Seattle Weekend

So we decided to spend the last weekend of 2024 in Seattle. We hadn't been across the border in a long time. As a matter of fact, we ended 2023 by spending the last weekend in Portland, Oregon and that was our last foray stateside. It's a combination of getting hammered on costs because of our dollar and just preferring to keep our dollars in Canada. You people who still cross the border to buy cheap gas, and complain about taxes in Canada, need a way to try the US medical coverage for a while to realize how good you have it. Anyway, we still like Seattle and there are a few nice touristy places to visit and some pretty good vegan restaurants. I find that about Christmas time, you can score some decent hotel prices (it is all relative). So we booked a couple of nights at the Springhill Suites downtown, a decent place, and a place we have stayed a few times in the distant past.

The weather probably looks familiar.

We left home in Aldergrove at about 6:30 am with the goal of beating border congestion and then moseying from there. We got to our hotel early, parked (usually too early to check in but amazingly our room was ready) and set out from there on foot. Off to Pike Street Market went we, for a mandatory check-in at Seattle's most well known touristy thing.

We had already seen on YouTube, the huge changes made on the waterfront below Pike Street such as the removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the opening up of the waterfront walkway. 

The changes extend right up to the market where ramps in addition to stairs and even an elevator make the trip to water level a little more gentle. There has also been space added for market businesses and community activity spaces.

After our quick market crawl (we've been a thousand times), we walked back to our hotel and then on to Kati Vegan Thai ( I'll post about the restaurants separately) and then to the Chihuly Garden and Glass adjacent to the Space Needle. I have been a huge fan of Dale Chihuly for a long time and yet this is our first visit to his Seattle installation.

We were told to allow an hour or two but I think we were there for closer to 3. In addition to rooms and rooms full of beautiful and brilliant displays, there was a small theatre which looped through short films showing this local artist's work with his team and various installations over the years. If you picture in your head, one guy making a vase, the complexity of assembling pieces will amaze you.

To give a small taste, they have set up a glass blowing station outside in the centre of the museum. While one of the artists mostly talks us through the steps as they are being carried out, at some points all three work together to complete a beautiful vase-like creation. You can purchase previous works in the gift shop but it will cost you at least 6K USD!

This was our favourite Seattle activity and I would recommend it to everyone! We wandered around this former Expo site after seeing the Garden and Glass, including a walk through the Armory which houses a pretty extensive food court and the Kraken store (they just happened to be beating our Canucks at that very moment). We found more vegan eats at Plantiful SLU and mostly called it a day.

The next morning, we made the obligatory trip to Seafood City in Tukwila so Mharie could stock up on Filipino products that are less available in Canada.

From there to Georgetown Liquor Company for an early lunch and then to Jack Block Park, a former wood treatment site that was badly contaminated but reclaimed thanks to an EPA mandate. Don't be expecting much of that over the next 4 years. It is now a shorefront park and walkway that affords some lovely views of downtown, including the first photo in this post.

In the early evening, we climbed the hill from our hotel to Capital Hill where we would have dinner at Plum Bistro, one of Seattle's favourite vegan restaurants. 

Another unique Seattle neighborhood, Capital Hill is home to many bars and restaurants and shops. For Vancouverite's, it seems to have a bit of a Gastown kind of vibe.

We liked the dance lessons embedded in the sidewalk but came away with no more fancy footwork than when we arrived.

On our last morning, I was up early for my walk and let Mharie get some additional ZZZs.

It turns out that if you want the market to yourself or to get a coffee at the original Starbucks (or at least oldest existing Starbucks) without waiting an hour, then 7 am on Monday morning is the time.

I got a better photo of the new community area and views than on Saturday morning. Its been very nicely planned and executed.

We enjoyed our last Seattle meal in the South Lake Union area again. This area is the home to Google and Amazon and probably related tech companies and presumably many of their young, progressive employees are vegan so there are some choices around here!

Google is good enough to care about the community potassium levels and we were invited to help ourselves to a couple of bananas for the trip home! Nice!

We enjoyed some public art, our favourite meal of the weekend at Ba-Bar Green and then got on our way home. Thanks Seattle. See you someday when hopefully our dollar recovers a bit!