08/17/17- For my 40th birthday we decided to do what I really enjoy doing the most in this world… traveling. We had unused mileage with American Airlines and looked at a few places where we could spend them when I came across the idea of hitting up Seattle for the first time.
With that said, I was able to check-in with my Alaskan Airlines flight (partnered with AA) yesterday so our seats were all picked out. We woke up at 2am, got ready pretty fast, drove out a little after 3am and made to our airport parking (Custom Hotel) about 3:40am. I did not know this, however, they do not usually start their shuttles until 5am, however our flight leaves at 6am. Luckily the guy there understood our situation and took us the five minutes down the road to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We were tempted to call an Uber, but it all worked out.
Checked-in our bag, went through security and boarded our flight in time. Due to congestion we did leave twenty minutes late, but made up the time in the air. The two plus hours went by fast as I was able to get some sleep. It’s strange to fly this short of a distance and be ready to hit the ground running. Usually, we have a long flight over seas and a second flight to jump on.
Getting our bag was easy, but finding the right transportation into town was a bit more challenging. Taxis cost around $50 and a shuttle $37 per person (Which seems odd to me). We checked around and found a link train that took us into downtown (Westlake Station) for only $3 each. Bingo!
Once we got to our stop (which took about thirty-five minutes) we called our hotel and they picked us up for free with their shuttle service. We were very pleased with this as our vacation is already starting off very nicely.
The hotel we chose was the Hyatt House Downtown. With my Hyatt card and points I was able to book all four of our nights absolutely for free and get a very nice room with a kitchenette, living room and free breakfast all included. Lucky for us they had our room ready by the time we got there at 11am. And let me tell you it looks awesome. We were able to rest our legs for a tiny bit, but very careful not to get too comfortable as we felt the tiredness may impede us from leaving the room.
The morning time was filled with clouds, obscuring the skyline and leaving a cold breeze to hit us. But quickly it began to clear up as the blue skies poked its head out. We were worried that we may not be able to do a few things today, but once the sun came out we were ready to roll.
As we left the hotel we see the space needle directly across the street. We are THAT close. I couldn’t ask for a clearer sky to take my photos and was ready to check out the top to see what Seattle has to offer. We go up to the ticket kiosk and find a timed-ticket time for only twenty minutes later. This gave us time to look at souvenirs before going up to the top. We thought about doing the restaurant, but I really didn’t want to spend a few hours and money just to revolve around while eating.
Didn’t take us long to get to the top and soon were met by some of the clearest views of a city I can remember seeing. I think only New York gave me this great of a view before. Also, the walkway actually goes outside allowing you to get crisp photos without a glass in front of you. We were very happy with this and enjoyed what we could before starting to feel the hunger pains kick in.
Once we got back down to ground level, we went out in search for food and found a cool taco place nearby. The food was excellent and they had everything on a happy hour menu. I just may go back to this place once again before we leave this city.
Not wanting to go back to our hotel just yet, we continue exploring around the space needle and hit up a glass blowing exhibit. The cost was $29 per person but we were able to cut it down to $20 with our combined tower ticket. It didn’t disappoint as the glass exhibits were mind boggling beautiful, almost something out of a Dr Suess book.
Satisfied with our time, we head back to our hotel and collect our free drinks. Yup, that’s right. The hotel even compensated us four free alcoholic drinks from their bar (Which we used two tonight) and free water bottles. I am so loving this place. We took our drinks to the rooftop and had a gorgeous view of the space needle and surrounding city as the sun started to set. We even were able to play a game of cornhole.
Exhausted, we came back down to our hotel and rested up for the night. I did go back out to get some evening and night shots (as I didn’t want to wait another day and have something come to where I couldn’t get what I wanted).
08/18/17- The hot breakfast at the hotel was perfect. French toast, sausage and seasoned potatoes hit the spot. They also had an omelet bar but it was going to take thirty minutes before it was ready. Tomorrow may be better for that. I was even able to take a few bananas to go just in case we got hungry while walking. We were unsure how the weather would be as it appeared cold to start but knew it would soon warm up. We decided to wear our shorts but still bring a jacket just in case.
