Two Fridays ago, Willy and I set out for RH Restaurant & Bar in Hyatt's new Andaz West Hollywood hotel, which opened Jan. '09 on the Sunset Strip. For being a Hyatt Gold Passport member, Willy received a mailer that offered a "complimentary entrée when dining with another guest" (fancy talk for BOGO free).
Due to LAPD sobriety checks in Echo Park, our drive took longer than expected. RH offers valet parking but, even with validation, it's still $7, so we found a spot on the street. We parked by Cabo Cantina (where the meter was $1/hr) and headed two blocks west to the hotel, passing Miyagi's and Saddle Ranch.
To get to the restaurant, make a right once you enter the hotel. Before you will be this:
Everything is really open. There is no real entrance, no formal host/hostess stand, and you can see the chefs in the kitchen, the produce in the refridgerators, and all the wines along the wall (as seen in the left side of the above picture). RH is known for only serving the freshest market products. In addition to the usual bread and butter, we received fresh vegetables and dip. For an appetizer, we ordered oysters, which came with a delicious sausage. Ever since our trip to Seattle, Willy has turned into an oyster fanatic. If you have any oyster recommendations, please do share.
I followed the oysters up with a hanger steak. I ordered from a cool "market list" menu that listed the fresh market products of the day. With a pencil, you mark what you want (kind of like American dim sum) and it goes straight to the chef. With the hanger steak, I had asparagus, spinach, mushroom, and garlic and peppercorn sauce on the side. Willy had the market fresh fish, which on this day was sea bass off the coast of Santa Barbara. We also ordered "triple fried" french fries on the side, hopeful that it was somehow less unhealthy given the unmistakeable healthy theme of the restaurant. Willy also had a glass of Alondra Chardonnay and I finished with a cup of joe. To say the least, we were "unbutton your pants" full and left happy.
Cost Breakdown
$2.00 - Metered street parking on Sunset Blvd. for two hours
$69.90 - Dinner with 1 appetizer, 1 entrée (sea bass was complimentary), 1 side, 1 glass of wine, and 1 cup of coffee
---------
$71.90
Notes:
- RH Restaurant is on OpenTable.com
- For the full menu and prices, click here
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Las Vegas, NV, USA: 6/12/09 - 6/14/09
This was actually our 3rd time to Vegas this year and 4th in the last 6 months, so our primary goal this trip was to give me (Willy) some much needed R&R following the CFA exam the weekend prior.
Outside of gambling and taking it easy, we did do 2 new things: we watched The Price is Right LIVE! show at Bally's and had a nice dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Postrio, located in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian.
Day 1
If anyone from LA is wondering, we got on the 210 @ Santa Anita at 3:50PM and were able to reach Primm at exactly 7PM. We had dinner at the Primm Outlets at Cafe Koraku, a regular stop of ours and a place I highly recommend if you're looking for cheap and good asian food, specifically ramen & fried rice. For this trip, we stayed at the Venezia tower at the Venetian, for which I received a mailer for $79/night through June 30th. N.B. The Venezia has a separate check-in area on the 10th floor, but, if there's a backup there, I'd recommend checking in downstairs as there were only 1-2 awfully slow attendants available on the 10th, even on a Friday.
Day 2
After having a quick breakfast at San Gennaro Grill (located in the Venetian food court adjacent to the casino), we went to the Tix 4 Tonight half price show tickets booth just north of the Wynn to see what they had. We had been tracking prices for The Price is Right LIVE! show ($55+tax at the box office, $39+tax at bestofvegas.com) so we were excited when we saw it for $32+tax at Tix 4 Tonight. The show started at 2:30PM and, while there were a lot of people, it wasn't full. Our host for the day was the guy who did Supermarket Sweep. There were 5 bidding contests to get on the stage, 1 big wheel spinoff, and 1 showcase showdown. Uyen and I didn't get called down for any of the games, sadly, but the guy sitting right in front of me got called down for the first event, bid exactly correct and got $100, and got on stage (didn't win anything up there, but cool nonetheless)! One thing different from the show was that for each event, brand new people were called down, so they cycle through a lot more people. So, it was always 4 new people bidding, and the showcase and big wheel contestants weren't drawn from the people who had already gotten on stage. There was a car (Nissan Versa) available to be won in the showcase showdown, but a contestant had to come within 100 dollars of the actual price of the showcase to win everything. Otherwise, the contestant with the closest bid without going over won a Mexico cruise (one of the items in the showcase). Both contestants overbid on the day we were there, so nobody won anything in the showcase. All in all, a very enjoyable show (even though we didn't get called up); we learned quite a bit about the history of the show, our audience was very into it, and it was a good deal IMO for the 2 of us at $70. That said, it's not something the 2 of us would feel the need to do again unless it was with a large, interested group.
