Seattle & The Suburbs

I can’t believe this crazy full time life as a wanderwoman kicked off two years ago in Seattle. It’s still a top contender for my next chapter, so I booked a 2 month sit to see if I could survive a rainy winter. I stayed in Kirkland, an affluent suburb across the lake from the city in an incredible house with two adorable cats. Public transit was easy to grab into town, and a friend from high school lives nearby and took me out for some fun adventures further afield. I’ve highlighted Seattle sightseeing, Seattle Food, and daytrips from Seattle in previous blogs, but I discovered some new fabulous things that fit all three categories. So here’s a quick little Seattle Supplement from my late winter/early spring adventure.

SEATTLE

Seattle has a perfect mix of art, city fun, glorious outdoorsy excursions, and a fantastic food scene. There’s room to breathe, the people are friendly, and there’s no shortage of shenanigans within a manageable radius.

As much as I adore the Chihuly Museum and Museum of Pop Culture, 3 visits each is enough. So I mixed things up this trip and I visited the free Frye Museum, the free first Thursday at the Seattle Art Museum, and giggled at some absurd modern art at the Museum of Museums. All three were worth a visit, but the SAM was a true highlight. The Olympic Sculpture park is another fun free stop if you find yourself with an hour to kill downtown.

Pioneer Square is still a bit on the sketch side, but they are doing what they can to help the unhoused population that still calls the original Skid Row home. You’ll need to come explore here to eat at my beloved Salumi Salami, take one of the incredibly interesting Seattle Underground tours, admire the oldest architecture in the city, and hang out at the serene Waterfall Park Garden.

You just aren’t doing it right if you don’t make at least one trip to Pike Market. It’s a tourist trap and crowded, but I found it was an excellent place to work, grab a cheap snack, people watch, and get some work done on the plentiful patios with waterfront views.

Because I found myself going to the Pike Market area so frequently, I can comfortably confirm that you practically get the market to yourself early in the week and will be mired in wall to wall tourists on the back half of the week. You still can’t talk me into waiting in line to go to the “original starbucks,” but I was able to catch an excellent Chicken Pot Pie pastry at Piroshky Piroshky and a pork bun at Mee Sum Pastry on a weekday morning without standing in their crazy lines. I waited 30 minutes at Biscuit Bitch for a thoroughly mediocre biscuit sandwich while my fam visited the space needle. It’s a Seattle institution, but if any part of you is Southern, it’s not a mandatory stop. Honestly neither was The Crumpet Shop, but I’m glad to have given them a shot. I had several chowders outside of town that I enjoyed more than Pike Place Chowder, but a flight of seafood soup on a cold wet day is never a bad idea. I couldn’t find Sleepless in Seattle on any streaming services while I was in town, but I got a fish taco at The Athenian and paid homage to the iconic tiramisu scene. It’s a good stop for a super fan, but with all the things available to eat at the market, I’d pick something else.

Be sure to wander into the lower levels of the market en route to the gum wall, there are some quirky and wonderfully weird things down there. I enjoy Post Alley and some of the neighboring shops just as much as the market itself. The food is wonderful, but the beverages are seriously top notch in this neighborhood. Rachel’s Ginger Beer just lost their illustrious founder, but they still offer a rainbow of seasonal (non-alcoholic) flavors, and options to turn their delightful sodas into a custom cocktail or creative dole whip. I think I went 6 times, but I could have happily gone every day. Indi Chocolate has a unique offering of beverages and excellent outdoor seating options. The Mole Caramel and Spicy Chai packed the perfect punch to power through some work in a rare window of sunshine or wander the neighboring attractions.

Fini is my favorite kind of boutique. The owners are sweet sisters that curate the most incredible collection of unique and beautiful things. Excellent gifts, fabulous fashions, gorgeous jewelry, and you can find something at just about every price point. I visit every single time I come to Seattle and I always leave with something wonderful.

Burlesque never returned to Pink Door, but if you visit on a Tuesday or Saturday evening you can grab yourself the most cracktastic lasagna and catch an aerialist entertainer enchanting the crowd in the main room. They only do reservations in the rear dining room, so it’s first come first served to see the circus tricks. I recommend grabbing a seat at the bar around 5:30, and she’ll be twirling overhead intermittently between 6-8p.

Jack’s Fish Spot is my favorite seafood counter. I watched the prices change on the dungeness crab depending on the day of the week. It was $7.99 a pound early in the week and about $10 on the weekend. I ordered a crab to stay and it rang in at $35. I ordered one to go another day and it was $12. So I suggest grabbing a cooked crab, cleaned to go, and walking over to the picnic tables at the market and watching the water with your cheap crustacean. It was a perfect final farewell to Seattle for me.

Capitol Hill is sort of the Chelsea of Seattle. Lots of gay bars, excellent shopping, street art, cute cafes and coffee shops, and worth a wander. Elliot Bay Book Company is epic, Victrola Coffee was as adorable as I wanted it to be, and Life on Mars is a vegan bar with a vinyl happy hour and excellently curated stacks of records to play with.

