Beautiful Morning in Seattle
After an adventurous start to our west coast vacation in Portland (check out our Portland adventures) we were excited to wake up at the Hyatt at Olive 8, overlooking the beautiful Seattle morning skyline. The room was situated on the corner of the sixth floor of the hotel, and provided more space than we could have possibly asked for. With the ultimate destination of this trip being a Disney Cruise out of Vancouver, we were only staying in Seattle for one day, catching the train to Vancouver the next. We had a couple additional days in Seattle after the cruise, but we wanted to make the most out of the day because the weather was absolutely beautiful.
We took turns swapping out time in the bathroom, as the boys tried to get in a few critical minutes of YouTube while munching on their breakfast snacks. We were still not totally adjusted to west coast time, which benefited us in the fact that we were out the door of the hotel at around 8 am. Being the quintessential tourists, it was clear to us that our first stop of the day had to be at the iconic Space Needle. The morning was starting out a bit brisk so we all grabbed our sweatshirts before heading out of the hotel room.
Without a car this meant that we were going to set a few step goal records by the end of the day, as the Space Needle was about a 25 minute walk from our hotel. The downtown streets were fairly deserted as we followed along to the soothing audible directions from our pal Siri. The objective of our early arrival at the Space Needle was to avoid the inevitable crowds that would surely build as the day progressed. It was clear as we continued our walk, with short bursts of The Space Needle on the horizon, that Hunter was thinking this experience was slightly more terrifying than he had originally imagined. A few deep breaths, and several hundred steps later we were at the base of the Space Needle, and there was no turning back. Remembering our journey to the top of the Gateway Arch a long while back in St. Louis, I can’t say Emily was super psyched for this either, but set her mind that when in Seattle….
Seattle Space Needle
We secured our tickets for the elevator ride to the top and, surprisingly enough, our departure provided us just enough time to do a lap around the gift shop. We agreed that we would hold our purchases until after the tour (I think they were afraid I would jump after I saw the price tag). We mentally bookmarked a few items as our departure time quickly approached. We ended up making our way up the ramp to the elevators at around 9:15. The ramped walk was lined with nostalgic photos of the Space Needle being built over the decades. There were even different places along the walk where you could hear short audio recordings of the popular sounds of the decade.
After a brief cattle herding up the ramp, it was finally our turn to hop in the clear elevator with a half dozen or so other guests and make the 50 story journey up to the top of the Space Needle. Hunter agreed that he would be brave and make the journey, even if his sense of fear and death was getting the better of him. The elevator ride up was narrated by one of the Space Needle employees who shared some quick facts about Puget Sound in the distance. It took less than a minute to get to the top as the elevator traveled roughly 10 MPH.
After our briefer than anticipated elevator ride, we arrived on the observation deck of the Space Needle. Everyone agreed that the experience was way smoother than we had hyped up in our minds. Due to the fact that Emily was remembering the never-ending, claustrophobic play-doh can ride to the top of the Gateway Arch, she was expecting a much worse experience. The quick ride plus the fact that you could see out made this experience 100 times more enjoyable than the Arch. Our elevator guide recommended that we check out the rotating floor observation area, so we immediately found the two flights of stairs down to the first of its kind attraction. It was truly a sight to behold, as the entire floor and walls were made of glass, and the floor slowly rotated around so you could stand in one place and see 360 degrees around you. The boys had fun walking around and taking silly pictures from different angles, making it appear that they were falling. After our 360º spin around the rotating floor, we headed back up to the observation deck where you could step out into the fresh air for a different experience. Around the outside area there were different selfie spots where a mounted camera would take your photo with the city as your backdrop. There was also one spot that had you look down at a building in the city that was equipped with a zoom camera that provided photos and a stitched together video.
After milking every last view and experience out of the Space Needle, it was time to embark on the return elevator ride back down to earth. This ride was also assisted by a Space Needle employee who helped with any last questions as well as some fun facts about Mt. Rainier. After returning to solid ground, Emily and the boys were excited to find the gift shop items they discovered earlier. I was having some foot pain so I took a quick exit and found a bench to sit at outside while they shopped. When they emerged they showed me their finds… an ornament for the tree, a wine glass etched with the Space Needle, and miniature Space Needles for the boys’ rooms. I don’t think I have ever met anyone who can shop as much as my wife… well, until the kids came along!
