Sleepless in.. Ya know

Decisions that must be made in Seattle

We all fantasize about taking a stroll with coffee in hand through the rainy birthplace of legendary grunge sounds like Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam (is Pearl Jam grunge?). Maybe your Seattle fantasy includes being a medical professional at a local hospital with an extremely overly complicated personal life. However you fantasize it, it's a dreamy sea-town with delicious food, brain-melting music, and mind-boggling beauty. Here are a few of our favorite Seattle decisions:

1. Seattle Parks

A wonderfully green city, there are oodles of great parks to visit. I only have the energy for two at the moment:

• Kerry Park: One of the first places we visited. And that’s because it gives you one of the quintessential views of the city. Taking in the view from up here got me excited to spend the month getting a closer look at all those alleys, nooks, and crannies down there.
• Washington Park Arboretum: Quite the pleasant surprise. Decided to check this place out on a whim one day after work when I was feeling particularly rotund and needed to get my legs moving. Numerous trails weave in and out of gorgeous gardens with hundreds of species of plant life on display. Not to mention the abundant wildlife, we had an incredible encounter with an owl here.

2. Pike Place

I’ve said this before, but I love a market. I love a great example of human civilization, and I feel like Pike Place is that. I love walking through a crowd of people with the overwhelming stench of fish in the air and a mysterious dampness beneath my feet. I love a place where you think you’re going to just walk through, but end up leaving with the light buzz of two martinis, a dozen oysters, a bouquet of flowers for your lady, and some cheap souvenir that’ll get buried in the bottom of your book bag for the rest of eternity.

3. Go Sports!

Despite a troubled past, I believe Seattle remains a great sports town. Of course, particularly when it comes to their beloved Seahawks. We were lucky enough to attend the home opener and holy wow, what a time. It's a great way to witness the real community, for good or bad. We're talking about sitting up in the nose bleeds with the salt of the Earth. Besides the Seahawks, we also caught a Mariners game. Unfortunately, a little more neglected compared to its football sibling, the games are cheap, not crowded, and there's a great view of the city and the bay. Follow the crowd to one of the local bars after, highly recommend.

4. Alki Beach

Another place with a great view of the city, Seattle seems to be full of them. It’s not your ideal white sand beach with crashing waves, but it’s a lovely neighborhood to spend the day. The street is lined with great restaurants and bars to chill and look out on the water, where if you’re lucky there might be a sea lion.

5. Take to the Skies

One of our best decisions was to scream through the sky above this great city in a seaplane with Seattle Seaplanes. We’ve talked about views, but THIS is the best view. Starting on water you nervously wobble up into the sky looking down at the Space Needle, Lumen Field, Bill Gate’s house, and Jeff Bezos’ house. We even saw them lounging by the pool in their true space lizard forms! Only issue here was trying to make Ashley forget about the adorably handsome pilot.

12 Tasty Decisions in Seattle

Sports fans may know why I picked the number 12 for Seattle, wink. I also just needed to find a way to choose, because it could be a lot higher. I doubt I’m breaking news here, but Seattle is definitely one of the best food towns in the country. Here are some of our fondest food decisions from our month in Seattle (P.S. still not good at taking food pics, grabbed some of these from the respective IG’s):

Seattle Daytrips

While you can just stay within the bounds of Seattle proper forever and be perfectly content, the PNW glory of Washington state lays outside those boundaries. It’s beautiful simply driving around mowing over traffic cones because you forgot you’re driving while you’re gazing out the window. Rugged coastline, snow-capped peaks, volcanoes, glaciers, whatever you want as an outdoors-person you can find in Washington. Some are obvious choices, but here’s where we pranced:

1. Mount Rainier

No brainer. It’s one of the prettiest places I’ve hiked in the U.S. Not that I’m some authority on hiking, but I’ve hiked in pretty places, okay? Go early and watch the morning sun put a warm spotlight on the face of that glorious glacier. We hiked one of the most popular hikes in the park, but going early we beat the crowds and saw the fog roll in and out of the landscape. It was al bacio.

2. Olympic National Park

Rainier’s fierce competitor to the west, Olympic National park feels like where the Jurassic Park dinos would go if they were in the mainland US. You don’t really think of rainforest when you think of the contiguous 48 states, but here we are. We checked out Ruby beach and admired the massive shadows of sea stacks in the distant fog overlooking the coast. While it can be a lengthy trip from Seattle (don’t just put in Seattle to Olympic in google maps! Put in your desired attraction!!), it’s worth the trip.

3. San Juan Islands:

This was the greatest surprise day trip from our stay in Seattle. Taking the ferry out to the San Juan islands alone was a treat, navigating through the fresh between the endless floating evergreen islands. Once you arrive, drive out to Lime Kiln Point State Park and give yourself a chance at seeing the Orcas from the coast. One rambunctious orca teen jumped out of the water so close to us that water splashed at my feet. It was easily one of the coolest wildlife experiences I’ve had. Even if you don’t get as lucky as me, the islands are beauty and make a lovely trip.

4. Coastal Towns

Mentioning the ferry previously, I’d be remiss not to implore you to take it. There are several delightful towns to visit off the coast of Seattle that warrant your presence, as special as it is. We had a cute time visiting the little sea town of Langley on Whidbey Island. For a killer meal visit Saltwater. But, before you do that, drive up to Fort Casey State Park and pretend you’re a soldier from WWII. Besides the massive guns, there’s a lovely little lighthouse overlooking some excellent views.