seattle – Postcards From TLC

June 30, 2018June 30, 2018

Seattle, WA–The 3rd Day is a Charm

**This is a re-publish of a prior post from 8/17 that was lost in the transition to a self-hosted platform.

We hung out at the Warwick during the morning, having breakfast in their restaurant, Margaux. After wandering one last time around Pike Place Market, where we mostly people watched, we had a great lunch at El Borracho.

We ended up back at the hotel for the rest of the afternoon, hanging out in our room and napping. Have I mentioned how much my feet hurt by then?

We did venture back out later, walking down to Pier 70 to have dinner at Aqua, By El Gaucho, which had been recommended by an old friend. Because the weather had been so beautiful, we decided to dine on their expansive outdoor deck. Talk about another incredible meal and unbeatable ambiance! It’s probably a good thing we didn’t find this restaurant on our first night–I would have eaten every meal there and not experienced any other places.

Since my favorite type of seafood is sea scallops, I had the sea scallops in lemon beurre blanc over risotto. UNBELIEVABLY excellent! I swear, the scallops just melted in my mouth! Additionally, since I LOVE crème brulee–and I mean the classic kind, not any special, novel flavor–I also had the crème brulee for dessert.

Lucky for me we still had a trek to make back to our hotel, since I was completely stuffed after this dinner and needed the exercise. Walking back to the Warwick, we could see the Space Needle lit up against the night sky.

A perfectly beautiful ending to a perfectly beautiful trip. I can’t wait to visit Seattle again!

June 22, 2018July 12, 2018

Seattle, WA–Around The Town Day

**This is a re-publish of a post from 8/12/17 that was lost in my transition to a self-hosted platform. It’s also a bit of an experiment to see if I can re-publish a post this way. If it looks horrible, it won’t happen again and you have my apologies.

We got down to the waterfront and headed over to the Seattle Aquarium which was included on our CityPASS. I guess I expected more from the aquarium since Seattle is located right on the ocean. It felt geared towards young children, but the otters were pretty cute to see!

From there we ventured over to the Argosy Harbor Tour which was also included on our CityPASS. This was a nice one-hour tour of Seattle from Elliot Bay and Seattle Harbor, not to mention a great opportunity to sit down and take a break. Cocktails and snacks were available for purchase.

We then headed towards Pioneer Square, where there was an underground tour I had heard of and was eager to check out. We had our choice between Bill Speidel’sUnderground Tour and Underground Paranormal Experience. We went with the Underground Tour because the Paranormal Experience wouldn’t start until after dark. What a fascinating story! Before the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the streets of this part of town actually used to be a full story lower than they are now so there’s a whole underground part of Seattle down below. You can read about in Seattle Underground or Seattle Underground: In which the Truth, the whole Truth, and a lot More than the truth is told about the Forgotten City which Lies Beneath Seattle’s Modern Streets.

It was getting late in the day and we knew that the walk back was probably going to seem even longer, so we decided to make stops along the way. We stopped in at the Klondike Gold Rush Museum which was quite interactive and more detailed than what we ever learned in history class.

We bought truffles from Fran’s Chocolate (which we learned was a favorite stop of Michelle Obama’s). We had some killer oysters at The Brooklyn Seafood, then stopped in at Suite 410 for a cocktail.

some of the beers at Tap House

Next, we checked out the Tap House Grill where I was finally able to find a Bud Light beer and then on to The Palace Kitchen for dinner. (You know how Texas Roadhouse brings peanuts to each table? The Palace brings out pistachios!)

Montucky Cold Snack

After dinner, I did try a Montucky cold snack which was pretty good. We wrapped up the evening by walking around the block, stopping in at Assiaggio Ristorante, and making new friends who walked the rest of the way around the block with us back to The Palace Kitchen.

Sonny, Tracey, Angie

Luckily, we were only a block away from our hotel by then. Our wonderful waitress bid us goodnight by sending us back to our hotel with a HUGE bag of pistachios!

August 26, 2017

Seattle, WA / Great Eats / Good Drinks

This is my own review of restaurants we stopped in at while visiting Seattle. I’ve listed them in order from favorite at the top–but I can’t even say down to least favorite. There really was no “least favorite”–everything was incredible! The opinions expressed here are in no way based on any iota of scientific data, they are purely my own opinions. They may also be slightly foggy depending on how many adult beverages I had had prior to each stop.