After the show, we had a quick snack at the Venetian food court (in the Canal Shoppes, where you can't charge to the suite btw, in case anyone is after resort loyalty points, like me) and then hung out at the Venezia pool deck (lots of kids this weekend - bleck!) until dinner, which was at Wolfgang's Postrio. We actually received a 25% off coupon to Pastrio in our suite on both nights, but the expiration date was 3/31/09. I called the concierge about this and got a rude woman who stated that it would not be accepted and the coupons shouldn't have been placed out in the first place. Undeterred, and definitely not pleased, we stopped by Postrio before heading out in the morning and was very pleasantly assured our discount would be honored. And it was, without a hitch. We had a bowl of the split pea soup with dungeness crab, crab/lobster cakes, 2 glasses of Malbec, the ribeye steak, and homemade mixed berry sorbet for dessert. Postrio also serves this awesome complimentary pita bread with hummus and some sort of olive oil/vinegar reduction w/ finely chopped olives. The steak was $48, which they split for us, but when we saw it we were worried that they might have misunderstood and had given us 2 separate orders - it was big! Each "half" was 10-12 ounces. Granted, we don't eat a lot, but, if one is so inclined to get the steak, I'd seriously recommend sharing to leave room to sample the other things on the menu, as well as the pita bread.
OK, so we've all seen those crane games where you can win a stuffed animal. While we were in Bally's, I ran across this:If you win, your prize gets cooked for free!
Day 3
On our last day we just chilled in our suite, bringing back brunch from San Gennaro and the neighboring Rialto Deli. We left Vegas just before 4PM, had dinner at Peggy Sue's in Yermo (salad never tasted so good), and arrived home a little after 10PM.
Cost Breakdown
$172.22 ($79+tax/per night) - 2 nights at The Venetian (also included $25 gambling credit) via Club Grazie mailer
$70.02 - Tickets to The Price Is Right LIVE! from Tix 4 Tonight (visit link for a "$2 off service charge" coupon)
$86.47 - Dinner at Postrio, with 25% discount
-----------
$328.71
Just one note about our gambling on this trip, as I believe it fitting: we discovered a new machine this trip to add to our repertoire of everything Monopoly: The Price is Right! "Always remember to spay and neuter your pets."
Outside of gambling and taking it easy, we did do 2 new things: we watched The Price is Right LIVE! show at Bally's and had a nice dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Postrio, located in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian.
Day 1
If anyone from LA is wondering, we got on the 210 @ Santa Anita at 3:50PM and were able to reach Primm at exactly 7PM. We had dinner at the Primm Outlets at Cafe Koraku, a regular stop of ours and a place I highly recommend if you're looking for cheap and good asian food, specifically ramen & fried rice. For this trip, we stayed at the Venezia tower at the Venetian, for which I received a mailer for $79/night through June 30th. N.B. The Venezia has a separate check-in area on the 10th floor, but, if there's a backup there, I'd recommend checking in downstairs as there were only 1-2 awfully slow attendants available on the 10th, even on a Friday.