I was chatting up a bar tender at dinner and was told that the best place to visit in Cap Hill is a little speakeasy called Needle and Thread upstairs at the Tavern Law bar. Ask the hostess if there is room upstairs, wait for your secret passcode, call using the payphone and enter through the bank vault. Like New York/Nashville’s Attaboy, there is no menu, you’ll have to chat up your server to collaborate on your evening libations. I love talking to people that are passionate about what they do. I learned so much and was introduced to a wealth of new flavors and fun. My mocktail and insane cracklins and fondue were worth a trip to Seattle on their own. It’s a fun experience with an excellent payoff. I tried a couple other speakeasies in the neighborhood and had other excellent mocktails and great vibes at Knee High Stocking Co and Bathtub Gin Co. If you can only pick one- it’s hands down Needle and Thread.

My sister sent me tiktok of sushi happy hour at Momiji and I found myself there at the right time. Their patio is so pretty, the happy hour sushi specials are on point, and the Geisha roll sounds like a bougie bouquet of way too many ingredients, but it somehow works. They reeled me in with “spicy yellowtail, habañero-citrus-truffle oil & yuzu citrus ponzu” and they wrecked me with the perfection of the creation. I doubt any other elaborate roll will ever compare.

University of Washington was about halfway between my housesit and downtown Seattle, and an easy bus ride away. I fell in love with their beyond beautiful campus, so I worked from the library on a couple of rainy days and felt like I was holed up at Hogwarts. I was too early for their crazy cherry blossom display and festival, but the picture perfect Leon Coffee shop had the best spicy mocha of my life, and was a fanciful bonus office. The whole shop is ready to host your IG photo shoot, but their offerings back it up. Hot Pot is tough for a solo traveler because the a la cart model is just not very cost effective. Malatang Hot Pot is bulk/buffet style so you just build a bowl with your favorite ingredients. I was blown away by how cheap, delicious, and gratifying YGF Malatang was on a crappy cold day.

Fremont is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seattle. The Fremont Troll, Fremont Brewing, and fabulous Saturday markets fantastic places to start. I dove a bit deeper this time and discovered some gems. Burnt Sugar is an adorably curated boutique at the rocket building. Sfingiday is a beautiful ceramic and fine art shop. Plan a visit around a Theo Chocolate Tour, and take advantage of your tour discount in the gift shop because you’re going to want one of everything. If it’s possible to OD on chocolate, it would be here, and it would be worth every bite. Lavender jalapeño caramel? It sounded so dreadful I had to try it, and I’m still annoyed I didn’t buy them out.

I’m not sure how my Russian stepmom would feel about Dumpling Tzar, but I was really impressed with their unique spins on pelmeni. I would go to Fremont just to eat at  Kwanjai Thai , and I planned two visits just to do that this trip. You’ll never convince me it’s not the best Thai food in America. I pretty much buy enough food to eat for a week, and I’ve never ordered anything that disappointed me. Spicy beef larb with sticky rice and extra lettuce wraps, combo pineapple fried rice, seafood salad, and that condiment bar will keep me coming back.

While I’m not currently in the market for a wine and book pairing, I was completely enamored with a book shop and wine bar that not only stocks book recs, but builds grab bag surprises of wine and words. It’s a little north of Fremont, but I found it while on the hunt for a croissant walking distance away, and I was blown away by the concept and the vibe of the space.

I made a quick field trip to Alki Beach on the way to the airport a couple years ago. I got to catch the garden house in full bloom, but I didn’t do much more than a drive through tour. It took reading a rom com series to learn that there was a Statue of Liberty in Alki, and it took 2 buses, a lightrail ride, and the better part of 2 hours for me to go see it. It’s weird and random, but it’s really the views of the skyline that make it worth a trip to this cute little beach town. I grew up looking forward to visiting the Vietnamese grocery store with my grandma so I could sweet talk her into getting me a freshly squeezed sugarcane drink. I have a soft spot in my heart for it, and probably a soft spot in my teeth too. Natalie’s in Alki beach has an awesome selection of tea/coffee/smoothies, and delicious sugar cane concoctions. I loved it and it wasn’t just the nostalgia. I did learn that there is a $5 water taxi that runs between Alki and the same Ferry terminal that you’d grab to Bainbridge Island by Pioneer Square, so my return trip was less of a hassle. There is a famous Hawaiian/Korean fusion place on the water called Marination Ma Kai that would make a perfect skyline sunset spot.

Kirkland Marina Waterfront Park

SUBURBS

Something about the Pacific Northwest keeps calling to me. I was prepared for rain, but I wasn’t prepared for how glorious it felt when the sun came out and Spring finally arrived. I didn’t have to go far for beautiful scenery, the backyard of my housesit was a magical oasis. But I found some spectacular spots in the neighborhood. Juanita Woodlands Park boasted gorgeous mossy trees and rustic bridges over bubbling brooks that were beautiful even in a steady stream of rain. I caught a sunset that brought tears to my eyes at Juanita Beach Park. It was a bit early in the season for the free Bellevue Botanical Garden, but it was a stunning place to roam, especially The Ravine Experience. At least once a week I worked from the Kirkland Marina Waterfront Park, and I thoroughly enjoyed boosting the local economy at their incredible collection of consignment shops. “Absolutely Fabulous” lived up to its name, and my suitcase is a bit heavier after a couple seriously successful visits.

