Seattle - Day 1 | shoutingforha

Back in July, the hubby and I began discussing where we wanted to take the boy on our next big excursion. Since our two previous trips were both to the East Coast (New York and Washington, D.C.), we decided that fall break would be the perfect opportunity to head out west and check out Seattle.

Last Friday, we pulled the boy out of school a little early so that we could catch our five-hour flight to Seattle. Can anyone say UGH? Thank the Lord for direct flights (I talking about you, Southwest Airlines). We rented a centrally located two bedroom flat on VRBO, which was the perfect place to relax after a full day spent exploring the city.

After a good night's rest, we were ready to kick off our first day in the Emerald City. Up first... a quick breakfast at B&O Espresso. Once we were sufficiently caffeinated, we made our way to the Experience Music Project.

The EMP was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000. It is home numerous installments highlighting the careers of Jimi Hendrix and other Seattle-born musicians (Bing Crosby, The Kingsmen, Heart, Nirvanna, Pearl Jam...).

Even cooler are the interactive exhibits which give visitors the opportunity to play a variety of instruments, test their skills as a DJ or try their hand at mixing a record. The boys had a blast jamming in one of studio pods at the Sound Lab and even let me join in on the bass. We also rocked out to Joan Jett's hit, "I Love Rock N Roll" at the On Stage interactive exhibit.

After a quick spin through the adjoining Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, we walked to Seattle's famed Space Needle. We road the elevator up 520 feet to the observation deck.

The view... THE VIEW... It was absolutely breathtaking. My pictures simply don't do it justice. We spent over an hour looking at the Seattle skyline, the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges including Mt. Ranier and Puget Sound.

Our next stop was the Pike Place Market located at the Seattle waterfront. The Market is one of the oldest continuously open farmer's markets in the U.S.. Countless booths and shops sell everything from fish, produce and flowers to comic books, antiques and trinkets.

The Pike Place Market is also home to the original Starbucks. The line was entirely too long, so we just snapped a quick picture of the sign and moved on.

Two doors down was my one of my favorite places in the entire Market, Piroshky, Pirosky. The aroma drifting out of the Russian bakery was intoxicating. We couldn't resist standing in line to sample some of their delicious baked goods.

As we waited, we were able to watch one of the bakers making a fresh batch of Potato, Mushroom and Onion Piroshky. What, you may ask is a Piroshky? Basically, it is a hand held pastry that is stuffed with a variety of fillings.

My hands-down favorite was the Smoked Salmon Pate Piroshky. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. The Cinnamon Apple Roll was a close second. I only wish they had a mail order service. Sigh.

The boy's favorite place was the Pike Place Fish Market. I think he could have spent hours watching the fishmongers throw fish from one side of the market to the other. It was really entertaining.

The selection of fish and shellfish found at the Market was quite impressive. Check out the size of these crabs. All I needed was a little dish of melted butter... Yum!

We ended our first day in the little suburb of Kirkland. We took a stroll along Lake Washington and enjoyed a meal with an old friend. It was a great start to our trip.

There was one thing that I found especially amusing as we walked around downtown Kirkland. At almost every corner, there were these cute buckets containing yellow flags. Walkers are encouraged to grab a flag and hold it in the air as they cross the street thus preventing an unfortunate pedestrian vs. car accident. It made me laugh.

Tune back in tomorrow to see how we spent day two.

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10.21.2010

Seattle - Day 1

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