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:

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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)
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$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).

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