Our first destination was towards the water front to see the Olympic Sculpture Park. It was free to walk around and interesting to say the least. I even saw a photo shoot happening which brought flashbacks to my work.
Next spot was to Pike’s Market. After leaving the sculpture park we ran right into a Hempfest Event as they were setting up. You could already smell the pot and people were starting to arrive. You could also tell the people that were there as tourist and those there for the weed as their demeanor and dress gave them away.
A few blocks down, and after seeing a little bit of the scenery of the water, we found an elevator that took us up to the upper street level. Around the corner was Pike’s Market. It was at this time when the sun was coming out. Enough so where our jackets were no longer needed. The streets here were lined with every different kind of shop you can think of. Most of them were booths selling local souvenir items and such (which actually looked pretty cool). I was able to find a thick, black leather bracelet for $33. Seems very expensive to me for this and they accepted cash only, but it was handmade and I really liked it.
Further down we run into where they are selling the fish and meats. We heard about them throwing the fish after a purchase but didn’t see them doing any of that. Feeling tired at this point we decided to use my free birthday drink coupon at Starbucks and rest our legs.
While sitting, we decided to look up whether this was one of the original locations and soon found that it was not far from us. Once we got there we saw a pretty decent line outside for it. Thinking it was only for the coffee lovers, but once we got inside to get only a souvenir mug we find that the line was mainly for that reason. We decided to by pass this as we didn’t want to waste some of our day waiting around, so we walked around the corner to get some clam chowder at a nicely rated restaurant. That took had a line that extended around the building. With hungry stomachs we knew this is where we wanted to eat, so I told Sharece to wait in this line and I’ll go back and wait in the Starbucks line to get that mug she wanted. The mug that said First Starbucks seemed like a pretty cool one to me and it may not be available on-line to get later.
The line for Starbucks was actually not that long as it went pretty fast. When I got to the front of the line, the guy there asked where I was from. When I said Los Angeles he did a double take of me as I was wearing a fedora hat and sunglasses. “Are you famous”, he asks which prompts me to respond, “In my own circle.” I’m still wondering if he is trying to figure out who I am.
Got the mug and met Sharece at the front of her line. Even though there was limited seated, Sharece found a spot at the restaurant and sat down. When a worker asked her about trying to save the seat she pointed to me (at the counter getting my food no less) that I was right there. He still stated she had to wait until I actually got my food before seating. Well, that wasn’t very nice. In either case, I got my order and the table was still available. The food was excellent. We split a large bowl and probably could have eaten more, but I didn’t want my stomach to pay for it later as we were still walking around. We venture back over to the fish market to finally see them throwing the fish around. Fun!
Next stop was towards Pioneer Square. On the way we hit up a few souvenir shops and found one of those fortune teller machines like the one in the movie BIG. Of course I had to throw my money into it and watch it go. Didn’t agree fully with my prediction but that wasn’t the point.
At Pioneer Square we realized quickly that there was not much around to it. I was able to get some cool photos of old buildings, and if my legs weren’t already hurting I may have ventured around a bit more. Instead we cruised back down towards the water front to catch a view of the Ferris Wheel. There were quite a bit of interesting shops along the way which made the walk bearable. We definitely will have to come out this way again for night shots (or even to catch the ferry over to Bainbridge Island).
Feeling exhausted, we call up our hotel for a ride back but with the traffic and other people already getting rides, it was going to take almost an hour. Figuring we were only fifteen minutes walk out we thought best to just do it ourselves. Our legs did pay the price a bit more but we made it in one piece.
We rest up at our hotel for a few hours before going back out for dinner. We use the courtesy hotel shuttle once again to take us to another taco place. We enjoy our Mexican food very much so two days in a row is not uncommon for us. The food was actually pretty good and spicy, much to the chagrin of Sharece. They didn’t have the flour tortillas either for the tacos so she had to order a burrito, but asked them not to roll it so she could eat it like one. Very interesting moment.
Walking out of the restaurant, we travel a few blocks towards the lake. On the way I swore I saw Michael Phelps sitting down at an outside table, looking at his phone with his hood over his head. I wonder!
