A Seattle Trip Report of Fun and Anguish

Day 1 in Seattle (Wednesday)

I like light rails, at least the ones in Minneapolis-St. Paul, so I figured I would try the light rail here. It was a bit of a walk from the airport; about 10 minutes, but not too trying. I had an Orca card but could not figure out where to tap in with it. I asked someone on the train, and she didn't know, but she told me not to worry about it. The train was not really crowded and there was plenty of room, so I didn't feel guilty about using an extra seat for some of my luggage.

Once I arrived at the Westlake, I had a bit of confusion because Google Maps was telling me that the hotel was a 30-minute walk away. I could have sworn that it was just a short distance and I wasn't sure what to do, but I figured I should start walking. So I made my way up 3 escalators then headed out onto street level. I looked at Google Maps again, and suddenly, my hotel was only a 3 minute walk away. Note to self: Don’t get directions while you're three stories underground.

I walked the 3 blocks to my hotel; Inn at the Water, which was really lovely and sat right at Pike Place Market. The room wasn't ready, so I left my luggage, walked back up to the Westlake station and caught the light rail to Lynnwood, as I was meeting up with Mikliz97 from the forum. Once there, I made my way down to the parking lot and eventually found her (there was some confusion on my part about where she was). Once I got in her car, she drove us up to the RoozenGaarde tulip festival. It was raining when I got into Seattle, but Mikliz promised that the rain would stop by the time we got to the tulip festival, and she was right.

We spent the next hour or so wandering the fields and admiring all of the incredible color and beauty. Everything was just gorgeous and the color combinations really set the stage for all its beauty. Afterwards , we had lunch at Calico Cupboard Cafe in LeConner. The town itself was very charming, with lots of cute shops. It was a good thing we didn't stop, or I would have been in serious trouble. The cafe was really nice and my Brussel Sprouts Vegetable Hash was really delicious. And I loved meeting up with Mikliz. She's every bit as charming and fun as she is on the forum, and I really had a blast meeting her!

After that, Mikliz dropped me off at the Lynnwood station and I headed back downtown and checked into the hotel. All I can say is I loved it and would happily stay here again! The lobby was gorgeous, the staff was so friendly and accommodating, and my room was on the eighth floor with a beautiful view of downtown. The bed, especially the pillows, were probably the most comfortable I've ever had, and the whole room was just perfect. And I loved my Nespresso!

I was pretty full from our late lunch so I opted out of dinner and just walked around and checked out the downtown area. So far, Seattle has a really fun vibe, and I loved the archit’ecture, the scenery and all the art that you see on the streets. I decided not to go down to the market, as I had plans to visit there the next morning. My plan was to head back to the hotel’s rooftop terrace.

But first, wine. I googled wine shops and found a nice little shop on 2nd Ave near Stewart called WeRiseWines. It was a great shop with a nice selection and they also served dinner. They specialize in local wines and wineries that are woman-owned or run, and have a great diversity program. It was really interesting talking to her about their mission, and the wine I bought (a red blend from Washington) was quite good.

After that, I walked back to the hotel, grabbed my wine, a good wine glass (yep, the room had those, too) and a book and took the elevator to the fifth-floor roof terrace, which is a really nice feature of the hotel. It has seating areas with fire pits and was a wonderful place for me to sit and enjoy the views of Puget Sound, the boats, and the sunset. It was a perfect evening.

Day 2 in Seattle (Thursday)
It was another early wake up for me so after a quick shower, I walked down to Pike Place Market. It was around 7am and there weren't a lot of people there, except for those handling fish. I was sort of fascinated by it and for the next hour I just walked around exploring the market. I stopped at a place called The Crumpet Shop and had one topped with ricotta and lemon curd. OMG, so good!

When I headed past the initial shops, however, I got a little lost. It was hard to figure out exactly where all the market was and where it wasn’t. My imagination had pictured it as just one big building with tshops and so on, but it's all over the place. By the time I was done, I had sort of figured it out and realized that some of the marketplaces are up on the streets. Along the way, I made the mistake of stopping in another small cafe called Freya, where I bought a pretty wonderful looking pastry and a cappuccino. I was still full from the crumpet, but I stuck it in my bag for later. I told the young woman working there that my granddaughter's middle name was Freya, and so she gave me a couple of stickers for her, which was very kind. They had some beautiful cakes in there that looked incredible.

About an hour later, I pulled the pastry out of my bag and took a couple of bites. I was trying to put it back in my bag when I accidentally hit something and the pastry went flying onto the ground. Sigh. I was trying to grab a napkin so I could throw it away when I suddenly saw a large black bird swoop down, grab the pastry in its beak, and fly off into the air with it. I waved goodbye to my mid-morning snack and went on my way.

