My family and I visit Seattle almost annually, but this was the first time I had gone with just friends! Places I’ve hit up in the past were Snow Lake, Kerry Park, Cederberg Tea House, Cafe Cesura, Drive Thru Boba, Amore’ Coffee, Chihuly Garden and Glass, and Paramount Theatre for George Ezra’s concert. If you haven’t had enough of Seattle by the time you get through this blog post, feel free to click through those links!
Day 1
After checking into Hotel Five, we headed straight to Moon’s Kitchen for a late lunch. Yelp said it was “hot and new.” I got a teriyaki bowl, and Kat and Julia both got ramen. My teriyaki bowl was so good, and Julia said her ramen was one of the best she’s ever had.
Kat wanted to pop by Moorea Seal, so we did that after lunch. I didn’t realise that the 52 Lists Project book that I’ve seen everywhere was by Moorea Seal. Any trendy minimal lifestyle aesthetic blogger will love the Moorea Seal store. I didn’t buy anything this day because I was trying to control myself, but after leaving the store, I was still thinking about some items, so I later returned to buy them. Kat got her mom this recipe box for Mother’s Day. I bought myself Karu copper sunnies in red and Baleen u-shaped earrings in silver. I also tried on this bell sleeve button up, but although I like oversized clothing, the small was still way too oversized for me and they don’t have x-small (you can see a photo how it fit me in this post). Some other things that caught my eye in the store were their face planters and their feminist jewelry pieces such as the “fuck the patriarchy” hoop earrings (also available as “smash the patriarchy”) and boob rings (as in rings shaped as boobs, not rings for your boobs o.o) (they’re called “TT rings” though… like titty rings?).
Next up was Blank Space Cafe. It had shown up on Yelp’s search engine results page when we were looking for a place for lunch. After browsing through Moorea Seal, we figured we had digested our lunch enough for dessert. The three of us shared a toast box with green tea ice cream, chocolate syrup, and cookies n’ cream Pocky. It took longer than I thought it would to arrive at our table, but then I realised that they had gutted the bread box, cubed the gutted bread, and then toasted each piece, so no wonder it took as long as it did! I think it was toasted with honey or something. It tasted sooooo good! I didn’t think I would enjoy the toast part of the toast box as much as I did; I was too focused on the ice cream and Pocky when we were placing our order. They also have egg waffle ice cream! We wanted to come back for it another day, but there were too many other places in Seattle to hit up/eat up, so we didn’t end up returning.
We headed back to the hotel and napped until dinner time. It was so hard to get ourselves up and out, so we considered ordering food online for delivery. However, it ended up being a little pricey when all the service fees and delivery fees got added up, so we decided to suck it up and leave the hotel for dinner; Julia wasn’t feeling well so she stayed behind. Kat and I wandered into Serious Pie. We shared a kale salad and an egg and prosciutto pizza. They also had “sparkling rosé float,” which we wanted to try so badly, but we’re underage. The salad and pizza ended up being $40… So our plan of skipping delivery and saving money kinda backfired. At least we got ourselves out of the hotel?
Day 2
Our plan for the day was to do some shopping downtown (mostly just so Kat could check out the Stüssy store) and then spend the rest of the day at the Seattle Center. To kick it off, we got breakfast at Top Pot Doughnut just down the street from our hotel. I got a latte and an apple fritter, Kat got a coffee and a pink rainbow sprinkle doughnut, and Julia got an ovaltine doughnut and chocolate icing doughnut.
From Top Pot Doughnut, we walked to Stüssy, but despite this slow mode of transportation, we still arrived at the store before its open hours, so we decided to walk around the area. Luckily, there was a lot of cool stuff in the area. There were some shops, Melrose Market, the Starbucks Reserve, and some restaurants and cafes.
Glasswing is a shop that sells plants and clothes for men and women. We were drawn by the plants and interior, which was so beautiful and rustic. I also quite liked their playlist; it was very atmospheric. When I was in the store, they were playing Nick Hakim (which I found out thanks to the Shazam app).
We had lunch at Homegrown in Melrose Market. I got half a turkey, bacon, and avocado sandwich with a side of caprese salad (the sandwich was good, the salad was average), Kat got a quinoa, avocado, and egg bowl, and Julia got half an avocado, egg, and cheese sandwich. After lunch, we went to the second floor of Melrose Market to check out Butter Home, where Kat bought Baleen long tail earrings in gold.
The Starbucks Reserve was lit, or “more lit than Julia’s club” as we like to say. Story time: The night before we left for Seattle, Julia went to an 18+ club on a weeknight and it was “so not lit” (-Julia). We teased her about it for the rest of the trip. Okay but really, the Starbucks Reserve was pretty lit. It was huge and they had merch everywhere (including clothes) and were playing pumped up music.