The lake was interesting but not that photogenic, so we didn’t stay long. Instead we walked the fifteen minutes back towards the space needle and caught a night time look at the International Fountain. It was huge! Much bigger than what I saw in pictures and shooting up into the air in all directions. There were kids running around into the fountain pit trying to touch it before the water sprayed back out towards them. Apparently it rose and fell to music playing which made it a nice touch. The lit up space needle was in the backdrop as well. Gorgeous way to end the night.
Continued: The hotel compensated us a free bottle of wine and brought it up to our room.
08/19/17- We had our rental car with Enterprise set to pick up at 8am, however, since the wineries we wanted to go to didn’t start until about 10am we decided to sleep in a bit longer. We ate our breakfast, Sharece got her omelet this time, and called for them to pick us up from our hotel. Enterprise unfortunately said that due to an influx of cruise ship passengers that it wouldn’t be for a few hours. He did tell us that if we got an Uber that he would take that price off of what we are charged for the car. I could live with that.
My first ever Uber ride was in Paris only last month, so I feel much more confident in taking one in the US. I brought up the app and ordered one, only to find out that he was literally right down the road and would be here in one minute. We weren’t even out of our hotel room yet. Luckily we already had our things together and it took us no time to snag an elevator and meet him outside.
Since it was an Uber Pool, we did have other passengers in the car which we made friends with fast. Turned out it was the guys birthday on the 18th. Doesn’t take long before we are dropped off at Enterprise. We tell him the ride was $6 and he takes off $10 from our bill for the trouble. I figured no trouble at all as it was quite convenient but I’ll take it.
As we are getting our car, there was a sales lady trying to upgrade us to a sports car. We were not interested in that as we were happy with the economy car we originally chose- no need to pay an extra $25 plus more gas. Soon we were on our way and in thirty-five minutes we made it to our first winery (Chateau Ste Michelle) in Woodinville.
This place was quite large and very beautifully laid out. Reminded me of a Napa winery and was quite surprised by this. We enter the tasting room and make our way to the bar. It takes a few moments of wait time before we are served, but the wines were quite nice. We chose the Riesling flight, which some were still drier then I like, but the Late Harvest Riesling was very good (even though it was only 8% alcohol).
After about an hour we then make our way to our second location (Airfield Winery). This was a smaller place and more like a true wine bar setting. With the tastings (which were only $5 each here) we ordered a cheese plate that paired nicely with some of their wines they served. This place you could tell that the servers were pre-occupied with the amount of customers they had so not much one-on-one service. Still nice enough to stay an hour.
Down the road we hit up our next destination only to find that they no longer serve their sweet wines as listed on their website. Politely we ask if there are any places they recommend and were guided down the road to a place called Silver Lake Winery. Here, our server had an accent and talked quiet and fast at times which through us off a bit. Also the wines were served in plastic cups (and not wine glasses) which really felt weird. I think I could have forgiven this if the wines served were to my liking, but unfortunately they weren’t. None-the-less we find our way over to our last destination (Patterson Cellars). This place was very busy but we had no problem getting served when we needed it. The wines here were okay but still I am more of a sweet wine drinker. Not very many options for that in this area.
It’s now after 4pm and we make our way back to Seattle. I drop Sharece off at the hotel, fill up a few dollars in gas, and set my GPS for the car rental return. Strangely, my GPS picks now to start acting up and with the construction and one way streets found myself circling a bit. I decided to turn off the navigation and go by how the ancient people did it- by looking at the actual street signs myself. Didn’t take long before I found the garage. Easy parking at the night drop and a simple fifteen minute walk to the hotel.
Upon entering the room, I am surprised to see a chilled bottle of Champaign on the counter with some cupcakes and a happy birthday sign. Sharece pops up around the corner and sets off one of those party poppers towards me spraying confetti everywhere. I love her and what she does!
We take this time to rest up for a few hours. Once 9pm rolls around we realize how hungry we were. Looking around for a place we find many restaurants closing before we could effectively get there. I did want to eat somewhere to finish off the night, but thought the waterfront would be an awesome place to see night views. After a bit of searching I stumble across Ivar’s Acres of Clams. The prices seemed quite high on their menu but they did have some decent food that we were craving.