Day 2
After having a quick breakfast at San Gennaro Grill (located in the Venetian food court adjacent to the casino), we went to the Tix 4 Tonight half price show tickets booth just north of the Wynn to see what they had. We had been tracking prices for The Price is Right LIVE! show ($55+tax at the box office, $39+tax at bestofvegas.com) so we were excited when we saw it for $32+tax at Tix 4 Tonight. The show started at 2:30PM and, while there were a lot of people, it wasn't full. Our host for the day was the guy who did Supermarket Sweep. There were 5 bidding contests to get on the stage, 1 big wheel spinoff, and 1 showcase showdown. Uyen and I didn't get called down for any of the games, sadly, but the guy sitting right in front of me got called down for the first event, bid exactly correct and got $100, and got on stage (didn't win anything up there, but cool nonetheless)! One thing different from the show was that for each event, brand new people were called down, so they cycle through a lot more people. So, it was always 4 new people bidding, and the showcase and big wheel contestants weren't drawn from the people who had already gotten on stage. There was a car (Nissan Versa) available to be won in the showcase showdown, but a contestant had to come within 100 dollars of the actual price of the showcase to win everything. Otherwise, the contestant with the closest bid without going over won a Mexico cruise (one of the items in the showcase). Both contestants overbid on the day we were there, so nobody won anything in the showcase. All in all, a very enjoyable show (even though we didn't get called up); we learned quite a bit about the history of the show, our audience was very into it, and it was a good deal IMO for the 2 of us at $70. That said, it's not something the 2 of us would feel the need to do again unless it was with a large, interested group.
After the show, we had a quick snack at the Venetian food court (in the Canal Shoppes, where you can't charge to the suite btw, in case anyone is after resort loyalty points, like me) and then hung out at the Venezia pool deck (lots of kids this weekend - bleck!) until dinner, which was at Wolfgang's Postrio. We actually received a 25% off coupon to Pastrio in our suite on both nights, but the expiration date was 3/31/09. I called the concierge about this and got a rude woman who stated that it would not be accepted and the coupons shouldn't have been placed out in the first place. Undeterred, and definitely not pleased, we stopped by Postrio before heading out in the morning and was very pleasantly assured our discount would be honored. And it was, without a hitch. We had a bowl of the split pea soup with dungeness crab, crab/lobster cakes, 2 glasses of Malbec, the ribeye steak, and homemade mixed berry sorbet for dessert. Postrio also serves this awesome complimentary pita bread with hummus and some sort of olive oil/vinegar reduction w/ finely chopped olives. The steak was $48, which they split for us, but when we saw it we were worried that they might have misunderstood and had given us 2 separate orders - it was big! Each "half" was 10-12 ounces. Granted, we don't eat a lot, but, if one is so inclined to get the steak, I'd seriously recommend sharing to leave room to sample the other things on the menu, as well as the pita bread.
OK, so we've all seen those crane games where you can win a stuffed animal. While we were in Bally's, I ran across this:
Day 3
On our last day we just chilled in our suite, bringing back brunch from San Gennaro and the neighboring Rialto Deli. We left Vegas just before 4PM, had dinner at Peggy Sue's in Yermo (salad never tasted so good), and arrived home a little after 10PM.
Cost Breakdown
$172.22 ($79+tax/per night) - 2 nights at The Venetian (also included $25 gambling credit) via Club Grazie mailer
$70.02 - Tickets to The Price Is Right LIVE! from Tix 4 Tonight (visit link for a "$2 off service charge" coupon)
$86.47 - Dinner at Postrio, with 25% discount
-----------
$328.71
Just one note about our gambling on this trip, as I believe it fitting: we discovered a new machine this trip to add to our repertoire of everything Monopoly: The Price is Right! "Always remember to spay and neuter your pets."
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Seattle, WA, USA: 05/23/09 - 05/25/09
We decided to inaugaurate our travel blog with our Seattle trip, taken over Memorial Day weekend.
Day 1
We flew Virgin America nonstop from LAX at 7:40AM. Upon arriving in Seattle a little before our scheduled arrival time of 10:25AM, we made a B line for Seattle's waterfront for Argosy's Harbour cruise, where we would also purchase our CityPasses. At $54 each, they provided us with just about everything we did in Seattle (see cost breakdown below for details). Prior to arriving, we learned our first lesson about Seattle: parking is hell-ish, reminiscent of SF. After sucking it up and paying for parking, we had a quick lunch at Ivar's seafood for some clam chowder (touted to be Seattle's best) and fish & chips; then we boarded the 12:15 cruise. The cruise lasted roughly 1 hour and went around Elliott Bay, giving a good introduction of the skyline and some of the surrounding features.
