That’s only kind of a lie. I did get that shirt, but I also bought more things than shirt.
Anyway, we went to Seattle this week, which was fun. I love to explore a new city.
We flew first class both ways, which I get really excited about every time, like a puppy super stoked about their impending pup cup in someone’s tiktok from a Starbucks drive-thru.
You get free booze and an actually decently comfy seat in United First, and since our flight was over 900 miles, we got lunch both directions.
Eating on a plane is always fun, but they give you an actual butter knife and also a very nice banana pudding and free booze, so it’s extra fun this way.
Anyway, we saw some mountains:
So we got to Seattle in one piece, and I think we pretty well killed it. We got in early on Monday and couldn’t check in yet, so we walked over to the Spheres (https://www.seattlespheres.com/) and found a bar for a bit, went and checked in, and decided to walk to Belltown and go get some dinner. We ended up at a place called Ohana, which was fabulous. We ordered a bunch of random sushi and musubi and had some noodles too.
Then we walked across the street to this bar called the Black Cat, which had both Fernet and Malort on tap. These were clearly our kind of people.
We had a blast there, stopped at a bodega and got snacks and wine, and fell asleep on the couch in our entirely too large “hotel room” watching Law and Order.
Tuesday morning, Patrick got up well before I did, so he ventured out early to walk around the city. I got my shit together and met up with him at this little cafe called Ludi’s, at which I got breakfast lumpia, which came with the best and most “don’t breathe on anyone for at least an hour” garlic rice I have ever experienced in my life. It was lifechanging, and now I want this for breakfast every day.
After that, we had some time to kill before going to our food tour of the Pike Place Market, so we went to H-Mart, walked around the general area and then stopped in at this store on the corner right by where we picked up the tour.
It was called “Robots vs Sloths”. You could literally not pay someone enough where they would be able to create a store name that makes me want to enter said store more.
So. Much. Cute. Stuff.
I got the titular shirt and a very cute patch for my not-punk-jacket, and then it was time for the food tour.
Honestly, it was a lot of fun. Our tour guide Scott, was great, very funny. The best thing we had (I thought) was the chowder from Pike Place Chowder. Honorable mentions to the cold brew tiramisu from Kitchen & Market and the London Fog gelato from Hellenika Cultured Creamery, as well as the truffle guy from Truffle Queen who was just a killer salesman and definitely got Patrick for some truffle salt. Oh, and the pepper guy from Bonnie B’s Peppers who got me for like 90 bucks worth of pickled stuff.
Here is us in front of the market, failing at selfies:
After the market, we decided to walk over to the Pop Culture museum.
This was a good choice, because a) the Space Needle is right by it and b) I am a giant nerd.
Here is a photodump of shit we saw at the Museum of Pop Culture:
After that, we decided to check out a different neighborhood and took a lyft to Fremont. Had some food at an Irish pub style place that was good, went to a guitar shop, walked around a bit, and also went to see the Fremont Troll before going to a bar called Bar House, which had SO MANY BAR DOGS. I love a good bar dog, and there were like 6 of them, which ruled.
After Bar House, we realized it was getting late and got a ride back to the hotel to regroup, then got some dinner in the neighborhood and collapsed back at the hotel.
Wednesday was nice since we didn’t really have any plans. By the time I got up and ready, Patrick was up in Capitol Hill, so I got a ride up to where he was and we took the train to the UW campus to see the cherry blossoms, which were really beautiful. The campus itself looks like something out of Harry Potter. The architecture is ornate and stately, and the grounds truly impressive. Here’s a few photos, some of which were shot on my little toy camera:
After that, we walked to their little university district and got breakfast, then took the train to Pioneer Square, where I bought a couple books. Because of course I bought a book by Stan Brakhage:
We then walked from there down to the piers, which are total tourist traps but also kind of good people watching, and had a beer, then walked back up to Belltown and ended up at Shorty’s and played some pinball and used their photobooth. We’re kind of cute sometimes.
At that point we needed food so we walked down the street to a place called Cyclops, got some food (I kinda wish I had gotten a bar shirt, tbh) then had a bit of time to kill before going to meet my friend in Ballard, so we stopped in at the Screwdriver Bar which was a really cool joint covered in records with a bartender who was super nice.
Took a Lyft to Ballard and met up with my friend Danielle, who I hadn’t seen in person in years, played more pinball and ate nachos, and then she had to go so we wandered the neighborhood and found a Taco Time! For those of you who don’t know, I worked at the sole Taco Time in Iowa back in 2001-2002 and am still OBSESSED with the crisp chicken burritos, so we each got one. The ones in WA are not as good as I remember, unforunately.
After that, we continued walking around Ballard, and ended up by this place called the Tractor Tavern, at which point we heard good live music eminating from it. We went inside and paid to watch, and it ended up being such a good show we bought tickets to see them again in Denver tonight (there will be a different blog post about that). Early James was the dude’s moniker, look him up for sure if you like bluesy country rock.
Went back to the hotel after and passed out.
Thursday we didn’t really do much other than get breakfast and head to the airport, where thank god I had made a reservation for security because the line for standard screening was INSANE. Once on the plane we were again in first class. I had the chicken pizzalolo or something like that. They let me double fist wine and White Claw, which made me very happy, and I bought something from Skymall even though it’s not the same as it used to be.
Again, the banana pudding was the star of the show.
Anyway, we got home without incident, and that was the end of vacation.
This was entirely too long, but I had photos to dump. If you’re still here, leave a shoutout!
