Day 5: Back in Seattle, we stayed with my friends Mal and Kelly (hey guys!). In the morning, we grabbed coffee at QED, then caught the bus to downtown Seattle. We wandered through the Seattle Public Library, which is beautiful and also has a very David Lynch creepy red hallway.
Next we went to Pike Place Market, where we did our best to consume as much as possible. Our sampling included dumplings, a pork steam bun, chowder, and fish. There are also so many beautiful (and CHEAP) bouquets in the market.
After stuffing our faces, we walked around the city for awhile until we needed more coffee. We popped into a shop called Drip City, which is a pretty unfortunate name, for some cold brew, then headed on to the Space Needle and downtown area.
Next we climbed our way out of downtown and up to Capitol Hill. We wandered around Elliot Bay Book Company, which was a delightful bookstore and also provided some much needed rest.
We had some happy hour drinks at a bar called St. Johns and watched the first debate before heading to dinner at Ba Bar. It was too dark inside to take a picture of the food, but my bowl of pho was one of the best.
Day 6: Greg, Mal, and I drove out of the city and a little ways into the Cascades to do a hike called Rattlesnake Ledge. This is a challenging hike, as you’re climbing most of the time, but the payoff at the end is well worth it. Incredible views of the surrounding mountains.
After our hike, we crushed some fantastic tacos in Wallingford and had a drink at Fremont Brewing.
We made our way to Holy Mountain Brewing for some more David Lynch themes and hazy beers, and eventually capped off the night with pizza and affogato at Cornuto.
Day 7A: We were headed to Portland via the Bolt Bus, so we got downtown in the morning and had coffee at Elm Coffee Roasters, where Greg proclaimed he met the nicest barista he’d ever encountered. And finally, we had some pretty crazy Chinese noodle soup at King Noodle in the International District before talking the bus driver into letting us on early.
On to Portland!