One Year Anniversary and Babymoon in Seattle

For our one year anniversary we decided to take a little trip over to Seattle.  We also tied in our “babymoon” into this trip however I think that type of trip is better suited for a relaxing time at a bed and breakfast or beach.  Babymoon aside, we had a great time.  We had always wanted to go to Seattle in hopes that it would be a cheaper alternative to San Francisco.  In a lot of ways it is, with lots of hills to walk up and down (we had no idea Seattle was so hilly), lots of fresh seafood, and small sleepy towns right outside the city. 

The first day, we woke up bright and early in order to catch our early flight.  We got pre-boarding due to the fact that I was pregnant.  Due to flying Southwest, that meant we got front row on the plane!

We ended up getting to Seattle at 11am and took the lightrail or “Link” from the airport to the city.  It’s a great and cheap alternative to getting a taxi.  We ended up having to walk about ½ a mile to our hotel.  It was chilly but the walk wasn’t too bad.  We checked in and unpacked and I laid down for about an hour before we decided to venture out and try to find lunch.  We ended up going down to Pike Place Market and I got very distracted with all the flowers that they offered. 

I couldn’t believe how amazingly beautiful those flowers were… and how cheap they were.  I told Mike if we lived here, we would have a new bouquet in the house every week.  I spent a good 45 minutes just admiring the flowers but we didn’t buy any because I didn’t want our allergies to act up in a small hotel room. 

We also ran across a little bakery with the biggest cookies I had ever seen (we got a PB cookie to share after lunch). 

We asked the bakery where the best Fish and Chips were at the Market and they pointed us in the direction of Jack’s Fish Spot.  We got an order of Cod n’ Chips, Prawns n’ Chips, and Mike ordered a side of Cioppiono (hoping it would resemble San Francisco’s). 

 Everything was very good, greasy, but good.  We then walked around some more and I started to get sleepy so we went back to the room, which was another trek uphill.  The first day, we did a lot of walking just because we didn’t know where everything was and we didn’t really realize how hilly Seattle was.  The following days we took taxis and buses.  

For dinner, we again walked to the market to find a good restaurant.  This is when we came across the gum wall.  I didn’t really know it existed so when I started to see lots of gum just splattered on the sidewalk and wall, I was a little grossed out.  But then I saw all the tourists chewing their gum rapidly and putting it on the wall.  We couldn’t resist and contributed to the public art wall.

We of course had to visit the famed "First Starbucks."  Mike is a big coffee fan so he got his usual Caramel Macchiato and a Pike Place coffee mug.

We already have a hard time deciding what to eat for dinner without me being pregnant (which has made me more picky) , so we walked a long time before I spotted a restaurant with a nice patio, I pointed and said, “we are just going to eat there.”  Turned out that patio belonged to the “Pink Door” restaurant. 

They didn’t have any tables inside, and at that point it was already really chilly.  They said they had blankets so we decided to just eat outside.  The restaurant has more of an Italian feel but it is really quirky with live entertainment ranging from live piano to burlesque dancers.  Mike ordered the Cioppino for dinner and I ordered the famous lasagna.  I was too concerned to eat much fish on this trip so I didn’t try Mike’s dish but he seemed to really enjoy it.  My lasagna was amazing.  When it first came out, I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat more than half of it but it ended up being all gone by the time we left.  It was very simple, spinach lasagna noodles, a cream sauce, and basil pesto but the taste was anything but simple. 

We forwent the dessert because we were getting so cold.  We caught a taxi back to the hotel for the night.

The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel and then took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island.  

My favorite picture of the trip!  Look at how much he loves me.

I was so excited to take a ferry!  We got some popcorn and hot chocolate from the little café onboard and went to the deck to see if we could spot any whales and take in the scenery.  No whales but the scenery was great. 

When we ported on the island we again ventured for somewhere to eat lunch and ended up at Doc’s Marina which was waterfront.  Mike had Dungeness risotto and I had the Crab Louise Salad. 

We then went to Blackbird bakery.  My family has always gone overboard at bakeries and I did not break tradition at this one.  We ordered five different desserts for the two of us.  Coconut Cream Pie, Apricot Almond Cream Cake, Raspberry Lavender Cream Cake, Bluebarb pie (blueberry and rhubarb), and a lemon ginger sandwich cookie.  All were sooo good. 

