Mount Rainier and Seattle Trip Part 2

I know you've been biting your nails in anticipation for this post. 

The second leg of our trip a couple weeks back was in Seattle. We ditched our rental car back at the airport and took the train into the city. I love being independent of a vehicle for a few days - it's refreshing. As soon as we stepped out of the light rail station, the hustle and bustle of the city was in the air. We went to the hotel, freshened up, and headed out for some drinks and dinner.

I should have taken more pictures of the food and drinks that we ate and drank, but I feel weird taking tons of pictures in restaurants all the time. We hit up Artusi and Elysian Brewery. Both were fantastic. Artusi was the kind of place that Jacob and I would order fancy drinks and food at all the time if we were rich. It was modern and artsy, yet had a wonderful relaxed atmosphere. The bar tender was top notch. Elysian's beer was very good, the food, meh.

Monday morning we woke up early, ran 4 miles around the city, and got ready to head out for a full day of tourism. First stop? Pike Place Market.

The fresh seafood, produce, and flowers were all outstanding.

After walking around the market for several hours, we decided to stop at a little french bakery. I can't remember the name of it to save my life, but it was awful close to the ORIGINAL STARBUCKS. You would know it was the original one because the signs were brown (not green) and the line was at least 25 people long. Now don't get me wrong, I'll settle for Starbucks at times, but come on, people. Our espresso at the french bakery ran laps around those people's "cinnamon dulce" lattes. 

Ok, back to the french bakery. This was the most immaculate bakery I have ever been in. The pastries were gorgeous and the attention to detail was outrageous (in a good way). 

We worked our way around the pretty cases and made our order.

For me, chocolate croissant and an americano (which came served in a real mug, on a saucer), and for Jacob, a brioche and a double espresso (which also came with a tiny saucer). They were just as good as you would expect.

Later that afternoon we visited the Museum of Flight.

We even got to step foot in the old "Air Force One"!

The rest of our trip was spent eating and drinking at a few notable places - Tango in Capitol Hill (yet another amazing bartender who comped one of our drinks just because he said we were "cool"), Umi Sake House, and List in Belltown. 

 We went to Kerry Park to get a nice view of the city and to the space needle to get a few snapshots (without actually paying the $16 to go up to the top) on our last day in the city.

We had a great trip - but it was great to get home as well. Thanks for tuning in, and look forward to some actual recipes that will be going up on the blog very soon!

One Year.

Today marks one year. One year of adventure, hard work, travel, and home ownership. One year of fun, food, and learning. Happy one year anniversary to the guy who is the perfect balance of work and play, the calm to my crazy, and the ultimate handyman.

Oh, AND - Happy Birthday, to this same guy who agreed to share his wedding day with his birthday. For the rest of his life.

Mount Rainier and Seattle Trip Part 1

So, after this post you won't hear me bragging on how cool the northwest is, at least for a while. The third and final week of training for work was two weeks ago. Back in the spring, we decided that September would be a good month for Jacob to fly out and meet me at the end of my work week so that we could explore Mount Rainier and Seattle for a few days. 

Warning - this post is a total mix of iphone and "real camera" pictures.

Jacob flew in Friday evening and we started out the trip right - beers at the local brewpub in Tacoma.

Followed by a stroll through downtown.

Saturday morning we woke up early to fog and drizzle but decided we would make the trip to Mount Rainier National Park anyways. Good thing we did, because the weather was out of this world. 75 degrees and blue skies. It was breath taking.

We hiked a 5 mile loop that took us up to the snow fields at the base of Mount Rainier. We could just barely see a few hikers close to the summit of the mountain while we were hiking. It was super cool.

After hiking 1700 feet of elevation over 5 miles in just over two hours, we were tired. We drove around the park and hopped out of the car when the scenery was ripe for pictures.

Sunday, we packed up, dropped our rental car back at the airport, and took the train into downtown Seattle. Apparently there was a Seahawks game that day?

To be continued...