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  • TravelerSeattle & Washington State
    Day 1

    Day 1

    April 15 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Welcome to Seattle!

    After a bit of a stressful start...our flight was cancelled! We were lucky enough to get moved across to the Delta flight landing at 18.30.

    We made our way into the city and Sam from Visit Seattle met us at the very unique and boutique Palihotel.

    The Palihotel is steps away from the Pike Place Market and walking distance from the ferry port which makes it an ideal base to explore. The style is both intimate and eclectic. I stayed in room 403 which was really comfortable with a king size bed, flat screen TV, dressing area and ensuite bathroom with a large shower.

    After a quick freshen up, we decided to go to a bar called Alibi for cocktails and pizza. We had to walk down past the famous 'Gum wall' to get to it!

    The Alibi Room off Post Alley is immersed in history and spirit. Made with cobblestones from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and brought here on lumber ships, Pike Place market opened in 1907. The following 87 years, before the Alibi Room opened its doors, some say ghosts occupied this space. One ghost named “Frank” still makes an appearance now and then.

    I loved the friendly and cosy atmosphere of the bar, the guy behind the bar was really helpful in suggesting cocktails he thought we would like and the most popular pizza toppings and everything was homemade and made fresh to order.

    A great start to an action packed week and the cocktail I had definitely helped that first nights sleep!    Read more

  • TravelerSeattle & Washington State
    Day 2

    Day 2

    April 16 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    15,000 steps around Seattle!

    We started our day with the Pike Place Market Food Tour with Jonathan from Eat Seattle.

    We went on a journey through the Pacific Northwest by tasting Seattle’s best artisan vendors in the famous Pike Place Market.

    Our menu for the next 2 hours was: Chicken Tinga tacos
    Maple Candy Salmon Jerky
    Cultured Greek Gelato
    Clam Chowder
    Fresh margarita pizza
    White truffle and pesto crostini
    Black truffle and pepper crostini
    Noccialata hazelnut spread
    Pit Smoked Pulled Pork
    Blackened Cajun Salmon
    Chocolate Cherries

    My favourites were definitely the tacos, pulled pork and chocolate cherries! We learnt a lot about the market's history - for example, you have to start your first shop there so places like McDonalds or Subway have no chance to take a spot from the locals! Starbucks did have their first shop there and went on to become internationally known worldwide. Jonathan was also the perfect guide, making it fun and informative along the way.

    We headed downtown to the monorail for the next part of our day, and started with the Chihuly Garden & Glass gallery.

    The eight galleries and three Drawing Walls of the Exhibition Hall offer a comprehensive collection of Dale Chihuly’s significant series of work. The artworks demonstrate how he pushed the boundaries of glass as an art medium in concept, execution and presentation.

    The work was truly beautiful and in the garden it was displayed in a way that made it look like it was part of nature. Definitely a must see!

    Right next door was the famous Space Needle.

    Built as the centrepiece and inspiration for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, the Space Needle has since become a part of the Seattle experience and the globally recognized icon for the city. Standing 184 meters/605 feet tall, the Space Needle gives visitors unparalleled views of Seattle and beyond through its “floor-to-forever” glass walls and the world’s first revolving glass floor.

    We went all the way to the top in the lift that gave us spectacular views of the city, all glass fronted walls which were fantastic to see the whole of Seattle. The revolving glass bottomed floor was interesting but we all braved it and jumped on!

    Just a short walk through the park was the Museum of Pop Culture

    The Museum of Pop Culture is a leading-edge nonprofit museum, dedicated to the ideas and risk-taking that fuel contemporary popular culture. At MoPOP, artists, audiences and ideas converge, bringing understanding, interpretation, and scholarship to the popular culture of our time.

    We didn't have lot of time here so I chose to focus on the Nirvana and grunge room..taking me back to my teenage years in the 90s. And then went on to find the popular film, fantasy and horror sections. I nearly didn't make it through the horror part..pretty much ran through the display!

    We grabbed a Lyft.. Seattle's version of Uber and headed across to Fremont Brewery.

    Fremont Brewery is a family-owned craft brewery founded in 2009 to brew small-batch artisan beers made with the best local ingredients we can find. Their slogan is 'Because Beer Matters!'

    I'm not a beer drinker but they had a lovely..and very boozy..blackcurrant and blueberry cider on tap so I had one of those.

    A great stop before we walked through Gas Works Park.

