Seattle, the [Un]Rainy City

For all of the times that we had flown to and from Alaska in the three years living there, neither Steve or I had ever stepped foot outside of the SeaTac airport. Visiting Seattle was always on our radar, but never a top priority. So, for our 1st anniversary, we decided to tack it on to our trip back up to Alaska. When we were invited to friends' wedding just outside of Seattle over the holiday weekend, it became a done deal.

We stayed in Belltown, a very hip section of downtown Seattle. I definitely recommend staying in this part of the city, as we were within walking distance from the main attractions, such as the Pike Place Market and Space Needle, the waterfront and many different restaurants.

Allow me to walk you through our four(ish) days in the "rainy" city...

Day 1:

We checked into our hotel (Ace Hotel) and headed out in search of brunch and some Seattle coffee. We needed it, especially after waking up at 3:00am, to fly out of Anchorage at 5:00am. We found ourselves at Local360, a locally sourced cafe and market, with delicious coffee, home fries and chicken fried steak.

After we were fuelled up for what was going to be a long day, we headed down to Pike Place Market  to see what all of the hype was about. The hype is legit, filled with local produce, fish, fresh flowers and artisans, it's a pretty cool place, and also very busy.

For dinner, we ended up at Pike Brewery, located right in the Market. Couldn't pass that one up.

Day 2:

After picking up the rental car, we hopped on the highway and drove south to Olympia, WA for for our friends' wedding. It was amazing to be at their wedding, because we had the opportunity to see their relationship begin just a few years before in Alaska.

Day 3:

After driving back from the wedding early to make the most out of the day, we decided the best way to see the city would be with the Seattle CityPASS.  While not too pricey at $64 per adult, we definitely made sure to get our money's worth. We took an Argosy Cruise through Elliot's Bay, which provided views of Seattle's waterfront, toured the Seattle Aquarium and got a bird's eye view of the city from atop the Space Needle.

Lunch was at Elliot's Oyster House, right on the waterfront at Pier 56. We sampled a variety of Washington and BC oysters, paired perfectly with a local IPA.

For dinner, we stumbled across the Anthony Bourdain recommended 5 Point Cafe, for burgers, fried Beecher's cheese curds (genius idea by the way), and more local IPAs.

Day 4:

We continued to empty the Seattle CityPASS ticket book, by hitting up the Experience Music Project and Pacific Science Centre. 

We wanted to make the most out of our last day in the city, so we hit up the first Starbucks, and waited in the crazy long line just so we could say we went. 

Happy hour was calling our names, so we indulged in $1 oysters back at Elliot's, of course paired with a local brew, then went back to the 5 Point Cafe for the same meal we had the night before, but for less than half the price. We're not usually creatures of habit and definitely like to try new things, but these restaurants were just too good not to go back. Gotta love happy hour! 

I am now a total believer in Seattle, and am very glad we made it a destination on our trip. In the four(ish) days, we successfully checked off every destination on our Seattle bucket list. And for the record, it didn't rain the entire time we were there.

Have you ever been to Seattle? What was your favourite part?

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