Seattle Recap: Day One!

We just got home from the most amazing weekend in Seattle!  We ate fantastic food, drank delicious coffee, and had a wonderful time.  We absolutely loved Seattle and are already piecing together in our heads a week-long trip to take in a few years.

Hotel Five was wonderful and was in a perfect location.  We were almost exactly in the middle between The Space Needle and Pike Place Market.  They served cupcakes 24/7 in the lobby...they weren't fantastic but who cares?!  There were free cupcakes!  There were free bikes if you wanted to borrow them from the hotel and they had a complimentary umbrella in our room.  Speaking of complimentary, we had a Keurig (which I guess is standard these days) and free bottles of water every day.

On the first day, we set out early Friday morning to get some coffee and breakfast.  We had some delicious pastries (and bought some tasty macaroons!) right across from Pike Place Market at Le Panier and then strolled through the market before it was open.

We stopped by the Seattle Art Museum next.  I was really hoping for some cooler exhibits.  The cars in the lobby were the coolest part.

After the museum, we got a bite to eat and took the Underground Tour.  We learned a LOT about Seattle's history and got to walk through some of the underground streets.  It was really cool and a lot of fun.

Next, we stopped by the Columbia Center Sky View and saw the sun for the first time that day!  It was perfect that we got to see the whole city after the tour because we understood so much more about certain buildings and areas of the city.  We saw amazing views of Seattle and it only cost $6 each!  Apparently the Space Needle is MUCH more expensive and we were much higher up in this building.  I think we were on the 73rd floor.

Next stop was The Seattle Public Library.  Seattle has some of the coolest architecture I've ever seen. It's very European and parts of it reminded me so much of Barcelona.  We picked up a few books for us and the baby at the library store.  Can't pass up used books in great condition!

Carson headed back to the hotel to take a nap and since our hotel was really close to a really awesome shopping area, I totally took advantage!  I got some maternity stuff at Gap and then stopped by H&M and Forever 21.  Seattle is serious about being green though and every shopping bag that I got, I had to pay an extra 5 cents.

I headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner.  Carson had made reservations at The Coterie Room.  We split the 4 course tasting menu and had a nice, long 2 hour dinner.  I loved it.  We didn't feel rushed and we had plenty of time to talk.  Carson got to try Beef Carpaccio for the first time and I tried Cracklins for the first time!  The rest of the courses were delicious.  The only part of the meal we weren't too keen on was the Star Anise Ice Cream that was on top of our Pear Gallette.  Talk about a strange flavor...

After dinner, we strolled around 2nd Avenue and ended up heading towards the Space Needle.  There's a giant IMAX theater right by the Space Needle so we ended up seeing a movie.  We headed back to the hotel and got back around midnight.  We hadn't planned anything before we got to Seattle but our day was full, seamless and absolutely wonderful!

Things I learned in Seattle on Day One:

• People seem to embrace Starbucks.  No one thinks (from what I could tell) that it's overpriced coffee.  We pretty much found that all coffee was the same price everywhere.
• There weren't as many local coffee shops as we thought there would be.  There is almost a Starbucks on every corner and people seem to be totally fine with that.
• I walked more than ever before on vacation.  I never bring the right shoes on vacation because I want to look cute but I will always bring at least one pair of tennis shoes from now on.  I was in so much pain.  My feet and legs are actually still sore.  I mapped how far we walked and it was between 10-15 miles for the whole weekend.  My legs feel like we walked 50 miles.
• Seattle people LOVE The North Face.
• Downtown Seattle is a $45, 20 minute cab ride from the airport
• Once we were Downtown, it was really easy to get around.  We didn't have to use any public transportation.
• I didn't feel like we left California.  People in Seattle are very similar to people in San Francisco.
• I felt incredibly safe walking around at night.  Friday night we walked from 9-10 and after midnight to get back to our hotel after the movie.  There weren't many homeless people at all.