The Seattle Food scene is top 5 in the country for me, but Bellevue was no slouch. The affluent suburbs are home to outposts of some pretty famous international asian food chains, but my friend Matt is equally obsessed with finding funky new asian spots. We made it our mission to discover some local gems. Honestly, a couple of them were so good they are worth a field trip to the burbs on their own. We tried to visit a hot pot spot but couldn’t stomach a two hour wait. We drove past Nai Brother Chinese Sauerkraut Fish and it sounded just weird enough to be excellent. The food was so good it took a concerted effort to resist going back every week. Our two visits were some of the highlights of the trip, and I still have dreams about the pink radish, spicy/sweet/crispy pork belly skewers, and their signature sauerkraut fish. Usually my first orders of business upon arriving in Seattle are a trip to Pink Door for lasagna or a Salumi Salami Sandwich, but now I’m thinking it’s a visit out to Nai. We did find a fun hot pot alternative at Nine Way in Redmond. The hot and sour dumpling soup and spicy hot pot were decidedly drool worthy. Being a quarter Japanese and having lived in Japan, it’s hard to impress Matt, but Izumi was some ridiculously top tier, authentic and inexpensive Japanese dining. He claims it’s Top 3 American Sushi experiences, so don’t let the strip mall location and dated interior deter you.

Day Trips

Since deciding to give my liver a vacation, I needed a fun new sample scavenger hunt for my soul sabbatical. I’ve been obsessed with croissants since I was a toddler, and it’s become a fun little touchstone on my trips this year. Matt told me nearby Camano Island had the best ham and cheese croissant of life. I’m not opposed to driving an hour for a pastry, especially if you get to pair it with pretty scenery. We put his money where his mouth was and made a field trip on a cold wet day. It’s only an hour from the city, and connected by bridges so you don’t have to mess with ferry schedules. As promised, the Camano Commons Bakery makes some of the best pastries of my life, and I’ll be trying to top that h&c croissant for the rest of my days. You’ll still love Camano even if you’ve cut carbs. Between the Iverson Preserve spit, Camano Island State Park, and Cama Beach State Park, you’re bound to have a ball. It was 40 degrees, cloudy, windy and rainy and I still had the most marvelous day. If you find yourself there in a Seattle Summer, you’re likely to fall in love with the driftwood beaches and gentle giant trees.

I think it’s well established that I have a very big soft spot for Victorian architecture. Between my frequent trips to Sacramento, The Winchester Mystery Mansion in San Jose, The Hotel Del Coronado/San Diego, the exceptional painted ladies in Eureka, the Heritage House Museum in LA, or even the Victorian Bathhouses in Melbourne’s Brighton Beach, I don’t mind traveling a few hours to find them. It should not shock you that when my friend Jenn told me there was a little Victorian beach town a couple hours from Seattle, it moved to the very top of my wishlist.

It’s a little over 2 hours away, and there is an option that involves a ferry, but you can easily just drive around and catch the bridge over to this stunning seaport town. It was so adorable I kind of wanted to just shrink it down and carry it around in my pocket. Highlights for me were a walk around the water and chowder at Hudson Point Cafe, putzing around the picturesque main street, checking out the only surviving Victorian fire bell tower, strolling along the shore at the Point Wilson Lighthouse, and peeking into the creepy abandoned concrete structures at the Fort Warden Historical State Park. I’m a sucker for some sea swept cypress trees, bald eagle sightings, driftwood teepees, and sunset at Sirens Pub’s rooftop deck.

I can’t tell you how many people told me that the ferry to Bainbridge Island is the most picturesque thing you can do in the Pacific Northwest. I liked it so much on my first trip, I somehow found myself making the journey 3 times this visit. I made a quick little sunset ride when my sister was in town, made a second excursion (in the snow?!) to visit a friend from college, and decided to try a third time to catch Mt Rainier on the skyline on my best sunny day in town. I confirmed that Plum still does the cutest seasonal displays at their entrance, but I learned that the Bainbridge Island Museum is free and fantastic, the chowder/oyster happy hour/view and live music make happy harmony at Harbour Public House, and the Glenn family is mixing up some magic at Highside Distilling.

My second sit in the Seattle area was in Tacoma 2 years ago, and I had a marvelous time. I was just incredibly disappointed that covid restrictions kept me from the courthouse at Union Station and their massive collection of Dale Chihuly Glass. You can appreciate the outdoor Chihuly Glass Bridge and ikebana collection anytime, but you’ll need to visit between 7a-5p on a week day to make it inside to the magnificent monarch window. I made sure to make a brief stop en route to Portland, and it did NOT disappoint. Honestly, I could have stood there all day, it was stunning.

Even if you aren’t trying to decide if you can see yourself living in Seattle, you shouldn’t have to do much soul searching to decide to find some fun there.

Cheers!