Trip to Seattle

A while back I posted that I was going to visit Seattle and the Pacific Northwest for the first time! I was torn between going home and seeing New England in the fall or visiting my friends in a new city. Seattle and seeing Camille and Ed seemed like the obvious choice and I would go back in a heartbeat. I was lucky enough to get a direct flight from New Orleans to Seattle on Alaska Air, I was shocked to learn the flight was over five hours long. I never realized just how far Seattle is! It is only a 2.5-hour drive to Vancouver!

One of the first things we did when I arrived was walk Willow along the Ballard Locks.The Locks link the Puget Sound with nearby lakes, allowing boats to travel back and forth while exchanging fresh water with salt water. What they are most notable for is the salmon ladders. Unfortunately, October is not the time to see the salmon migration however as you can tell from the picture, it is a beautiful park. The leaves on the trees were changing color and it was a goldmine for adorable dogs. I even got to meet a golden puppy! 

Next Camille and Ed took me to Pike Place Market. I got to see the fishmongers in action, the original Starbucks, eat some donuts, visit the gum wall and see the beautiful flower stalls!

We ate lunch at the same diner Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner ate at in Sleepless in Seattle! You can't see this from the picture but there were little plaques that said: "Tom Hanks Sat Here and Rob Reiner Sat Here"! 

I could not get over how beautiful the flowers were. There were so many beautiful dahlias I think they might just be my favorite flower now. I always think about how nice it would be to send my grandmother or my mom flowers until I see the price. The beautiful and elaborate bouquets in the flower stalls ranged from $15 - $25. That was enough to make me want to move!  

My all time favorite day was when we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. We walked around the cute little downtown and visited some of the shops. We drove around the island and I was amazed at how similar it was to Concord, NH. Both Camille and I said this could easily be a road and view you would see driving around our hometown. 

We found a nice hiking trail in the woods and ended with a visit to the beach. It is really hard to tell but the Seattle skyline is in the background. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, when I looked up Seattle this is the image that always came up. This is the Chihuly Garden and Glass right under the Space Needle. I did not go up the Space Needle but when you buy tickets to the gallery you can also purchase a pass to the Space Needle. I highly recommend visiting this gallery, the glass sculptures are amazing. I was so excited to see his sculptures on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when they went to Dubai! I spent a lot of time looking at the sculptures and managed to get this photo when I had the space to myself!

I was really hoping to get some nice mountain views. Although I was very lucky with the weather while I was there, it was cloudy a lot of the time, keeping the mountains hidden. On my last day, Camille spotted Mount Rainier while we were driving to the airport! I got even luckier when my plane circled right around the mountain and I was able to get this photo from the plane. 

Other highlights from my trip included going out in Ballard and Capitol Hill. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. I always have so much fun with Camille and Ed. We went into this great shop in Ballard that had the best gifts. I discovered these candles from Skandinavisk. They all smelled so good but I loved Skog for winter because it smells like a forest. I was able to find them online here.