After the cruise, a couple piers north, was the Seattle Aquarium. Not one of the larger ones I've been to, but still packed with octopuses, jelly fish, sea otters, seals, and the largest puffer fish I've ever seen. Afterwards, we did a little shopping and then made our way south to Tacoma.
We arrived in Tacoma around 4PM (where, on the way, I had the pleasure of discovering that cops in WA use K band), making it in time for the Museum of Glass, perhaps better known to some as the "Chihuly Museum." Aside from live glass blowing demonstrations, the niftiest thing was an outdoor exhibit by Chihuly that resides on a freeway overpass. This just flabbergasted me. In LA, we're happy if there's no graffiti on an overpass, let alone having an unattended art exhibit up there of glass. Here are some pictures to prove it:
After the museum, we made our way to Gig Harbor to meet up with an ex-Edison employee (and 1 of 2 people who originally persuaded me to pursue the CFA). Driving to Gig Harbor, I had an unexpected surprise when I realized I'd be driving over the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge! You know, this was that bridge that famously collapsed under high winds and has gone down as one of the biggest engineering gaffes in history. Anyway, so I don't lose my audience, I'll continue.. We had dinner w/ Elliott at a neighborhood restaurant/bar that sat right on the harbor. Afterwards, we had the pleasure of meeting the family and seeing their gorgeous home.To get home, Elliott suggested we take the car ferry across the Sound, so we said our farewells, and just in time, as we barely made the ferry (those things leave on time!). Our home for these 2 nights was the Hyatt Regency Bellevue. After the ferry ride, which took about an hour (both Uyen and I fell asleep) and dropped us back off in Seattle, it was about another 15 minutes due East.
Day 2
To start our day, we had a lox bagel platter, with a Bellini and coffee, for breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel. Our first attraction was the Woodland Park Zoo, located north of Seattle. Parking was still hell, but we actually ended up finding free parking a block away on a residential street. We really enjoyed this zoo, as we spent over 4 hours there, including lunch. We saw bears, goats, eagles, komodo dragons, lions, kangaroos, elephants, leopards, tigers, gorillas, red pandas, bats, a whole bunch of animals that I don't remember what they're called, and penguins. yes, penguins. The zoo did leave me with one lingering question though, which I'm hoping someone can answer for me. I thought cows couldn't bend their knees??
After the zoo we headed back to downtown Seattle for the Seattle Center. This is where the Space Needle and several other attractions reside. Included in the CityPass were the Pacific Science Center (with an IMAX film!) and 2 trips to the Needle within a 24 hour window. So, the rest of the afternoon was spent at the science center until it closed at 5pm before meeting up with Lynne, one of our UCLA friends, for dinner. Lynne found a great New American place called Crow, located 2 blocks north of Seattle Center. The ladies had lamb, I had salmon, and we had the first raw oysters I actually enjoyed. I also had a dry rosé (Castello di Ama Rosato, '07, Italy) that complemented my salmon wonderfully.
After dinner Lynne dropped us off and we went to the Space Needle. It's not the tallest building in Seattle, but it's away from downtown so the great views are unobstructed. We also did some shopping there as the prices weren't too bad; the Space Needle Lego set was actually cheaper than it was at the science center! This concluded our second day.
Day 3
Sadly, it was time to check out of our Seattle home, but we were both very excited to be heading to Pike Place for a Savor Seattle food tour, to which our CityPass also gave us 5 dollars off! We had a little trouble finding parking (we refused to pay parking since it was a holiday and all the meters were free), but after searching for over 10 minutes I was just about to give up when we got a perfect spot a block away from where we were meeting: the newest Starbucks in Seattle. So, our food tour went as follows:
1) it all began in Starbucks with caramel fraps. this is also where we met up with our awesome guide. Each of us, about 12 in all, received an earpiece/receiver that allowed us to always hear her.
2) We made our way across to the street to the entrance of the market. Along the way we received tidbits of history and the guide's experiences, which were generally very entertaining. Our 2nd stop was a crowded donut stand (but our guide always got to bypass the lines and had food waiting for our group).
3) Then, we were introduced to MarketSpice tea and spices. Everything in Pike Place is local as no chains are allowed to be there unless it originated from there, e.g. Starbucks.