Casual Dining

Fisherman’s Restaurant: http://www.thefishermansrestaurant.com/index

we went here for lunch
incredible Clam Chowder and Prawn Cocktail
amazing atmosphere under the Great Wheel

El Borracho: http://www.elborrachoseattle.com/

Mexican taqueria we went to for lunch
UNBELIEVEABLE Nachos–they were a work of art

Palace Kitchen: https://www.palacekitchen.com/

we went here twice with the intentions of eating, but never actually ate
I discovered Montucky Cold Snacks here thanks to our server
this opinion is based mostly on the fact that they put baskets of pistachios on the table instead of peanuts and that our server gave us a huge bag to take with us

Fine Dining

Aqua by El Gaucho: http://elgaucho.com/dine/aqua/

we went here for dinner
beautiful atmosphere out on the deck overlooking the waterfront
another photo worthy meal and my absolute favorite
Sea Scallops AND dessert of traditional Crème Brulee

Cutter’s Crabhouse: http://www.cutterscrabhouse.com/

we went here for Linner (late lunch/early dinner)
had a seafood laden salad that was awesome
can’t wait to go back here again and REALLY throw down

Margaux: https://www.margauxseattle.com/

this was the restaurant at our hotel, The Warwick
we actually ate breakfast and dinner here and checked out Happy Hour
I had a delish Northwest Salmon dish that just makes me think Seattle

The Brooklyn: http://www.thebrooklyn.com/

we stopped in for Happy Hour
$2 Oysters! Fresh, caught out of the ocean just a few blocks away
would have liked to stay for dinner

Drinks

Suite 410: http://suite410bar.com/

stopped in for a cocktail
the décor was very classy

TapHouse Grill: http://taphousegrill.com/

wasn’t really interested in their grill menu
FINALLY found a Bud Light here

Margaux Lounge: https://www.margauxseattle.com/

they had a delish lounge/tapas menu
3 tapas for the price of 2 during Happy Hour

Assaggio Ristorante: https://www.assaggioseattle.com/

stopped in here late evening to check out their menu and have a Bailey’s and decaf
met our friend Angie (the bartender here) and another lady who accompanied us back over to the Palace Kitchen to close out the night

If you check out any places on this list, send me pics and your opinions. I’m also taking suggestions for our next trip.

August 19, 2017

Seattle, WA–Day 3

If you’re exhausted about reading my posts about Seattle, then you almost know how we felt by Day 3! After walking around the city and putting so many miles on our feet, we decided to have a mellow day on our last day there.
We hung out at the Warwick during the morning, having breakfast in their restaurant, Margaux. After wandering one last time around Pike Place Market, where we mostly people watched, we had a great lunch at El Borracho.We ended up back at the hotel for the rest of the afternoon, hanging out in our room and napping. Have I mentioned how much my feet hurt by then?
We did venture back out later, walking down to Pier 70 to have dinner at Aqua, by El Gaucho. Because the weather had been so beautiful, we decided to dine on their expansive outdoor deck. Talk about another incredible meal!

Since my favorite seafood is sea scallops, I had the sea scallops in lemon beurre blanc over risotto. UNBELIEVABLE! Then, since I LOVE crème brulee–I mean the classic kind, not any novel flavor–I also had the crème brulee for dessert.
Lucky for me we still had a trek back to our hotel since I was completely stuffed after this dinner and needed the exercise. Walking back to the Warwick, we could see the Space Needle.

A perfectly beautiful ending to a perfectly beautiful trip. I can’t wait to visit Seattle again!

August 12, 2017

Seattle, WA–Day 2

Up early and back at ’em! We still had so much left to see and do in Seattle, WA. We started the morning off by cutting through Pike Place and grabbing a watermelon juice from The Juice Emporium. If you’ve not tried it, watermelon juice is pure goodness–nothing but the juice of a watermelon. There is no added sugar, flavoring, etc.We got down to the waterfront and headed over to the Seattle Aquarium which was included on our CityPASS. I guess I expected more from the aquarium since Seattle is located right on the ocean. It felt geared towards young children, but the otters were pretty cute to see!

From there we ventured over to the Argosy Harbor Tour which was also included on our CityPASS. This was a nice one-hour tour of Seattle from Elliot Bay and Seattle Harbor, not to mention a great opportunity to sit down and take a break. Cocktails and snacks were available for purchase.