Soon it was getting close to 11am, and I was meeting up with KC from the forum, who had offered to come down and pick me up. We were going to meet Linda (also from the forum) at the Nordic Museum so I could see the Ballard Troll and then have lunch. KC picked me up right on time, and I got in her little cute mini sports car and we headed out of downtown and up to the Nordic Museum. She was awesome as well! I've had such wonderful meetups with forum members, and I just love every single one. It's so great being able to put a face to a name, and nobody ever looks like I think they should, so it's kind of a surprise.

Once we got to the Nordic Museum, we met up with Linda and admired the troll. It was really cool! I'd seen photos of it, but the photos really don't do it justice because you don't have a real visual of the size. I was fascinated by the details and how it was built. I would love to have one for my living room! Maybe a small version… 😊 Linda was great too and very funny. I think the three of us really hit it off, and I had such a fun conversation with the two of them. It's always interesting to find out more about people's lives, too.

After the troll, we went into the museum and were getting ready to order our lunch when we heard this huge crash. We looked over and the glass around the fireplace outside the cafe had exploded, I guess from the heat. It was very bizarre, but they were still taking orders, so we went in and ordered our meals, sat down, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch there. Their presentation was just beautiful. And talked about travel and life and lots of things, and finally headed out into the real world.

We said our goodbyes to Linda, then KC took me back to the hotel, although I tried to find out if there was a light rail nearby that I could take because I felt bad about her having to drive me back. However, evidently that's a very controversial subject, as Ballard has been waiting for a light rail station for a while. We chatted some more on the way back, then she dropped me off and I headed to my room to plan the rest of the day.

(Day 2 continued)

Next, I had a hard time deciding what to do. I really wanted to visit the Seattle Art Museum, Chihuly, and see the Space Needle, and take the underground tour at Pioneer Park, but I figured I would leave those for Friday since I would have the whole day to myself. In the meantime, I needed to buy some souvenirs for my grandkids, because heaven forbid I should come back without them.

And that's what I did. I first went to UNIQLO on Pine Street, where I shopped for my 3 older grandkids, as I figured they would appreciate the kind of minimalist casual clothing they sold there. After that, I just wandered around checking out other shops and finding some things for my youngest grandson and my son-in-law. I soon found what I needed at Metsker Maps, which was such a cool store that I had a hard time tearing myself away.

My shopping done, I headed over to Pike Place Market. It was now around 4 p.m. and this is where I can see what everyone is talking about. It was very congested, and not just crowded by people milling around, but crowded with people taking selfies, posing with their kids in the middle of the street (seriously???) and the horrible selfie sticks. I wandered around for a while, checking out some of the goods in De Laurentiis and strolling down Post Alley. Mikliz had mentioned The Secret Garden so I tracked that place down, but even that kind of put me off because it consisted mainly of people rushing in, walking over to the edge, taking a photo of themselves, and then walking out again.

So I left the market and I decided to try the ice cream at Salt & Straw, which is right down the street. I'll be honest, it wasn't my favorite ice cream, and not really even near the top. The two flavors I chose, the Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons and the Chocolate Gooey Brownie, were good, but too sweet for me. Of course, I still ate it all. It's ice cream after all. 😊

After that, I was ready to call it an evening. Shopping always takes a lot out of me, and I feel like I should at some point tell the kids that I can't spend this much time on buying them souvenirs, but so far I haven't been able to get up the nerve. So I went back to the hotel, grabbed another glass of wine, and took it back up to the rooftop terrace and ensconced myself with my book and enjoyed the view again.

Pike Place Market: Someone on the forum wanted to know my impression of the market. I liked it in the morning, as it wasn't too crowded. It was a very atmospheric place and it had some nice shops and places to eat. One yarn shop called So Much Yarn caught my eye, and I wound up buying several gifts for my daughter, including some beautiful wool yarn.

The afternoon was a different story. I can see why everyone recommends that you get there early. It's like a whole different atmosphere between the morning and the afternoon. I would probably avoid it later in the day and stick with early mornings. Even by 9 though, it was starting to get crowded. Between 7:00 and 9:00 seemed to be a good time, at least for me.

Day 3 in Seattle (Friday)

The day started off SO well. My plan was to head to Freya Bakery for another pastry for breakfast (they were really good), then walk down to the Seattle Art Museum as soon as it opened at 10. After that, I wanted to continue my walk down to Pioneer Park, where I would take the Underground Tour. Later in the afternoon I was going to visit the Chihuly Museum and Gardens and see the Space Needle. By the way, when I first checked out Chihuly, I was a little appalled at the price. $45 for a ticket seemed steep, although I soon discovered that the Senior discount brought it down to $37. But it got better. I found out that if you go later in the day, it gets even cheaper. If I waited till 5:30 p.m. to go, it would only be $25. That would still give me two and a half hours to see everything, as it doesn't close till 8 p.m.