Seattle Waterfront and Lunch at Anthony’s Pier 66
The family finally made their way out of the gift shop as I checked my reflection in the window to see if I needed to shave again before continuing on with our day. Our next über touristy destination on the docket was making our way toward Pike Place Market, famous for dudes who throw fish at each other. According to Siri, the market was located adjacent to the waterfront, a perfect spot to grab some lunch before our tour of Pike Place.
The weather was starting to warm up a bit so we shed our sweatshirts and wound our way down the street to the waterfront. We first passed the Olympic Sculpture Park where there were unique art pieces covering the grounds. There was a tree entirely made of metal, and two sculpted eyeballs that served as benches that the boys took as an opportunity to lounge. The other unique artistic element was a fountain containing a father and son (unclothed) as the fountain took turns covering them up with water. Our mature boys got a bit of a giggle out of that.
In the distance we spotted the Norwegian Cruise Ship in port. Excited about our upcoming cruise we headed in that direction to get a closer look. The walk brought us past a number of waterfront restaurants. As if it was meant to be we came upon a restaurant called Anthony’s Pier 66 & Bell Street Diner, which provided waterfront seating overlooking the cruise ship. I have heard that Seattle doesn’t always provide the most ideal weather, but I don’t think we could have picked a more perfect afternoon to enjoy eating outside!
We got a table on the back deck that situated us almost in spitting distance of the cruise ship. The ship had clearly just docked as you could see numerous ship employees disembarking to get their supplies for the next leg of their journey. After a quick review of the menu, Hunter confirmed that this was indeed the most perfect location for lunch because they had Snapple! Hunter, who tends to be a bit obsessive at times, had been on a quest since the start of our vacation to find a restaurant that served Snapple. And not just any Snapple, but Strawberry Kiwi flavored Snapple. I honestly didn’t think we would ever find one, but here we were on day four with mission accomplished. One bottle of Strawberry Kiwi later, he was a happy boy. We got to ordering our food as Hunter ordered a Kobe Burger, Sawyer got grilled cheese, and Em and I got Clam Chowder and shared the Fisherman’s catch, which had fried Alaskan Cod, Prawns, Salmon, and Calamari. We washed down our lunch with a beer and a cocktail because hey, we were on vacation. The food and location were second to none and I highly recommend Anthony’s Pier 66 & Bell Street Diner if you are in the area!
Afternoon at Pike Place Market – Seattle
After our delicious lunch we enjoyed a stroll down the waterfront boardwalk, taking our time to admire the scenic backdrop. We were excited to see the Pike Place Market, which was just up the street, away from the waterfront. We put our trust in Siri again as she gave us directions, weaving through fenced construction areas and eventually up several concrete staircases to a completely new level of Seattle. Luckily there were many other tourists on their way as well or we might have second guessed the route that we were taking. When we finally arrived at street level we were greeted by an intense graffitied wall with an immense diversity of colors and images. We had inadvertently stumbled upon the Gum Wall, which is exactly the nightmare it sounds like, a cement wall with used gum stuck all over it. Not a great stop for germaphobes. Needless to say, we did not participate in adding to this “art” installation.
We wound our way up the walk arriving into the madness of the Pike Place Market. There were live musicians who lined the outside of the market and tourists and locals fought their way through the maze of offerings. We saw a large gathering of folks congregated around a fish market and we realized that we had just stumbled upon the Pike Place Fish Co. We grabbed a spot a bit back from the fish displays and pulled out our cameras to watch the magic. There were a few brave souls who actually came to the market to buy fresh fish, but the majority of us were just there to watch the action. It took a few minutes, but when a fish order came in the employees chanted their coded calls to each other and began hurling fish over heads across the market to be packed and sold. Certainly a unique experience that I would recommend to anyone in the area to check out.