We then headed towards Pioneer Square, where there was an underground tour I had heard of and was eager to check out. We had our choice between Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour and Underground Paranormal Experience. We went with the Underground Tour because the Paranormal Experience wouldn’t start until after dark. What a fascinating story! Before the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the streets of this part of town actually used to be a full story lower than they are now so there’s a whole underground part of Seattle down below. You can read about in Seattle Underground or

Seattle Underground: In which the Truth, the whole Truth, and a lot More than the truth is told about the Forgotton City which Lies Beneath Seattle’s Modern Streets.
It was getting late in the day and we knew that the walk back was probably going to seem even longer, so we decided to make stops along the way. We stopped in at the Klondike Gold Rush Museum which was quite interactive and more detailed than what we ever learned in history class.We bought truffles from Fran’s Chocolate (which we learned was a favorite stop of Michelle Obama’s). We had some killer oysters at The Brooklyn Seafood, then stopped in at Suite 410 for a cocktail.

After dinner, I did try a M ontucky cold snack which was pretty good. We wrapped up the evening by walking around the block, stopping in at Assiaggio Ristorante, and making new friends who walked the rest of the way around the block with us back to The Palace Kitchen.

Luckily, we were only a block away from our hotel by then. Our wonderful waitress bid us goodnight by sending us back to our hotel with a HUGE bag of pistachios!

August 10, 2017

Seattle, WA–Day 1

Seattle, Washington. We’ve all heard how much it rains there, who in their right mind would want to visit there? Returning from an Alaskan cruise a couple of years ago, we decided to stay in Seattle for a few extra days, because we knew it would never likely make it ON the travel wish list and we figured we might as well check it out while we were there. I LOVED IT, and now I can’t wait to go back! If you ever get close to or have the chance to pass through Seattle, or just want a neat place to go, plan on spending a few days there.
We stayed in the Warwick Hotel, which is just blocks away from Pike Place Market. Since we had just disembarked from a cruise and it was early morning, they did not have a room ready for us. So, I picked up a Seattle CityPASS using my smartphone , and off we went. Oddly enough, we were there during a “drought” and it didn’t rain while we were there which meant we walked ALL OVER the place. The Seattle CityPASS allowed us to visit 5 of 7 Seattle attractions, and allowed us 9 days in which to use it. We were only going to be there 3 days, so we made the most of our time. We could use the pass to visit the Space Needle twice (a must!) during day and night, the Seattle Aquarium, take an Argosy Harbor Tour, check out the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) or the Woodland Park Zoo, and visit Chihuly Garden or the Pacific Science Center for $79/person. This was a bargain for all we got to do.
The first thing we did was go up in the Space Needle. You cannot visit Seattle without checking out the Space Needle. You ride an elevator up 605 feet to the observation deck, which allows you incredible 360 degree views of Seattle. It’s pretty breathtaking up there. There was also a restaurant you could eat in once at the top.

After that we ventured over to the Pacific Science Center that was very educational yet fun. The added benefit is a most beautiful butterfly exhibit that was worth every minute we spent there.

From there, we headed back to check into our hotel. The Warwick Hotel was located right in the heart of most Seattle attractions and we had a most comfortable, awesome room with a small balcony that looked out into downtown.Once we were settled in, we ventured back out–this time headed to Pike Place Market, which is a huge, Farmers/Crafts/Specialty Foods Market. I LOVED Pike Place. You could walk/shop/people watch for hours and there was a lot to take in.We stopped at Pike Place Fish Co. OMG, I couldn’t believe the varieties of seafood they were selling and the quirkiness of their presentation. The guys would also sing a song every time they made a sale, which was non-stop.

We bought some Salmon Candy and if you’ve never tried it, I suggest you do. It’s a protein-packed snack that tastes nothing like candy OR salmon. We continued our own self-guided tour through Pike Place. We found florists who were selling HUGE bouquets of flowers for $5 and $10. We saw the original Starbuck’s store, and we watched cheese being made at Beecher’s. We sampled the Handmade Flagship Cheese which was delish!

Once we got down to the waterfront below Pike Place, we made our way over to Pier 57. We had a tasty late lunch at a place called The Fisherman’s Restaurant–incredible clam chowder–and then made our way to ride the Great Wheel.

We could actually see our lunch table from the top of the Great Wheel. It was the table with the blue umbrella. (Ha, ha! Just checking if you’re still with me!)

We wrapped up our day by grabbing some dinner at a place called Cutter’s Crabhouse. I had the most wonderful Cutter’s Signature Louie Salad and have vowed I will return to this restaurant someday for dinner again! The rest of the dinner menu looked awesome!

Since I just realized how long this post has gotten, Seattle will be continued. For more Fun And Interesting Things To Do In Seattle Washington, click here.