The Seattle Art Museum was phenomenal and I loved, loved, loved this museum (including the building, which was so cool). It was amazing and had incredibly creative exhibits here. The indigenous art was just fantastic. I took so many photos because I wanted to remember them forever. I would be in one room and just couldn't tear my eyes away, and then all of a sudden I'd spot something in another room. Pretty soon I was dashing around all over the place. Honestly, I would come to Seattle again just to visit this museum.

Finally I managed to break away and headed for Pioneer Park. The walk was nice, and 1st Ave has some really interesting buildings. As I reached Pioneer Park, I was trying to figure out where the Underground Tour was and began to cross the street. About halfway there, I suddely pitched forward and landed hard on my left knee and right elbow. I won't go into too much detail here since I already wrote a thread about it, but suffice it to say, I was pretty beat up. At least I had the two EMTs that just happened to be there on the spot when I fell and were able to treat me with some bandages and gave me a couple of bags of ice.

They asked if I wanted them to take me to the hospital, but I didn't think I was that bad, so I said no. I knew right away that I wouldn't be able to walk back, and I was debating trying to get a cab. There were none in sight, however, and right in front of me was the Link station, so I opted for that. It didn't occur to me until much later that I could have called an Uber, but my brain was not really thinking. So I very slowly made my way over, figured out where to go to get back up to Westlake, and was soon seated and hoping I would get back to the hotel soon.

I made it back to Westlake, and the only obstacle was when I opted to take the elevator up to the street level. Big mistake. I stepped in, and as the doors closed, I realized that the elevator stunk of urine. I wanted to get out, but I was already moving upward, so I basically stood in one place without moving and certainly without touching anything until the door blessedly opened to fresh air. It was the only bad experience that I had with Seattle, other than the fall, of course. I did see a number of street people, both in the area around Target and then in Pioneer Park, but nobody seemed aggressive.

Anyway, I finally made it back to the hotel and pretty much just laid on the bed, using the ice packs that the EMTs had given me and keeping my leg elevated. I also wrote a thread on this forum so I could figure out how to get a wheelchair at the airport tomorrow, and as always, everyone came through! I don't know what I would do without this forum sometimes. So I called Alaska Airlines, and they were so nice and helpful and told me exactly what to do in the morning. Later on, I slowly got up and packed all my stuff, but luckily I didn't bring that much with me, so it didn't take too long.

Last Day in Seattle (Saturday)

I actually got a decent amount of sleep that night. I fell asleep around 9 pm, and woke up the next morning at 5:00am. I didn't have much to do, so I went down to the lobby early, and requested a cab. The desk clerk told me that it should be a $50 flat rate, and said, "Don't let him tell you differently." The cab got there within just a few minutes, and pretty soon we were zooming our way to the airport. When I say zooming, I mean that he was really driving like a bat out of hell. It was kind of scary, and at one point I asked him if he wasn't worried about getting a ticket (he was going at least 15 to 20 miles above the speed limit). He looked surprised and said, "No, I don't speed." Sure you don’t! But he got me there in one piece.

I walked into the airport, and there was someone waiting with a wheelchair for me. She took me to check my bag and did everything for me there. After that, she wheeled me through TSA Touchless security, and again took care of everything. She finally dropped me off at the gate. It was a weird experience; feeling like an invalid. I wasn't sure what the protocol is for tipping someone like that, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to offer one, and she accepted very graciously.

Soon I was in the air and heading home. Once again, Alaska Airlines came through. My seat wasn't in premium class this time, but it was still comfortable and had plenty of room. Since I checked a bag, I didn't have anything to put under the seat, so I had plenty of room to stretch my leg out. I had a pleasant conversation with the guy next to me, who was a helicopter pilot in the army, stationed in Alaska, and had flown from Alaska to Burnsville, Minnesota in order to buy a used fifteen-year-old Subaru. He told me that he saved $6,000 by doing this, and I believe him. It took him four different flights from Alaska, and then he's driving back.

Finally I was back in the Cities, took the hotel shuttle to my car, and soon was driving north to Duluth. My leg was fine during the driving because I didn't have to use it, thank goodness. I'm really glad at times like this that I have an automatic transmission.

I finally made it home and was happy to be there. The family loved their gifts, so it was worth getting them, and it was nice to relax and not have to worry about getting around with a gimpy leg. Tomorrow, Ortho Urgent Care!

Oh, no! Sorry to hear about your fall. Next time, do the tourist stuff before the souvenir shopping! Glad you were able to get up to see the tulips and to meet up with Mikliz and the others. You have a good list of activities for your next visit.

Mardee,

I’ve been thinking about your trip over the last couple of days because of the lovely weather we were having on Friday (and since). How lucky Mardee is, or so I thought.

