Sleepless in... (Seattle, WA)

No, I've never seen the movie but just wanted to use it since it has "Seattle" in the title. This trip was the opposite of sleepless since we went without the kids and had the opportunity for some good sleep. But dammit, I kept waking up at 5 am (PST) since my body was still on the kids' morning school schedule from home.

This trip was kind of impulsive. It started out when Southwest Airlines had a good sale months ago. The kids had a random Monday off in September so I looked for any cheap flights for that weekend and ended up choosing Chicago. But after coming back from the SoCal trip, I wanted to experience more of the West Coast and decided to go to Seattle (another city I wanted to visit). So just like that, I canceled the Chicago trip and booked a flight for Seattle... using United Airlines. I just wasted a good deal from Southwest. :(

Saturday

When we landed, we headed straight to Pike Place...

To explore the famous Pike Place Market.

The obligatory visit to the original Starbucks. Look at all those tourists messing up my shot.

The gum wall.

So gross.

Beecher's mac and cheese. It was really good.

Pike Place Chowder's dungeness crab roll (eh) and calm chowder (excellent).

Then we settled into our hotel room. This was our view of downtown.

For dinner, we waited outside for about an hour for a seat at Serious Pie.

And it was worth it. A delicious mushroom, truffle cheese pizza and a couple of IPAs. Pizza and beer is always a winner.

Sunday

We went for a morning run along the waterfront and got some coffee.

Then a stroll through Olympic Sculpture Park.

I came across this huge popsicle. No one told me it was fake.

We watched the Seahawks obliterate the Jaguars. Oh, the place was crazy loud.

Monday

I had to go here.

It's a shame I couldn't try more. So many choices!

Our rainy trek along the monorail to the Space Needle.

The Space Needle, in all its glory.

But there was no need to go up. Look at this shitty, rainy (typical) weather.

Our ride back via the monorail.

We had some pulled pork sandwiches from Maximus/Minimus, as seen on TV.

And dinner at... well you can see. The owner posted a picture of us stuffing ourselves on Facebook.

Damn all this rain! But who am I kidding, it's Seattle.

But the sun did eventually brake through.

Out comes the rainbow and all is good again.

Just remember, don't take a shortcut through the alley.

Tuesday

Spike (the employee at the store had already named it) is ready to meet his new family. Goodbye Seattle!

P.S. There were a lot of bums in downtown. And there's a shitload of coffee shops not named Starbucks. It's a nice city but I wouldn't want to live here... it's too dang rainy.