Mike got some coffee at this funky little joint.  It is actually an Absinthe bar... first I had ever seen.

As we were walking out we came across a march against Monsanto.  Lots of people chanting things like “Old McDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o.  With a round-up here, and a round-up there, everywhere a round-up, e-i-e-i-o”  There were a lot of different songs like that but that one was the one I took note of.  I did notice a whole lot more honeybees there than here in Colorado, which was really nice to see.

 We headed back to Seattle after that and took a long nap once we got back to the hotel.  For dinner we had a few mishaps again.  We decided to ask the concierge where to go for dinner.  They recommended a few restaurants and we eventually decided on going to BlueAcre in the shopping district of Seattle.  We walked down there and were seated right away.  We looked at the menu, ordered an appetizer (crab tater tots…which were amazing) ordered our dinner choices only to find out that both of our dishes were out for the night.  Mike got pretty peeved and I was frustrated.  We ended up getting our appetizer paid for but since I didn’t want to eat fish again we chose to find another place to eat. 

Us at BlueAcre before getting upset at the menu

We did run into some pretty painted trees though on our search for food.

Again, we walked and I started getting even more frustrated with the choices of restaurants close to us.  We ended up eating at Vito’s Restaurant.  This was an oldschool Italian restaurant with décor that had not been changed since it opened in the 70’s… disco ball and all.  I wasn’t very hungry so I ordered a caprese salad and Mike ordered Bolognese rigatoni.  He very much enjoyed his dish and mine was also very enjoyable.  We waited for the nightly entertainment and listened to 2 or 3 songs before we decided to call it a night.  I think I was really tired because I didn't take any pictures of this restaurant.  But it really was a good restaurant with a good vibe and atmosphere.

The next morning, which was our one year anniversary, we went to Ballard for their Sunday farmer’s market.  We took the bus there and boy was that an experience.  Not only was every single person on the bus “off their meds” crazy but the bus driver wasn’t taking any kind of crap from anyone.  Anywho, we made it safely to Ballard and walked over to the farmer’s market.  It was a very busy farmer’s market with lots of vendors.  They had everything from a butcher to a psychic reader there. 

We ate brunch at Bastille.  I ordered a Daisy #2 drink, challah French toast, and Mike ordered some sort of breakfast cast iron dish with a goose egg.  Everything was great, especially the service.  We headed back on the bus to Seattle and again took a long nap.

We actually had dinner planned out for our anniversary and we had reservations at Elliott’s Oyster bar.  Our waiter was very nice and knew it was our anniversary and also that I was pregnant, he made our experience very original and memorable.  Mike had his first raw oyster there and really enjoyed it and ordered another 2 for an appetizer.  

We ordered coconut prawns for an appetizer for the both of us.  I ordered Crab Cakes and Mike ordered his favorite dish, a whole Dungeness Crab.  The coconut prawns were amazing!  When Mike’s dinner was about to come out, our waiter came by and made sure he had his bib on… even tied it for him.  

I was actually expecting only one or two crab cakes but the dish actually came out with  four.  I only ate about 1 ½ and Mike finished the rest. 

Mike loves crab and this one didn’t disappoint. 

For dessert we ordered a Carrot Cake and Lemon Cheesecake with blackberry sauce.  They were so yummy but we left two or three bites of each because they were just so big.  We even got a candle for our anniversary!

Our plane didn’t leave until 7pm so we had almost another whole day in Seattle.  This was the rainiest day we had. We really wanted to go to the Space Needle, so we went to the Seattle City Center.  We actually ran into a Folk Fair there with vendors of all kinds.  We had fun walking around there and ended up walking right into the Space Needle.  We also got to see the live fountain and we took my pregnancy pictures there.  We headed up to the Space Needle, it was cloudy but we still got to see a 360 view of the city. 

We went back to Pike Place market for the last time and had lunch at Beecher’s Cheese.  Mike had the spicy Mac n’ cheese and I had French Onion soup with a Breadtzle (very yummy).  We also waited in line at Piroshky-Piroshky and had a Cardamom Cinnamon twist.  We then headed back to the hotel to take a rest before heading home. 

We had a great time in Seattle even with the cold and dreary weather.  It is fun to go out and venture new cities but maybe not so much if you’re pregnant and easily fatigued.  Seattle is a great city with a lot to offer but I think we will stick to San Francisco for our west coast and “eating” vacations.