I was enjoying your report … until I got to your fall.

Next time you come, I’d love to show you gems you missed at the Market.

Heal well.

Thanks for the report. Sorry to hear of your mishap! Looks like you'll be watching for another cheap flight to Seattle to catch all the other activities.

Terrific trip report, Mardee. It's great to hear you found Seattle and environs in fine form and I hope you heal quickly from your painful spill. Funny how while the mishap was unfortunate at the same you had good luck with the EMTs being in close proximity. Hope you feel you have good reason to return, lots more to enjoy including Overlook Walk, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Center, Ballard Locks and of course the Underground Tour that you missed this go round.

I forgot you were going to Seattle until I saw this trip report title. So happy you (mostly) had a great trip! That fall is a bummer for sure and one big reason I walk around cities (especially) looking at the ground until I can stop and look up at the sights. We used to live in Seattle area and know the places you visited, you picked the good ones! Hoping the Ortho people can give you some options for your pain and figure out exactly what’s wrong. So glad you went tho :-)

G3rryCee, yes, I definitely need to do that. I just figured Friday would be a full day to myself, and it'd be easy to hit all the sites that I had missed so far. Oh, maybe I should just get a better pair of shoes, which is what I plan to do and not shuffle as I walk, which I'm prone to do.

fred, I would absolutely love that! And I will be back, as there are too many places that I want to see and things to do. I really, really loved Seattle. I think next time I will stay longer as well.

CamAmCherie, definitely! At this point, I'd be willing to come out there paying regular price for a fare. I really liked the city a lot.

Theresa, thanks! I definitely have good reasons to return, and I will return. Although maybe next time, I should borrow my granddaughter's shin guards, lol! Or just add padding to my knees.

Sounds like a great trip until the...trip. You made the most of it and the forum folk definitely showed you the best of the season. And sorry your Salt & Straw ice cream experience wasn't as supreme as my typical experience there. At least it wasn't Thanksgiving flavor week (they have things like turkey & gravy...but I usually skip those). I am glad you are home safely and I hope the follow up medical appointments are smooth sailing.

You went to the Nordic Museum but not the Locks? Just 3 city blocks away
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballard_Locks

I think you would have enjoyed the gardens, even if boats going through the locks isn't your thing.

Something to put on the 'to do' list for the next trip, perhaps?

A trip for the books! Glad you were still able to enjoy your time before the other trip.

Great trip report. Your hotel choice sounds perfect- ending your day with wine, a book and the view- what's not to love?

And how fun to meet up with Mikliz, KC and Linda.

I'm glad the EMTs were around to assist you after your fall. To me, that's one of the few cons of traveling alone. Not having anyone to share the mishaps with. Well, that and having to drag your luggage into the stall when using the airport restroom.

Best of luck at Urgent Care tomorrow!

Thanks for the report! I’m glad you saw one of the trolls. They really are awesome. I hope your leg continues to improve.

I'm glad you did have some fun. Thanks for the report, I have visited Seattle SOOOO many times, but now, I've learned some things. A Nordic museum? I've seen the troll, but hadn't heard about the museum. I've been to the Chihuly museum several times, but its so expensive I haven't gone back. I didn't know about the discounts. I'm going to look into the tulip garden you went to. I've heard of Skagit but not where you went.

I agree with Joe, the locks are great. The gardens, exhibits, the salmon, fun and pretty area. My son used to live in Magnolia on the other side of the locks.

Your hotel sounded great. Love me a roof terrace. It sounded much nicer than the couch I usually sleep on when I'm in Seattle! I'm certain I've ridden in the same elevator. PeeU!

You are just so kind everywhere you go! I'm sure the women on the plane was very grateful for you.

EDITED TO ADD: there is combo pricing with Chihuly and the space needle. Though, a person really needs to go to the space needle, once, if that. Chihuly is definitely worthy of a repeat visit.

I looked up Salt & Straw. I've been there, they are known for innovative flavors. When I was there some were quite innovative. I did like my selection, tho, Mardee, yours sounds better. Nothing is too sweet for me, unless we're talking cocktails.

Thank you for your great and detailed trip report. So sorry that you were hurt and I, too, hope you get the care you need so you are in good shape for all the trips you must have upcoming!

Just a quick comment on the Chihuly Museum and Garden: we were there last year and absolutely loved it! My husband didn't really know what to expect and balked initially at the admission price. Once we walked in though, his tune changed immediately. Well worth the cost, to say the least. One of the most stunning places I have ever seen......oh, the colors and shapes! I highly recommend you be sure to go the next time you are in Seattle.

Ouch! Mardee. Glad you had a mostly good trip. Sorry about your mishap. Wishing you speedy healing.