Wandering in Seattle

Today my dad, brother and I traveled the thirty plus minutes to downtown Seattle! We really didn't want to be away from Lakewood too long, because the main attraction of our time in Washington is, of course, Georgie Eloise Hitzeroth, but we tried to time it so that we would only be gone for four or five hours. We had two main goals in mind: seeing the Seattle Space Needle up close and in person, and experiencing the original Starbucks in Pike Place Market. I always get excited for any tourist adventure, especially when it happens in such a big and famous city, so here is me waiting in the car and excited for the hours to come:

About thirty minutes into our drive, the downtown Seattle skyline came into view! Its such a pretty city, don't you think?

Once we got off the freeway, we discovered that driving in downtown Seattle is probably just as difficult as that in downtown NY or LA. Oh well, there was plenty to look at! Mostly just shops and cafes and nice looking apartment buildings that I could imagine myself living in. Because of the traffic and slightly confusing streets, I think it took us another thirty minutes to actually get to the Needle. We had all previously determined that while we did want to see the Space Needle up close, we weren't all THAT thrilled about it so we wouldn't spend the money to ride the elevator or even pay for parking! Dad stayed in the car while Hunter and I hopped out for two minutes to take the shots we wanted and look around a bit. I think if I ever get to come back to Seattle again I would be interested in hanging out there a little longer, the attractions around the skyscraper look kind of intriguing and I wouldn't mind taking a ride up the elevator...or even eating a meal in the high-altitude restaurant if I were a millionaire (I'm assuming you need big money?).


Pike Place Market is only about a ten-minute crawl from the Space Needle. We quickly found some very reasonably priced parking and then happily set about on our adventure! I LOVED the view of Pugent Sound, quite lovely, so here is a picture as we were on our way to the market area. Once again, the pic doesn't exactly do the Sound justice.

Pike Place Market is a very enjoyable place to be. It seems to be made up of about a half-mile of shops, both permanent shops and kiosks, and TONS of food places. Every 20 seconds as we would walk down the street, another new wonderful aroma would drift to our noses, inviting us to waffle cones, cinnamon buns, clam chowder, fresh fruit, coffee, even flowers!! I loved seeing this flower spot, so beautiful. Couldn't resist taking a picture. Doesn't it remind you of the kind of place that Joe would have bought his flowers for Kathleen in You've Got Mail? Ugh, I'm such a girl.

One thing about Pike Place Market: it is a tourist trap and consequently VERY busy and crowded. It was lunch time when we arrived, and at first glance it looked like the only type of place to get food would be a place where we would pick up our order and have to stand or walk in the street to eat it, but I was very thankful to find a place called something like "Sound View Cafe" in order to have a satisfying sit-down meal. And the restaurant did have a wonderful view of Pugent Sound, we even got window seats! Almost immediately, Hunter stuck his head as far as he could out of the window and just looked and looked at everthing there was to see.

While I was waiting for my food, I imagined what it would be like to have a roof-top garden like this

or this.

One of the many pleasant views inside the restaurant:

My dad and I split an order of crab cakes that came with roasted vegetables, seasoned potatoes, and yummy yummy bread.

Hunter enjoyed his turkey and swiss cheese sandwich:

On our walk to Starbucks we discovered that there was more to see of Pike Place Market than just the main street, the post alley shops turned out to be very quaint and European-esque! I have to come back to this city with Holly...

Next pic is of the first Starbucks EVER!! I love how they haven't changed anything about it, they haven't made it more like its other retail stores or more modern or anything! Even the trademark symbol, when seen anywhere in this store, is slightly different than the current one. The mermaid is chubbier, among other things. :) Inside the store there is only room to stand in line and order your drink, look at merchandise you might want to buy, and then there is an official standing area with a counter at which you can sip your drink. No normal chairs or couches, though, and I liked that. I love that they've kept it the same way that its been for 36 years. Hardwood floors, counters, shelves, gold trimming, coffee beans displayed behind glass, it was beautiful and coffee-ish, somehow even more coffee-ish than modern Starbucks are. And the people working there were really friendly, when we walked in one of the cashiers was singing back every order that he heard coming from his customers, and later I saw him posing for a picture with some girls. I loved my experience in the original Starbucks. I got a Cinnamon Dolce Latte, by the way.

Inside the first Starbucks!

Not sure of the significance of the flags on this map, because I KNOW there are more cities with Starbucks than might be indicated by the flags on it, but I took this picture because, incidentally, this is the same world map that Heather selected for Georgie's nursery. Thought Heather would be pleased to know that Georgie's map was also considered worthy of Starbucks.


Drinks!!
Proof about it being the first Starbucks store:

On our way back to the car, I realized that not only could I not resist taking a picture of the flowers, but I shouldn't leave without buying a bouquet! I found a lovely bouquet of sweet peas, and they are now happily sitting in a vase on the kitchen table!

The three of us left Seattle feeling very satisfied with our time there, knowing that yes, we would like to visit it again for a much longer period of time, but for the time being we wanted to get back to the treasure of Lakewood: Georgie.