Seattle - May 30

Weather - definitely cool in the morning,

Cheese making!

makes me question my packing choices, the weather forecast said highs of 19-22 degrees, so I didn’t think I’d wish for my toque and gloves! When we set out yesterday around 10 it was downright chilly. All days seem to be foggy and overcast until about 1PM, when the sun appears, the socked-in-ness disappears, and it warms up significantly, still cooler than I anticipated. Today’s high was 19. 

Fish market 

For me, a vacation requires at least one lazy

Fish prices

morning every few days and this morning was lazy-ish. I spent about 20 min in the gym. I planned on being there for an hour or so, but the gym here is tiny and the 3 people already in the weights area made it crowded. I used a treadmill for a while hoping things would empty, but nope…I abandoned. 

Chef/guide

A late morning breakfast, followed by some reading before heading out for today’s Taste of Seattle tour. A group of 12 of us plus a chef/guide wandered around Pike’s Place Market for a couple of hours stopping 9 times to taste and hear stories. We sampled cheese and Mac and cheese, Filipino spring roll, rock fish, clam chowder, candied salmon, pizza ($38 for a smallish whole pie!), chocolates, truffle pesto, and tacos. Each was small, but at the end of the tour we felt relatively full. We also bought a frozen sangria which we were welcome to walk around with. According to our guide, we have Covid to thank for being

able to buy booze to go.

We also saw Seattle’s famous fish throwing fish market. The price for Chinook salmon was $35/lb! Chris brought back a ton of this when he went fishing a couple of years back!

So happy!!

The tour ended just in time for a happy hour refreshment and then back to the hotel for a nap.

Dinner was back across the street at Purple for their Tuesday night special…”pasta and wine for 2” this plus a salad and dessert was $75…not terrible.

Seattle - May 29

 

Pike Place Market

Today started with the Fairmont Olympic hotel’s included breakfast. We had $72/day for breakfast, which sounds ample, but…it was enough, including tax and tip, it just covered it. I had their Olympic breakfast (eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast) Chris had Eggs Benedict. Often hotel’s included breakfast is a buffet, which is much more practical, offering a wider selection, but this al a carte experience was relaxed, civilized and pleasant. 

Hammering Man

We booked “Seattle 101” as our first real activity, a 2 hour, “pay what you feel” walking tour to orient us to Seattle’s downtown. We saw and learned about Seattle’s historic centre, the waterfront and general downtown. There were many opportunities for photos of the skyline, landmarks and mountains. This tour also gave info about happy hours, restaurants and other Seattle activities. The guide was among the best of the million guides we’ve had in the past…the perfect balance of stories, pace, history and recommendations. This was a great way to start out time in Seattle. 

Next was a bit of shopping and back to the room for some down time before this evening’s Seattle Mariners baseball game. 

Smith Tower

According to Jake, “Seattle 101’s” guide, Seattle has a big Happy Hour culture…not terrible news for us. However, the terrible news for Seattle as he went on to explain is because post-pandemic downtown Seattle is 30% emptier and the restaurants and bars that remain are struggling to survive…hence the Happy Hour. None of this is a surprise and not exactly unique to Seattle. Long story short…we benefit. Today’s Happy Hour is at Salty’s on the water. We have 2 cocktails and bruschetta, not clams. We WANTED the clams, but they were out. We figured we could reach down into the water and touch some clams, but nope…bruschetta was going to have to do-it did, very tasty!

T-Mobile Stadium is about 2K from Salty’s. Of course we had to stop for a pre-game pint where we weren’t IDed, but were assessed as old enough. 

cool wall

The game was good, didn’t buy any Mariners gear, had a $12 Rainer beer, some chicken strips and that was that. We tried for one last stop on the way back to the hotel, but no luck-maybe Jake knew what he was talking about. We settled on a 500ml box of 7-11 wine and room service. 

That 7-11 was an interesting place. As Jake mentioned, downtown empties after work as no one lives here and

Happy Hour

there really is nothing drawing people. Today also happens to be Memorial Day so, we’ll see if anything changes for the rest of the week. We have noticed a significant homeless population all day in fact, but especially at night. I’m no stranger to homeless folks, people sleeping in doorways and other realities of downtowns, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone pull down their pants and get down to business right in front of me. I occasionally see the results of this business and when you gotta go, you gotta go, but this was something-definitely reminded me to be thankful I have somewhere to go. 

Yup

A room service club sandwich and glass of 7-11 wine hit the spot. Oh, and checking in on the election too. 

Calgary to Seattle - May 28

Despite being “retired” Chris and I seem to have a schedule that requires scheduling in vacation time. A couple of months back we looked at April, May, and June and saw that this week was the least booked. When it comes to vacations we are procrastinators! When we worked full time and were stuck with specific vacation dates we had things booked months in. Now with our schedules wide open, we somehow have less booked. Last weekend we figured if we didn’t book this it would be too late, so a couple of clicks later we were booked.

Is that a volcano in the background?

I don’t know if the airport was dead because it was a Sunday evening, but from the time we stepped foot in the airport, went through security, talked to the US customs, and were sitting with a drink in our hands 9 min passed. I have to say this is actually pretty typical for us when we leave from YYC. 

Although the flight is only 95 min, we jumped at the upgrade to premium economy…why not, at $65 we figured it was worth it. Being committed to carry on only, we didn’t benefit from the checked baggage, but had space the bigger seat provided, a couple of drinks, and some snacks.

A bit of research concluded that it would be easy to get to our downtown hotel on Seattle’s LRT. The original plan was for an Uber, but $60 vs $6, plus only small luggage and it was settled…public transit it would be! I always like taking public transit when away from home…it gives me a sense of accomplishment and a glimpse of local life. Of course public transportation takes longer 45 min rather than the 20 min Uber ride. One thing I didn’t expect was how hilly Seattle is…good thing we only had small suit cases to lug up a pretty steep hill to the hotel.

Never being to Seattle myself, there’s already a couple of things to like…1-it’s close, a 90 min flight, 2-we gain an hour. 

After the world’s quickest hotel check in, we unpacked (also quick due to carry on only) and headed across the street to Purple, a cool wine bar right across the street from the hotel for a bottle of wine and some shrimp. 

Next we wandered a bit to find our meeting point for tomorrow’s tour, found one last spot for late night happy hour and that was that.