We killed more time at Victrola Coffee Roasters, where I got a chai latte and Kat got a latte. The chai latte was alright; I prefer chai lattes that are sweet and cinnamon-y and not spicy.
Finally it was time to venture over to the Seattle Center. I visit Seattle almost annually with my family, so I’ve visited the Seattle Center a fair number of times, and Kat had also visited before, so we weren’t inclined to do the super touristy stuff like go up the Space Needle (but I guess going to the Seattle Center at all is touristy in itself). I had visited both Chihuly Garden and Glass and the Museum of Pop Culture (I visited MoPOP back when it was still called the Experience Music Project), but the Pacific Science Center was a little expensive, so of Chihuly and MoPOP, we decided to visit MoPOP, because we figured MoPOP would have more new exhibits than Chihuly. (I blogged about Chihuly if you want to check it out!) I really enjoyed MoPOP’s Star Trek exhibit even though I’ve never watched Star Trek before. I want to watch it now. Julia’s favourite exhibit was definitely the Indie Game Revolution exhibit; Kat and I went through the whole museum, but Julia spent almost all her time at that exhibit.
In fact, Kat and I left Julia at the museum (she was still at that one exhibit) and went to get a slice of triple coconut cream pie at Dahlia Bakery. My backpack matched the decor! Julia rejoined us for dinner at Chili & Sesame.
Day 3
Our plan for the day was to spend the morning at Pike Place Market and then spend the afternoon at the University District Streetfair. I’ve been to Pike Place Market several times, so there wasn’t anything I was willing to wait in a long line for, and neither was Kat. But if there isn’t anything you’re willing to wait in a long line for, there isn’t much to do at Pike Place Market. The best thing to do there is get food to eat, but that requires lining up. (My heart breaks and my mouth salivates for Piroshky Piroshky though. It’s a Russian Bakery and always has a SUPER long line. It’s right next to The First Starbucks, which also always has a super long line.)
We ended up getting brunch at Bacco Cafe, which isn’t even really in Pike Place Market; it’s a block up. There was a long line for that, but somehow the exact size of our party allowed us to get seated earlier. I got the dungeness crab benedict, Kat got the corned beef hash, and Julia got the Bacco breakfast. After brunch, we went back to Pike Place Market just to snap some pictures of the Gum Wall and then carry on our merry way.
We walked away from Pike Place Market to find an easy place for an Uber to pick us up, and we stumbled upon Seattle Coffee Works, so we made a pit stop there. Julia got an iced caramel macchiato, which wasn’t on the menu, but the barista made it anyway. I had a sip and it was so good that I ordered one for myself as well. The barista told us that it’s called a caramel macchiato because Starbucks calls it a caramel macchiato but it’s not really a macchiato. Starbucks is fake. Kat got an iced coffee.
We finally caught our Uber to the University District Streetfair. It was the first time we called an Uber in Seattle; everything else was within walking distance, which is super convenient. The streetfair was so big! My favourite vendors were Imps and Monsters by Justin Hillgrove and Cellar Door Mercantile by Justin and Adam Lee Allan-Spencer. I fell in love with the Miyazaki x Where The Wild Things Are illustration from Imps and Monsters. I might have actually bought a poster if I wasn’t traveling. Julia bought five laptop stickers, including the Miyazaki x Where The Wild Things Are one; they were $1 each! I regret not buying the laptop sticker. As for Cellar Door Mercantile, they sell cute and clever screen-printed apparel, stationary, and other gifts. They have lots of personality.
The Magus Bookstore was located at the University District Streetfair, so we wandered in there. I bought a beautiful copy of Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens. I have been wanting the Barnes & Noble leatherbound classics edition of this collection ever since I saw Jennie share hers on her blog. The copy I bought from Magus Bookstore wasn’t the same edition, but it had a beautiful antique quality that I loved just as much. But if anyone wants to gift me the Barnes & Noble leatherbound classics edition, I wouldn’t object haha.
We got lunch at the streetfair. Julia and I both got beef and cheese piroshkys (piroshkies?) from Kaleenka Piroshky, which is not the same as Piroshky Piroshky at Pike Place Market, but it satiated our piroshky craving without having to wait in that ridiculous line. Kat had a corn dog from a different vendor.
We weren’t sure what to do for the rest of the day, so we wandered around downtown Seattle, did some window shopping, and killed time at Gelatiamo. For dinner, we got take-out from FOB Poke Bar, which I ate in front of my laptop whilst watching Criminal Minds. I always love some quality winding down time.
Next up, our last destination: Portland!
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