Saturday, November 14 (Seattle)

I’m a little remiss in writing about our trip to Seattle/Portland the last week of November, but here goes:

Our plane was to leave Minneapolis at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning, November 14. Since we were taking our car to a friend’s house to leave there prior to our flight, this meant we had to get up at 3:30 a.m. Josh was not a happy camper. In fact, I got so much harassment for the early hours that he is now in charge of making any future travel arrangements. Fortunately, we were both able to sleep on the plane.

On the plus side, leaving so early did mean we were in Seattle before 9 a.m. (The other flight option that day would have gotten us there in later afternoon, and I wanted to spend as much time there as possible.) By the time we got our rental car and found our hotel, Pike’s Place Market was open and we had a full day ahead of us.

We stayed at the Alexis Hotel right in Downtown, just a few blocks from the market, the sports fields, the shore, etc. I felt we were in an ideal location. The bummer part was that, in addition to our room fee, we had to pay parking at $36/night – sucky. However, it was valet parking and we could come and go as much as we wanted. The valet staff was incredibly nice and helpful and it was all very convenient. The best part was that, since I had reserved the room under my name, Josh got called “Mr. Madden” all weekend. Hee hee!

I loved our hotel – very artsy and boutique-y and beautiful. Really great vibe and I would stay there again… except. Except our room was approximately the size of our bed. Which meant trying to open suitcases or sort through anything or move was nearly impossible. Note to self: Pay for a bigger room next time! It was beautifully decorated, the bed was hella comfortable and they had these fun orange leopard-print robes. Down sides were no place in the bathroom to set anything, like a comb or toothbrush, fridge was full with minibar stuff so couldn’t use it, and no shelf or anything in the shower. Clearly whoever designed the room never actually stayed in it to see how it works for real travelers.

I guess it sounds like I didn’t like our hotel that much but I really did love it. The customer service was excellent at all times. Every night from 5-6 p.m. they have a free wine happy hour, which is a fun way to meet fellow travelers. They also supply postcards and watercolors so you can paint postcards and they will mail them for you. Just a fun, quirky touch.

Walking around Pike’s Place Market was cool. We just don’t have anything like that in the Cities. I guess it’s like a combination of our Farmer’s Market, Midtown Global Market and maybe some nifty area of town that I can’t think of. We need some street food vendors around here!

One of the first things we did was stop by a tiny little shop called Piroshky Piroshky. Josh had a beef and cheese piroshky and I had a chicken, mushroom and rice one. They were both DE-licious!! After eating we just walked around a lot, walking through the craft market and the food market areas but not really going into any of the shops. I bought a Christmas ornament but that’s about it. They had a lot of really nice stuff had I been in a shopping mood. We didn’t see any fish being thrown, but the patter of the fish guys was fun. “Everyone’s shopping, nobody’s buying. Did anyone bring any money?”

After the market we decided to head back in the direction of our hotel but walked well past it (intentionally) and eventually ended up at Pyramid brewery around 2 p.m. We ordered some standard bar food that was pretty gross, and we each ordered the beer sampler. I think we got six beers each. My favorite was the apricot ale – would be very refreshing on a summer’s day! The beer was sold in super cute mini glasses that we decided we had to have. Josh kept me out of jail by buying a set for $2/each at the gift shop. Money well spent!

On our way back to the hotel we saw a sign that said Sake Tasting and we thought – why not? We’re on vacation. So we stopped in to Sake' Nomi and tried four different sakes (all of which, in my opinion, were gross). We talked with the owner, a guy about our age who had taught English in Japan after college, met his wife there and fell in love with sake. He now has his own sake pub and knows the guy who owns moto-i in Minneapolis. He seemed cool toward us in the beginning but really warmed up by the end and was very chatty.

Next stop – our hotel and a short nap! Couldn’t miss the free wine happy hour. We met a nice, albeit somewhat quiet couple from Sacramento, and a couple who currently live in the area. The husband was real nice but the wife thought she was way cooler than she actually was. She was bragging about working HR for Starbucks and the massive layoffs she’s been in charge of. She’s originally from Iowa but all she did was talk about their nanny, how important she is at Starbuck’s, etc. I was over her fast.

On the plus side, she did give us a recommendation for a great restaurant called Purple. When she said it was in walking distance she neglected to mention four of the blocks were straight up a steep hill. Good thing there was wine at the end! In keeping with the theme of the day, we each got a wine flight – I got one of sparklings/champagne, and Josh did reds. We also got a cheese tray plus pasta. By the time our food came I was pretty full with cheese/crackers/wine, but we didn’t care. We had a blast!

Next was back to the hotel and to bed. Goodnight!