I have always dreamed about going to the Pacific Northwest. But, I was always a little afraid that if I went there I would not want to leave. Rain, humongous trees, and green everywhere? What is not to love?! So for my 30th birthday, I decided to check Seattle off my bucket list. We planned to take the trip a week after my actual birthday, because I was photographing a wedding. (Of course I was!) So I booked our plane tickets, hotel, and rental car and planned out what we would do each day of our trip.
Day One – Early Flights, MoPop
We had an early morning flight so we could spend as much time during our three days in Seattle as possible. The sun rose as we flew over the Grand Canyon. Once we got to Seattle, I could not stop looking out the window of the plane. Everything was so green! And really, really green. Not the Arizona green I am used to. Once we landed, our first stop was to grab bagels and coffee at a local coffee shop. I mean, what else do you do in Seattle?
MoPop: Museum of Pop Culture
Next on the agenda was being a tourist and visiting MoPop. What about the Space needle? Meh, I saw it from the ground. But a Museum of Pop Culture, that is right up my alley! This place was so rad! I was in absolute nerd heaven. They had memorabilia from Harry Potter, classic horror movies, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, Star Wars, and the list goes on. At the center of the museum is this insane 2 story sculpture made from musical instruments.
We made our way around this work of art to the Nirvana room. This was my husband’s favorite part. It was full of outfits they wore in different pictures or videos. Notes from the band or other musical artists about the band. Musical instruments Nirvana played (or smashed). My favorite, old pictures of the band from tour and life. My husband was in bands for 15 years, so it was really cool to see all of this history that he had such a connection with. Naturally, I had to take him upstairs and ‘lay down a few tracks’ with him in the sound booths upstairs. Ok, you don’t really record anything, but you get to play around with a bunch of different musical instruments. We were laughing and making stupid inside jokes the whole time.
Day Two: Hiking & Pike’s Place
I was not going to go to the PNW and not hike. This was actually the main reason we got a rental car, so I could drive outside of the city and go hiking. So, we woke up ‘early’ that morning (6 AM Seattle time), got ready and tried to find somewhere to eat breakfast. Except, nothing was open yet. What?! I was hard pressed to even find a Starbucks that would be open soon. I mean, I know it was Sunday, but I am used to them opening at 4 AM. So we hung out and watched HGTV until we could head to a Starbucks for breakfast.
Twin Falls Hike
It was not supposed to rain until that afternoon, but on our way to the trail head, it was pouring. We had our rain gear with us (I expected some rain), so we carried on. By the time we got to the trail head, it was nothing more than a sprinkle. I was so excited that we were still going to be able to hike! We had an amazing time hiking up to the top of the Twin Falls and even got snowed on a little at the top! We kept joking that this is Fern Gully and saying that fairies definitely live here. Read the full story of our Twin Falls Hike here.
Pike’s Place
We decided to head over to Pike’s Place to get some early dinner and see them throw the fish. (Really, I just wanted to see them throw the fish.) To say this place is a maze is an understatement. Seriously, I got so lost and overwhelmed. It didn’t help that we went on the weekend. We finally found a restaurant, inquired if their veggie burgers had eggs, and placed our order. In the end, it was really cool looking out over the bay while eating lunch. I got lost again trying to find where they throw the fish. We finally found it and waited around for a few minutes to see some fish throwing. We grabbed some ice cream to eat on the way back to the car and set out to watch some HGTV at the hotel.
Day Three: The Underground Tour
Our flight was leaving in the afternoon, so we planned grabbing some breakfast and hitting the Underground Tour in downtown Seattle. We went to a cute little vegan place to breakfast in the University district. Except, they did not open on time! Seriously, we were waiting outside for them to open! We scarfed down our breakfast and still missed the first tour, but we still had plenty of time to catch the second.
If you did not know, Seattle was built at sea level, which caused all kinds of issues during high tide. So, over the course of many years, the built Seattle up so that the second story of each building would now be the first. So, roads got raised first and then sidewalks. Creating an underground system of sidewalks along the roads. The tour tells you the history of Seattle (way better than I just did!) and takes you onto the underground sidewalks and into the basement of some of the buildings to show you things like the old bank. It was one of my favorite things we did on the tour. I highly recommend it. After the tour we went to the airport to star out the window at the mountain until our flight back to Arizona.
My favorite parts of our trip were the hike, the Underground Tour, and eating Mod Pizza in bed while watching HGTV. (We don’t have cable at home, so this is a treat!) I would love to go visit Pike’s Place again, but maybe during a weekday in January. And I will not pass up a trip to hike or photograph a wedding in the Pacific North West!