4) After that, was the seafood stand. We got free samples of unbelievable salmon and were treated to a display of fish throwing utilizing one of our own group members (see 3rd picture below).
5) Then, we had some local fruits @ Frank's Produce Co.,
6) and amazing clam & seafood chowder @ Pike Place Chowder (this place has just gone on to open another store).
7) Next came some cherries/chocolate from Chukar Cherries,
8) Beecher's handmade cheese and the best mac & cheese,
9) Russian piroshky from Piroshky, Piroshky (which has been featured on Jeopardy!),
10) a visit to the original Starbucks, and, lastly...
11) crab cakes from Etta's, a Tom Douglas restaurant.
Needless to say, we were stuffed. After reluctantly leaving the group, we did head back to the seafood market to pick up salmon strips and a half-pound of salmon, intended for dinner on the plane. We eventually made our way back to the Needle to see the daytime views. I got a great shot of the neighboring Frank Gehry designed Experience Music Project museum (also available in the CityPass as an option). It also just so happened that the Northwest Folklife festival was occuring this weekend at Seattle Center. There were concerts, booths, rides and plenty of people. It was wrapping up when we were finishing up the day before, but we also spent some time perusing the booths this day. But not too long cause we had one final attraction left in the CityPass..
which was the Museum of Flight, conveniently located on the way back to SEA airport. We gave ourselves an hour but saw less than half the museum. We saw what we could, including the SR-71 Blackbird, Concorde, and an original Air Force One. Turns out an hour for the museum was still too long, as we ended up missing our flight and had a rather unpleasant experience involving the security there. N.B. Even though the car rentals are located right in the airport, it still takes a while to get to. The experience did reaffirm our love for Southwest, however, as we ended up leaving an hour later than scheduled and had a short stopover in San Jose, but ended up getting back into LA at roughly about when we were originally scheduled to land. Also, the extra time at the airport allowed us to enjoy our Pike Place salmon:
Cost Breakdown
$159.20 ($59+tax x2) - Nonstop flight from LAX to SEA on Virgin America
$182.40 ($65+tax x2) - 1-stop flight from SEA to LAX on Southwest
$295.16 ($139/$119+tax) - 2 nights at Hyatt Regency Bellevue (parking is free on the weekends) and using code PCNW5K, valid through 6/30, gave us 5000 Gold Passport points, enough for a free night
$55.83 - 3 day car rental from Alamo ($10/day promotion, since expired)
$10.00 - Parking on day 1 at Seattle waterfront
$108.00 ($54 x2) - Seattle CityPass, which includes admission to the Argosy cruise, Seattle Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, Pacific Science Center w/ IMAX film, 2 visits to the Space Needle, and choice of Experience Music Project or Museum of Flight
$5.00 - Parking at Museum of Glass (admission was free for us because we're friends of a sister museum, but admission normally ranges from $8-10/pp and is free on Sundays)
$14.45 - Ferry from Bremerton to Seattle
$78.10 - Dinner at Crow (Uyen had a 3 course prix fixe for $30, my salmon was $25, and we each had a glass of wine)
$72.00 ($37.65+tax x2) - Savor Seattle's Pike Place Market Classics Tour (price reflects $5 CityPass coupon)
-----------
$980.14
A few additional notes about Seattle:
- The state of WA has no income tax, so sales tax is relatively high.
- Being situated further north than where we normally live, we were surprised when we realized the sun was still out past 9PM. Therefore, I'd definitely recommend Seattle as a place to visit in the spring/summer when daylight hours are long (whereas in the winter, the days are short).
Please feel free to comment if you have any general questions or comments, would like to see more pictures (we have lots), or have suggestions on how to make this site better. This is our first post, so all commentary that helps us develop for the future will be very much appreciated. Thanks for visiting!
Day 1
We flew Virgin America nonstop from LAX at 7:40AM. Upon arriving in Seattle a little before our scheduled arrival time of 10:25AM, we made a B line for Seattle's waterfront for Argosy's Harbour cruise, where we would also purchase our CityPasses. At $54 each, they provided us with just about everything we did in Seattle (see cost breakdown below for details). Prior to arriving, we learned our first lesson about Seattle: parking is hell-ish, reminiscent of SF. After sucking it up and paying for parking, we had a quick lunch at Ivar's seafood for some clam chowder (touted to be Seattle's best) and fish & chips; then we boarded the 12:15 cruise. The cruise lasted roughly 1 hour and went around Elliott Bay, giving a good introduction of the skyline and some of the surrounding features.
