A Quick Guide to Seattle

Shopping:

1) Marysville Outlets – the outlets are great for travel lovers. If you’re like me and getting ready for a trip, this is perfect because they have shops like Eddie Bauer, Columbia, and North Face. With most of the stores being discounted, it made for a great way to prepare for my trip to Europe. 

2) University Village – this was recommended to us by a local and is pretty much a big outdoor mall. It has the first Amazon brick and mortar store, a bookstore, which was really fun to tour.

Eating:

1) Macrina was my all-time absolute favorite. We went to this bakery several mornings in a row because it was so good. The vibe was cool, the pastries tasted like fresh, French pastries and were all baked that morning, the coffee was good, and the staff was friendly. If you want to get your morning off to a great start, Macrina was a good way to do it.

2) Local 360 is a dinner and dessert place on 1st Ave that looks like a repurposed garage.

Free Attractions:

1) Seattle Public Library – this one was totally my sister’s pick because she absolutely loves reading, but I will say it’s a cool place. You can walk around, check out all the floors (ride around on the escalator like a child like me), plus there’s a gift shop and coffee store. 

2) Hiking at Coal Creek/Cougar Mountain – We were really ambitious at first and picked a 4 mile trail. While there were no black bear or cougar sightings, the path and scenery was absolutely beautiful. Cougar Mountain had tons of different trails, so any level of hiker could manage. 

3) Strawberry Festival on Vashon Island – Seattle is not complete without a trip on the ferry to Vashon Island. We happened to be there on the day of the annual strawberry festival, which I would recommend going to if you’re in the area at the end of July. It was kind of quirky (much like the island’s personality). I don’t know that Vashon would be a long term stay kind of place, but is a great day trip

Touristy Attractions:

1) Pike Place Market is a must-do. There are lots of small tea shops, food vendors, and places that sold off-the-wall kind of goods. It’s a fun place to walk around and people watch for awhile, and if you eat in the cafe downstairs, you have some beautiful views.

While Paris has the love lock bridge, Pikes Place has a gum wall…Yes, you read that right. They have a gum wall where all kinds of tourists have taken out their chewed gum and stuck it to the wall (me included). It was definitely a unique experience 🙂

2) If you can rent a seaplane, I highly recommend it. It was amazing to fly over Lake Washington and look at the huge home of millionaires. Also, we got to wear headsets, so that was pretty cool. Warning though – maybe take something if you get motion sickness easily because it can be a bit choppy in a small plane. My opinion is that this is an experience that is totally worth the money.