I make a reservation for 10pm through opentable.com and then ordered an Uber to take us there. We got an Uber pool again for a cheaper price and it’s quite interesting to talk to complete strangers this way. Our journey was delayed a bit as they had a section of Pikes Market closed down. When we got to the front we saw a boxing match set up street style with a DJ and ring in the middle of the intersection. Very strange. I almost asked the driver to drop us off here, but I really wanted to eat.
We arrive at our restaurant right at 10pm. After we are seated I run outside to grab a few night shots of the wheel, just in case it shuts off before we are done. As soon as I got back our food was ready. At the end of our meal we asked the waiter for dessert and he said they actually didn’t have any that day (for whatever reason). He sat down next to us (knowing it was my birthday) and said, “The meals on me.”
Sharece and I looked at each other stunned. I know it’s late and they are closing soon but that was a very nice thing that just happened. I’m still spinning my head over that one. We end the night taking a few selfies of us with the wheel in the backdrop and called an Uber to take us back to our hotel.
Three days down and one to go. So far this has been an awesome trip. The stay here at the Hyatt House has been nothing but awesome. The bed is a refresher at night as it’s one of the most comfortable I’ve experienced. The room has a complete apartment feel and the shower is absolutely wonderful. I’ve never been one for luxury but I could get use to this.
08/20/17- Ughhh, officially a year older now. I know forty is just a number and I don’t feel it at all, it’s still a constant reminder that I am past my youth. *Sigh!* Slept in longer than the previous days but still made breakfast before they closed. Today was Biscuits and Gravy day which was a nice treat for me.
We took our food up to our room and searched around for what we wanted to do today. The list included the gravesite of Bruce Lee, Seattle Public Library and a city shot from a distance. Originally we thought about taking the ferry over to Bainbridge Island, but saw that Kerry Park was only a mile away from us and had a very nice view of both the skyline and the mountains. Happy with our decisions we call another Uber to take us to the gravesite.
As we enter the vehicle we instantly smell the stench of pot. At first I thought it was the driver, but apparently the other passenger that was already in the car had the smell on him. Either way we put up with it for the duration of the drive. The driver did point out a few points of interest for us which worked out because once we got to the gates of the cemetery we find it to be closed. Apparently with the all of the protest around the country regarding confederate statues, they had issues at this cemetery with their own statues of this nature. We still got out at the location as there was more to do, but not without looking for an opening in the fence in hopes of sneaking into the cemetery. I thought better of it when I saw the barbed wire on top of the fence. They must really have this place on lock down.
We make our way through Volunteer Park and were impressed with the neighborhood. The houses were also all well kept and I’m sure very pricy. One I think went for an easy eight million. I did have to take a picture of me walking through the trees as if I was Big Foot (Sasquatch). I’m loving that picture.
Not far we make it to the water tower where you can get to the top for 360 degree city views. First we had to climb the 100 steps, which turned out quite easy for us. At the top there was some trees the obstructed our view of the space needle but it was an interesting sight to see.
Back on the ground floor, we call another Uber to take us to the public library. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this as this was suggested by Sharece, so I just went with it. Once there I could see why as the building itself was very uniquely shaped. Once inside we took a series of escalators and elevators to see all of the floors (which totaled about ten in all). One floor colored all in red, another floor was dedicated to computers while other floors had different genres of books.
On one of the upper floors we came across old phone books from the 1960s and had to flip through them. The advertisements alone were cool to see. We even came across an actual card catalog system, something that I haven’t seen since I was in school. The library was definitely a nice find and very cool to explore, but there did seem to be quite a few homeless people in there using the public restrooms and such.
Famished at this point we set our GPS for a nearby restaurant. We weren’t sure where to eat but this was by the water and thought at least there would be other places nearby. Our presumption was right because we did crave a burger and magically one appeared in front of us. The burgers were actually pretty good too, almost like In and Out Burger in LA. The strawberry milkshake alone was fantastic.
A few gift shops later we call yet another Uber to take us up to Kerry Park. Overall, Uber’s have been a life saver this trip. I never realized how much easier it is to get around this way and how less expensive it is to use. I will definitely have to remember this on future trips to places.