After the cruise, a couple piers north, was the Seattle Aquarium. Not one of the larger ones I've been to, but still packed with octopuses, jelly fish, sea otters, seals, and the largest puffer fish I've ever seen. Afterwards, we did a little shopping and then made our way south to Tacoma.
We arrived in Tacoma around 4PM (where, on the way, I had the pleasure of discovering that cops in WA use K band), making it in time for the Museum of Glass, perhaps better known to some as the "Chihuly Museum." Aside from live glass blowing demonstrations, the niftiest thing was an outdoor exhibit by Chihuly that resides on a freeway overpass. This just flabbergasted me. In LA, we're happy if there's no graffiti on an overpass, let alone having an unattended art exhibit up there of glass. Here are some pictures to prove it:
After the museum, we made our way to Gig Harbor to meet up with an ex-Edison employee (and 1 of 2 people who originally persuaded me to pursue the CFA). Driving to Gig Harbor, I had an unexpected surprise when I realized I'd be driving over the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge! You know, this was that bridge that famously collapsed under high winds and has gone down as one of the biggest engineering gaffes in history. Anyway, so I don't lose my audience, I'll continue.. We had dinner w/ Elliott at a neighborhood restaurant/bar that sat right on the harbor. Afterwards, we had the pleasure of meeting the family and seeing their gorgeous home.To get home, Elliott suggested we take the car ferry across the Sound, so we said our farewells, and just in time, as we barely made the ferry (those things leave on time!). Our home for these 2 nights was the Hyatt Regency Bellevue. After the ferry ride, which took about an hour (both Uyen and I fell asleep) and dropped us back off in Seattle, it was about another 15 minutes due East.
Day 2
To start our day, we had a lox bagel platter, with a Bellini and coffee, for breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel. Our first attraction was the Woodland Park Zoo, located north of Seattle. Parking was still hell, but we actually ended up finding free parking a block away on a residential street. We really enjoyed this zoo, as we spent over 4 hours there, including lunch. We saw bears, goats, eagles, komodo dragons, lions, kangaroos, elephants, leopards, tigers, gorillas, red pandas, bats, a whole bunch of animals that I don't remember what they're called, and penguins. yes, penguins. The zoo did leave me with one lingering question though, which I'm hoping someone can answer for me. I thought cows couldn't bend their knees??
After the zoo we headed back to downtown Seattle for the Seattle Center. This is where the Space Needle and several other attractions reside. Included in the CityPass were the Pacific Science Center (with an IMAX film!) and 2 trips to the Needle within a 24 hour window. So, the rest of the afternoon was spent at the science center until it closed at 5pm before meeting up with Lynne, one of our UCLA friends, for dinner. Lynne found a great New American place called Crow, located 2 blocks north of Seattle Center. The ladies had lamb, I had salmon, and we had the first raw oysters I actually enjoyed. I also had a dry rosé (Castello di Ama Rosato, '07, Italy) that complemented my salmon wonderfully.
After dinner Lynne dropped us off and we went to the Space Needle. It's not the tallest building in Seattle, but it's away from downtown so the great views are unobstructed. We also did some shopping there as the prices weren't too bad; the Space Needle Lego set was actually cheaper than it was at the science center! This concluded our second day.
Day 3
Sadly, it was time to check out of our Seattle home, but we were both very excited to be heading to Pike Place for a Savor Seattle food tour, to which our CityPass also gave us 5 dollars off! We had a little trouble finding parking (we refused to pay parking since it was a holiday and all the meters were free), but after searching for over 10 minutes I was just about to give up when we got a perfect spot a block away from where we were meeting: the newest Starbucks in Seattle. So, our food tour went as follows:
1) it all began in Starbucks with caramel fraps. this is also where we met up with our awesome guide. Each of us, about 12 in all, received an earpiece/receiver that allowed us to always hear her.
