Day 1: Train Day

I took the train down to Seatac to pick up the folks. I had a visitor pass to meet them at the gate but they were running early and I was running late so I ended up meeting them at the luggage carousel.

After stopping at their hotel to drop off their bags, we trained up to UDistrict to have beers and lunch at Big Time Brewery on The Ave.

I had begun to decaffeinate so we made a quick pit stop at Cafe Allegro just a block away.

From The Ave, we meandered across the UW campus toward the UW train station. While it was no Cherry blossom season, the walk across campus is always cool, and especially beautiful when things are in bloom.

Mom had requested we go to Chihuly Garden and Glass, so from UW we took the train to Westlake and then the Monorail into Seattle Center. Chilhuly is a bit short and a bit pricey but they had a live demo of glass blowing which really amplified the experience.

Mom’s other request for this visit was The Spheres. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to make a reservation so we simply walked by on our way toward Westlake.

Of course, being vaguely on-the-way, we stopped at one of my favorite breweries in town, Cloudburst Brewing.

We finished with dinner at one of my favorite spots in Capitol Hill, the rooftop at Terra Plata.

Day 2: Car Day

We started the day by driving out to Snoqualmie Falls. This is an easy, pleasant drive. A couple tips: First, just turn right into the free parking lot. It’s only a few hundred extra feet of walking and there’s probably no parking in the paid lot anyway. Second, while the walk to the bottom of the falls isn’t long, they’re not joking when they say that it’s steep.

From there, we headed to Seattle’s most iconic view, Kerry Park. While it’s not particularly close to most of the things tourists will want to do, if you’ve got a car, I defeinitely recommend it. On a clear day, you can even see Mt. Rainier!

Leaving Queen Anne, we crossed the Ballard Bridge into Ballard. If you’re into beer, really, just head to 14th between Market and Leary and walk into the first place that looks interesting.

We ended up at Trailbend Taproom. It’s one of the few places in this little strip that isn’t brewing their own beer. But they’ve got a solid food menu and an outstanding, highly varied, tap selection. Dad even had his first Pliny The Elder!

Normally from here I’d park near the Freemont Troll and walk to Lenin, the rocket, and The Center of The Universe. Unfortunately, this particular day, several streets were closed for Freemont Fair so trying to get around was a bit tricky. Fortunately, we were able to at least see everything from the car.

Closure chaos didn’t stretch further than those few blocks so we were still able to get to Gas Works Park. In addition to seeing the park, we got to see float planes taking off and landing, sailboats darting around the lake, and even a hot tub boat.

After a long day of being in and out of the car, we headed back to my house where I’d prepared a massive steak and veggies.

Day 3: Capitol Hill and Market Day

I met my parents in Captiol Hill and dad said he’d like a little snack for breakfast. Cool bookstores were already on the to-do list, so we started at Little Oddfellows inside of Elliot Bay Book Company. Our next stop was my favorite used book store, Twice Sold Tales.

We headed into downtown, starting at Waterfront Park. Usually this would include a walk along much of the waterfront but it was a grey day with nothing happening on Pier 62, so we headed for some shopping.

We started at Steinbrueck Native Gallery, meandered through Metsker Maps, and almost convinced Mom to buy a very cool white onyx bowl at Fossil & Stone.

And now, time for some seafood.

First, a quick snack at Emmet Watson’s Oyster Bar. This is one of my favorite hidden spots around the market. Pike Place is an ocean of people this time of year but once you find your way into the building, there’s a bit of calm served up with the cheapest oysters I’ve ever had in Seattle. It’s a bit hidden, so my best recommendation for finding it is simply to watch the video on the front page of the website.

Finally, we went into the market proper and stopped at Pike Place Fish Market for a beautiful piece of Copper River Coho Salmon. This is one of my favorite things to do with out-of-towners. Where else can you buy the freshest salmon in the world, hop on a train, and be grilling it half an hour later!?

Unfortunatley, an outage meant no train downtown that day.

Fortunately, that meant we could make one more Capitol Hill stop - at Dick’s Drive In for Huckleberry Kid Cones.

From there, we took the train back to my house, had a delicious dinner of grilled salmon and vegetables, then said our goodbyes. The folks would be headed to Oregon wine country in the morning.

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