisp exterior, and it had just enough sugar to stand up to the mocha without being too sweet.

 

old fashioned

  

Steve got an apple fritter.  It was good, but it wasn't going to win any beauty contests.  (Steve probably wouldn't either, but he does just fine.)

  

apple fritter & steve

  

The walk to Top Pot was the one time during the trip when I wished I had brought my umbrella.  Since I hadn't used it much up to that point, I figured I'd be fine without it.  It was only kind of borderline raining, but by time we got to the doughnut shop, my hair was sticking to my face a little and my white jacket was smudged with black from the strap of my camera bag.  Thankfully, it had stopped drizzling by the time we finished our breakfast, so we didn't have to walk back in the rain too.

  

The game plan for mid-morning and lunch was to do Pike Place Market.  We were staying so close, and we had spent some of Saturday morning there, but we didn't really feel like we had fully explored the place yet.  Plus, we hadn't actually found the gum wall on Saturday morning.  We had narrowed it down to a specific section of Post Alley, however, so it was pretty easy to find on Monday morning.

 

gum wall

  

The gum wall is just what it sounds like: a wall with gum.  You can see that it's right outside Market Theatre, so it was most likely started by people waiting in line there.  From humble beginnings, it's become a popular—and disgusting—tourist stop.  We weren't the only ones there taking pictures, even on a weekday.

 

me & abc

  

We also had to find the home of the famous flying fish.  We gathered that said place was Pike Place Fish, mostly because we caught sight of one in the air.  There was a small crowd watching, but no more fish flew.  They only throw them if someone actually orders one, and tourists don't buy too many whole fish.  They don't travel very well.

   

  

pike place fish

  

We walked around the main level of the main building next, which we had mostly missed on Saturday.  There were plenty of flowers and fruit to go with all the seafood.  On the side of the main building and outside, there were also several vendors selling craft-type items.

 

rainbow of pigs

  

Heading toward lunch, we passed the "original" Starbucks.  (The original moved to this location in 1976, after 5 years at a different spot about a block away.)  We definitely didn't get coffee there, since we had better places on our list.  I wasn't planning on taking pictures of it either, but there was this trio playing outside.  Because they were so awesome, I made an exception.

 

original starbucks

  

First on my lunch list was Beecher's for some of their macaroni & cheese.  It uses their Flagship cheddar and "Just Jack" cheese, and most people seem to like it.  We got a 16oz. container to share.  It was quite good, but I didn't think it was the "World's Best" as they claimed.  It's got nothing on Thomas Keller's macaroni gratin from the Bouchon Cookbook.

  

mac & cheese

  

I was thinking that we'd share some mac & cheese and still be hungry for something else.  So we'd go get some chowder or some dessert from one of the other places at the market.  That didn't happen.  We were full enough from just the pasta.  That's the downside of going on vacations that have such an emphasis on food: you're never hungry enough to eat everything you want to try.

   

Instead of more eating at Pike Place, we left for some sightseeing at Seattle Center.  We made the very wise decision of taking the monorail there, since it was only a few blocks to the Westlake end, and it saved us about a mile of extra walking.  (It was wise, because I spent half of the Seattle trip with tired and aching feet from all the walking we were doing.)

 

at the station & monorail ride

  

Riding the monorail meant that we got to Seattle Center pretty quickly, and I got a few extra pictures in.  It was also cool to "experience" the Experience Music Project building by riding through a tunnel in it.

 

monorail tunnel

  

When we got off the train, we were next to the EMP building, near the foot of the Space Needle.  Cue obligatory Space Needle picture.

 space needle

We didn't bother going up.  Steve doesn't like heights, and I've heard that it's overrated for the amount of money you have to pay.  I was happy to stay at the bottom and take pictures of the thing.  If we had had more time in town, I might have tried to go to the Columbia Center, which has a much cheaper viewing deck.  From there, one can take pictures with the Space Needle actually in the shot.

   

There were plenty of pictures to be taken from the ground anyway.  The little amusement park there looked mostly closed, but I was glad to get a chance to take some artsy-vintage-type shots of the rides.

 

long line of cars & carousel (not up on flickr)

  

Fun, huh?

  

fun

  

Once I was done dragging Steve around that area, we walked around the Experience Music Project building a little.  No, we didn't go in; we just walked around the building.  It's a Frank Gehry design, so the outside itself is pretty awesome.

 

experience frank gehry

  

Inside, there's the music museum and the science fiction museum.  Those probably would have been pretty interesting, but we had limited time and other places to be.  The Queen Anne neighborhood awaited us.