Having our fill of fish tossing, we continued on through the market, taking in the sights and sounds. Most of the offerings became repetitive quickly as we went from fish to your basic carnival snacks and back again. It was also filled with wall to wall people, so as a family of four it was a bit overwhelming to navigate for a browse. Not really shopping for our dinner, we headed up one of the side streets to see if there were any fun shops to explore. We ended up walking into a fun boutique shop called Robot vs. Sloth. Sawyer was dead set on buying the shirt with the sloth climbing the Space Needle, and Hunter was happy with a vinyl sticker. The Seattle pride pin included with purchase was a nice bonus.
The next bucket list item for the day was finding the original Starbucks so that our coffee addicts could get a drink at the OG. Hunter had received a Starbucks gift card from one of his classmates and he was intentionally saving this card to be used in Seattle. We ended up at what we believed was the original store (although our research might have been a bit off) but we pretended it was anyway. If it wasn’t the OG it was definitely right down the street, and we were too fatigued to care by then. It certainly was busy enough to be the original. Emily and Hunter got iced coffee drinks and Sawyer and I settled for some ice water.
With drinks in hand we strolled a few blocks down the road to get a view of the Hammering Man kinetic sculpture. Another shout out to one of the Seattle icons that we learned about in Larry Gets Lost in Seattle (children’s book). The sculpture is located in front of the Seattle Art Museum. While certainly large, it wasn’t overly impressive to look at, but we checked another must see sight off our Seattle list. Of all the things to do on our trip, this was probably the one Sawyer talked about the most. If you know Sawyer, he’s not impressed by much, so we aim to please. We snapped a few photos for the scrapbook and were on our way.
Having put numerous miles on our shoes, going up and down the hills of Seattle, the Hayes’ were ready to spend a little time off of our feet. With our planned departure to Vancouver the next day, we needed to pick up a few items to be able to ship a box home before we left. We popped into a multi-level downtown Target and quickly grabbed the items we needed, and of course several more, and were on our way back to the Olive 8 Hotel. Back in our hotel room we all threw off our shoes and plopped into our beds for a well deserved afternoon chill break. We took the time also to get our bags packed and the box prepared for shipping as our taxi to the train station was scheduled for super early the next day.
Dinner at Fogón Cocina Mexicana – Seattle
The only thing that got our lazy bones out of our relaxing beds was the idea that we needed to get something for dinner. We laced our shoes up and we were back out on the streets of Seattle looking for a bite to eat. Emily and I were craving Mexican, so after a few stops and some research we ended up at Fogón Cocina Mexicana. It was located in a very progressive part of town with whiffs of pot around every corner. It was also Pride Week in Seattle and Emily’s research deduced that we were adjacent to where a Pride parade was either about to or had just taken place. The streets were lively with revelers in every kind of rainbow outfit you could imagine. It was a fun and festive place to be for sure! Love is love!
We waited outside the restaurant for a few minutes before our table was called. The restaurant was super cute with bright green walls and an indoor/outdoor seating area overlooking the street. We walked by the fresh tortilla prep station on our way to our table and knew this place was the real deal. Dinner was delicious as Sawyer got his standard cheese quesadilla, Hunter got a plate of white rice (not his usual adventurous dinner), Emily ordered the Carne Asada plate, and I got steak street tacos. Before we even ordered they brought out a plate of tostadas as well as chips and salsa, on the house. We probably could have been fine without ordering! A few beers and margaritas later we were full and ready to retire for the evening.
After finishing up our amazing dinner we made our way down the early evening streets of Seattle back to our hotel. The evening weather was cooling down, similar to our early morning adventures. It took every last ounce of energy we had to make it back to the hotel. Back in the room we finished the packing that we could and got ready for bed. I ran our shipping box down to the lobby and worked on the business center computers to print a shipping label and handed it to the front desk. We were in bed ready to sleep by around 9 because we needed to be up at 4:30 to get to our train to Vancouver. Super fun day in Seattle, can’t wait for the cruise port of Vancouver, Canada!
If you have ever visited Seattle, leave a comment below and share your favorite travel spots!
Space Needle, Pike Place Market, Hammering Man and more Seattle fun!