Kerry Park was loaded with people taking photos of the Seattle skyline. I was able to squeeze in to take some shots and the views were unforgettable. They even had an outdoor wedding right next to it that was cool to see. Since we were not far from our hotel and up on a hill, we decided to walk towards our hotel. I thought about calling another Uber as our legs began to ache again, but we managed to make it the whole way (just in time to get our free happy hour drinks from the hotel bar again).
Needing one more souvenir we venture across the street to the space needle to get it. Once the sun sets we ask the hotel to take the courtesy shuttle back up to Kerry Park for night shots of the city. Our request was to see if the driver could wait for us for a few minutes as we really didn’t want to spend a ton of time there, and then have to wait or pay for an Uber back. He was more than happy to help and even dropped us off at a market close to our hotel so we could get some breakfast items for tomorrow morning. Again very, very happy with this hotel choice.
The rest of the night was spent relaxing and getting ready for our flight home tomorrow morning. We have a very early wake up time which I am not looking forward to. Overall, our stay here in Seattle has been quite memorable. I never expected this city to offer so much and be so pleasant at the same time. I can definitely see the lure of living here, although we did happen to stay here at a very optimum time and got lucky with the weather. I’m sure when it rains often and gets really cold that this place is quite different. Either case it has been an awesome birthday weekend, one I will remember for the next forty years I am sure.
08/21/17- Seattle is done. Had only about four hours sleep before we had to get ready for our flight. Our bags were all pretty much packed already so no time wasted there. We do the on-line checkout with a ZERO balance (I love Hyatt and their reward points) and met the shuttle driver downstairs who took us to West Lake Station.
From there it was real easy to find the ticket kiosk and purchase our return trip to Sea-Tac Airport. Again only $6 total. The taxi would have charged us eight times more. As scheduled the first train arrives before 5am and we get to the airport with almost two hours to spare.
After printing out our tickets and bag tag, we go easily through security and find ourselves at the terminal in no time. Feeling tired, I could almost fall asleep on the chair but I knew our flight would be boarding soon. Luckily I had my sandwich for this morning and Sharece also brought coffee from the hotel.
Once we boarded the plane we were told by the captain that there was going to be over an hour delay. This suited me just fine as the eclipse was supposed to be happening and now I may be able to see it from the air. I used this time to fall fast asleep. We chose the aisle and window seat in hopes of having the middle open, and for awhile it was. That was until they loaded the rest of the passengers an hour later. Sharece gave up her aisle seat to sit next to me (as we planned in that case). Shortly after take-off the flight attendant told the woman next to Sharece that her husband has an empty seat next to him towards the front of the plane. Just like that we have the whole section to ourselves again.
I was able to sleep for most of the two hour long journey, but the hint of the eclipse kept gnawing at me. I had my professional camera out (which I normally do not do while flying) and was able to take some nice photos of the mountains and landscape for a spell, but I was unsure about how the eclipse would look. I tried to take a photo of the sun itself to see how it would turn out and I got a ton of window bubbles in the shot that would make it completely unusable. Too bad the airlines can’t clean their windows every now and then.
Getting close to peak time now and I happen to look outside the window to see the plane turning towards the right. This allows the sun to be in full view of me. Without hesitation I take a photo, blinded by the notion that I can’t stare right into the sun at all. I try to look through the viewfinder at the photo and find it hard to make out anything special, so I disregard the experience as “oh well”.
We land at LAX without any issues, go right to our gate, grab our bags (Which is a first as we normally fly in international and it takes forever to get that far) and call the Custom Hotel to tell them where to pick us up. Within ten minutes or so they arrive to take us to our parked car.
The rid in their shuttle was awful. You literally felt every bump on the road in this hunk of junk and it instantly turned my stomach. By the time we got out I was needing to eat something fast. Thankfully I still had half of my sandwich still left in the bag.
Home sweet home as we make it in about forty minutes. Traffic wasn’t bad at all although both of us are quite tired. After putting a few things away I look over my photos to see what I had captured and low and behold I got the photo of the eclipse. It’ smaller than I thought it would be and didn’t black out the sky at all, but it’s there. What a great way to end a perfect weekend.
END OF BLOG