2) We made our way across to the street to the entrance of the market. Along the way we received tidbits of history and the guide's experiences, which were generally very entertaining. Our 2nd stop was a crowded donut stand (but our guide always got to bypass the lines and had food waiting for our group).
3) Then, we were introduced to MarketSpice tea and spices. Everything in Pike Place is local as no chains are allowed to be there unless it originated from there, e.g. Starbucks.
4) After that, was the seafood stand. We got free samples of unbelievable salmon and were treated to a display of fish throwing utilizing one of our own group members (see 3rd picture below).
5) Then, we had some local fruits @ Frank's Produce Co.,
6) and amazing clam & seafood chowder @ Pike Place Chowder (this place has just gone on to open another store).
7) Next came some cherries/chocolate from Chukar Cherries,
8) Beecher's handmade cheese and the best mac & cheese,
9) Russian piroshky from Piroshky, Piroshky (which has been featured on Jeopardy!),
10) a visit to the original Starbucks, and, lastly...
11) crab cakes from Etta's, a Tom Douglas restaurant.
Needless to say, we were stuffed. After reluctantly leaving the group, we did head back to the seafood market to pick up salmon strips and a half-pound of salmon, intended for dinner on the plane. We eventually made our way back to the Needle to see the daytime views. I got a great shot of the neighboring Frank Gehry designed Experience Music Project museum (also available in the CityPass as an option). It also just so happened that the Northwest Folklife festival was occuring this weekend at Seattle Center. There were concerts, booths, rides and plenty of people. It was wrapping up when we were finishing up the day before, but we also spent some time perusing the booths this day. But not too long cause we had one final attraction left in the CityPass..
which was the Museum of Flight, conveniently located on the way back to SEA airport. We gave ourselves an hour but saw less than half the museum. We saw what we could, including the SR-71 Blackbird, Concorde, and an original Air Force One. Turns out an hour for the museum was still too long, as we ended up missing our flight and had a rather unpleasant experience involving the security there. N.B. Even though the car rentals are located right in the airport, it still takes a while to get to. The experience did reaffirm our love for Southwest, however, as we ended up leaving an hour later than scheduled and had a short stopover in San Jose, but ended up getting back into LA at roughly about when we were originally scheduled to land. Also, the extra time at the airport allowed us to enjoy our Pike Place salmon:
Cost Breakdown
$159.20 ($59+tax x2) - Nonstop flight from LAX to SEA on Virgin America
$182.40 ($65+tax x2) - 1-stop flight from SEA to LAX on Southwest
$295.16 ($139/$119+tax) - 2 nights at Hyatt Regency Bellevue (parking is free on the weekends) and using code PCNW5K, valid through 6/30, gave us 5000 Gold Passport points, enough for a free night
$55.83 - 3 day car rental from Alamo ($10/day promotion, since expired)
$10.00 - Parking on day 1 at Seattle waterfront
$108.00 ($54 x2) - Seattle CityPass, which includes admission to the Argosy cruise, Seattle Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, Pacific Science Center w/ IMAX film, 2 visits to the Space Needle, and choice of Experience Music Project or Museum of Flight
$5.00 - Parking at Museum of Glass (admission was free for us because we're friends of a sister museum, but admission normally ranges from $8-10/pp and is free on Sundays)
$14.45 - Ferry from Bremerton to Seattle
$78.10 - Dinner at Crow (Uyen had a 3 course prix fixe for $30, my salmon was $25, and we each had a glass of wine)
$72.00 ($37.65+tax x2) - Savor Seattle's Pike Place Market Classics Tour (price reflects $5 CityPass coupon)
-----------
$980.14
A few additional notes about Seattle:
- The state of WA has no income tax, so sales tax is relatively high.
- Being situated further north than where we normally live, we were surprised when we realized the sun was still out past 9PM. Therefore, I'd definitely recommend Seattle as a place to visit in the spring/summer when daylight hours are long (whereas in the winter, the days are short).
Please feel free to comment if you have any general questions or comments, would like to see more pictures (we have lots), or have suggestions on how to make this site better. This is our first post, so all commentary that helps us develop for the future will be very much appreciated. Thanks for visiting!
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