    Gas Works Park has beautiful sweeping views of the city and Lake Union. It contains remnants of a coal gasification plant, the last of its kind in the United States. The plant operated from 1906 to 1956, but is now an iconic fixture in Seattle's landscape. The park made an appearance in the movie 'Ten Things I Hate About You' and the 'Sleepless in Seattle' house can also be seen from the hill for all the movie fans.

    Our last stop was dinner at Pablo y Pablo in the Fremont district.

    Pablo y Pablo is a Mexican restaurant and bar whose menu uses ingredients and techniques from around the world. Pablo y Pablo aims to give a genuine dining experience to guests that’s as warm and energised as the food, and it certainly does that. Our server was Ismael from Barcelona and he was fantastic! Top class customer service, genuinely interested in us as a group and was able to recommend different dishes and cocktails..he even remembered that one of the girls couldn't have diary and ordered the things she could have so she didn't miss out..amazing end to a full and fun day!    Read more

  • TravelerSeattle & Washington State
    Day 3

    Day 3

    April 17 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tasting

    Discover the art, science and craft of truly inspired coffee – all of the rare, small-lot Starbucks Reserve coffees are roasted and packaged at this roastery before being shipped all over the world.

    We started our day with the signature 'It started here first' coffee experience at the Starbucks Roastery Reserve.

    First on the menu was the Whiskey cold brew 'old fashioned' mocktail, followed by an Espresso with olive oil and passion fruit cold pressed foam and finally the Indonesian vanilla gelato and wildflower hot honey affogato topped with an amaretto black cherry..my personal favourite!

    Mariah and Kacy led us through making all of these and were fun, friendly and knew everything about the Starbucks journey and coffee production.

    Argosy Cruise - Harbor Tour with Dana

    We hopped on the cruise from pier 55, with a welcome cocktail made from gin, peach puree and cloudy lemonade given to us by the lovely Dana. We cruised past the bell harbour terminal where the the smaller cruise liners sail from to go to Alaska. Oceania and Norwegian sail from here and the larger cruiseliners such as Princess and Holland America sail from the other side.

    Next we went by the Edgewater Hotel which was built in 1962 and as it just missed the date of the world fair opening, the hotel came up with a marketing idea to allow guests to fish from their room balcony. This was banned in the 80s after guests on the lower floors complained that salmon kept hitting their windows! The Beatles stayed here in 1964 and lots more famous musicians followed suit. Even to this day you can hire an amp and guitar to take to your room.

    We passed Queen Anne Hill, home to 2 famous TV doctors...Dr Meredith Grey from Greys Anatomy, and Dr Frasier Crane from Frasier.

    On port side we got an amazing view of the cityscape, with the Space Needle, business district, Schmidt Tower..built in 1913 and used to be the tallest building west of Chicago..and finally the beauty of Mount Rainier nestling within the blue skies and clouds. We were lucky enough to see some seals sunbathing and of course we had to reinact a scene from Titanic! It really was the perfect day for a harbour cruise and it was narrated so we got to learn a lot of fun facts.

    Lunch - Ivar's Fish Bar

    Ivar’s Seafood Bars are the go-to destination for award winning fish 'n chips and clam chowder, with 18 locations throughout Washington. We all had their famous cod and chips and bright orange Fanta!

    Explore Waterfront - Pier 57 and Seattle Aquarium

    Seattle Aquarium - The region’s premier resource for hands-on marine experiences and conservation education, the Seattle Aquarium offers fun, exciting ways to discover more about the amazing Puget Sound and our world’s one big ocean.

    The Great Wheel - The Seattle Great Wheel was built in less than a year opening to the public on June 29, 2012. Since then, it has become an icon of the city and a destination for tourists and locals alike. The Seattle Great Wheel is the largest observation wheel on the west coast, standing 53 meters/175 feet tall with 42 fully-enclosed gondolas

    Wings over Washington - Strap into your own theatre seat and take a ride in the world’s most current state-of-the-art “flying theatre” that will transport you on an aerial adventure above one the America’s most scenic and beautiful states. Using innovative art laser projection, drones for image capture and a ground breaking surround sound system you will experience diving down seaside cliffs of the Olympic National Forest and Mt. Rainier to the San Juan Islands, to the beauty of the Cascades and the awe-inspiring Snoqualmie Falls. This was totally amazing and one of my favourite parts of the day!

    Our next stop was SAM where we met Chelsea.

    Art is not something I know much about so took the opportunity to ask Chelsea about the artwork and different pieces that I found interesting

    The Seattle Art Museum has been the center for world-class visual arts in the Pacific Northwest since 1933. Visit SAM to see a museum carved into the city, as much a part of Seattle's landscape and personality as the coffee, rain, mountains, Pike Place Market, and the Space Needle.

    Bill Speidel's Underground Tour

    Seattle’s most unusual attraction, take a humorous stroll through intriguing subterranean storefronts and sidewalks entombed when the city rebuilt on top of itself after the Great Fire of 1889.

    The tour guide, Sam, explained all about the Seattle spirit and that it used to be Frontier Town with 3 founding fathers - these all had different ideas how a town should work and all bought different things to make it happen. It was initially on marsh land that flooded regularly which was not very hygienic.

    There was a huge fire in June 1889 in a cabinet shop on the hill, a pot of fat caught on fire, the young worker tried to put it out with water but that made it worse. Across the street was a hardware store with gunpowder and dynamite and next door a saloon that had just got a delivery of oak barrelled whiskey so the whole area went up within seconds!

    Downtown Seattle was completely burnt out within 12 hours. They decided to rebuild and it eventually became the city it is today.

    Dinner & Drinks - Bangrak & The Nest

    Dinner this evening was at Bangrak, a cool little Thai joint specialising in locally inspired street food and fun cocktails. Everything was so bright and colourful and the food was fantastic.

    Our final stop of the day was The Nest - a rooftop bar within The Thompson Hotel. Amazing views and a glass of sparkling red wine finished off the day nicely.    Read more

  • TravelerSeattle & Washington State
    Day 4

    Day 4

    April 18 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    We started our morning meeting Marty - Evergreen Escapes and Lisa - Washington Tourist Board who would take us on the next part of our adventure.

    As we passed through the suburbs, Marty explained that Lake Union is freshwater and Puget Sounds is cold water and Ballard Hill is where it connects.

    To get to Ballard Hill, we drove through Fremont and Wallingford, both artsy fun neighbourhoods. The troll in Fremont was built and installed in 1990 alongside landscaped areas to combat homelessness and make the area a bit prettier. They built it around a VW Beetle and it is a big tourist attraction today.

    Ballard Hill is a very family friendly and farmers market / boho style neighbourhood with lots of nordic history after the fisherman came over and created the community it is today. It is more affordable than most areas but it is starting to get pricier as it becomes a hotspot to live and raise a family.

    Ballard (Hiram M Chittenden) Locks - Opens for boating every day of the year for kayaking, paddle boarding and yachts. Also home to the Carl S English Botanical Garden and is a lovely place to go and have a picnic and admire the scenery.

    National Nordic Museum - Opened in 2018. Talks about history & culture spanning 12,000 years. Organised around a central Fjord Hall with galleries upstairs. Seattle has very close ties to all 5 Nordic regions and people still come from Norway to live here today.

    Leaving Ballard Hill to get to Woodinville, Marty explained that there are now 150 wineries in the area, however the grapes aren't grown here as it isn't hot enough, they are grown over on the Eastern side. 95% of the wine produced for Washington State can be tasted in Woodinville.

    We met Adam from Woodinville Wine Country and he led us though some wine tasting and a beautiful lunch at Maryhill Winery before we went across to a very different venue, the Darby Winery, that was much more modern and had it's own speakeasy built in to the bookshelves. 

    We made our way across to a Willow Lodge - Opened in 2000, 84 rooms, luxurious but also eco friendly as the building and interior is made from recycled materials.

    The front entrance is warm and welcoming and around the back the Fireside Lounge is open for happy hour and welcomes local musicians for entertainment in the evenings.

    We viewed a 'nicer style' king-size room and suite during our visit. Both had a king size bed, sunken bath and shower, seating areas with a large TV and a small bar with tea and coffee making facilities. The apartment had separate areas and a 3 seater sofa in the lounge. Both had balconies with outdoor furniture.

    We then went outside to the beautiful landscaped gardens and met their truffle hunting pigs. There is a farm to fork restaurant called The Herb Farm with a 9 course tasting menu. The hotel also has a restaurant called The Barking Frog with a very similar ethos to the local food movement. There are also lots of other independent restaurants within walking distance. There is a spa with 6 treatment rooms, an outdoor hydrotherapy pool plus a sauna.

    Our final stop of the day was the Gilham Shopping Village, located in Issaquah and is made up of Frontier style buildings that houses independent businesses selling everything from clothes to plants. There are also a couple of restaurants and bars and we enjoyed a local dinner here at Wells & Table with Lisa before checking in to our next hotel, the Fairfield Inn.

    Issaquah is another family friendly town with lots of quirky things to do like troll hunting and visiting the Boehms Chocolate Factory.    Read more

  • TravelerSeattle & Washington State
    Day 5

    Day 5

    April 19 in England ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    The road to Mount Rainier

    We drove for about an hour on the highway, which gave us all some time to catch up on sleep!

    Initially the road was a Native American trail used by the Nesqually tribe and they would use the lower wildflower meadows to trade items or arrange marriages.

    Elk are often seen drinking water alongside the river.

    Hot springs were discovered in the 1800s, and advertised to help heal illnesses.

    We passed through Ashford, a small town that have a couple of businesses that offer hiking tours, but you have to be experienced and train for at least 4 months before they will take you. The Wittika mountaineer company offer this. The people that stay here during the winter love the quiet season and all the snow. In the sub alpine area there is still snow until June or July. The sub alpine flowers are why the area is known as paradise.

    The hot springs are located in a small village called Longmire, although they are colder now because of the glacier. It now has a gift shop, bar and diner, restroom but not much else.

    This year the permit system is going to start for people visiting in their own vehicle so that they can control the crowds.

    The glaciers are melting 7 times higher than in the 1980s so it's a concern that the mountain roads may soon be unaccessible.

    We started in the humid zone, around 2000 feet up, lots of fern trees, moss, vegetation etc. As you start to climb higher than 3000 feet you start to notice the temperature change and the trees become more sparse. Then as you get to 5000 feet there will be hardly any trees, more meadows, wildflowers and the glacier and glacial valley in between the mountain ridges. There are over 25 sub alpine parks and it's 95% wilderness here. Paradise where we visited is the busiest but it is very pretty with flowers and waterfalls so well worth the crowds.

    As we reached close to 5000 feet up, we became surrounded by snow, the sun was out and it was a beautiful clear day underneath Mount Rainier. We grabbed some snow shoes and sticks and got on the snow to explore. Following that we made our way back down to the oldest part of the National Forest, where the eldest tree is 800 years old. It was lovely to be surrounded by nature for a few hours. We also stopped to have lunch by the ravine and Marty had made a homemade chicken salad with brown rice and soup.

    We all made use of the 2 hour journey back to catch up on sleep and checked in to the Aloft in South Seattle for our final 2 nights. The hotel is modern and luxurious with a comfortable super king-size bed and amazing double shower.

    Dinner was at Sharps Roasthouse which specialises in slow roasted meats, southern fried chicken, mac and cheese and bourbon cocktails. The whole menu looked delicious and the hotel ran a free shuttle for guests that would take you between the hotels and restaurants/bars.    Read more

  • TravelerSeattle & Washington State
    Day 6

    Day 6

    April 20 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Beautiful Bainbridge Island

    We were up early to catch the ferry across and found that as well as tourists, commuters also use it. Many people move to Bainbridge Island for the small town style community and it has some lovely shops, restaurants and outdoor spaces.

    Our first stop was the independent art Quarter, home to galleries and even a children's museum of play where there were lots of fun activities for little ones to join in with.

    We then looked round a few boutique style shops before stopping for lunch at a cafe where deli sandwiches, salads and fresh oysters were on the menu.

    After lunch we went to the beautiful ..... gardens for a small tour, there were so many different areas including ...... I could have quite easily stayed there all day.

    Our last stop of the day was Pleasant Beach Village, a mix of residential / holidaymakers townhouses, apartments and a small number of hotel rooms to keep the area exclusive. There are also a couple of eateries and a venue that is used for live music and comedy events in the evenings for residents and guests.

    We were lucky enough to be involved in one of these events, and enjoyed the sounds of Nick Drummond after our dinner of charcuterie boards and foccacia topped pizzas.

    A late night ferry crossing took us back to Seattle for our last night staying at The Aloft Hotel.    Read more

  • TravelerSeattle & Washington State
    Day 7

    Day 7

    April 21 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Our last day!

    All packed up and ready to fly home, we made a quick stop at the Museum of Flight on the way to the airport.

    Built on the site of the original Boeing Factory which was built in 1909, the museum features a great selection of planes in different themed areas. There is also a fascinating insight into Nasa, the Apollo rockets and their journey to the moon. A great way to spend a couple of hours for all ages and a good end to a fantastic trip.

    We then made our way to the airport for our flight home with Virgin Atlantic.

    Seattle & Washington State, you have been amazing for my first trip stateside!    Read more

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