THE TO GO LIST

The last few days have been a whirlwind and I’m struggling to get my life together. Although i do love traveling, it definitely has a way of catching up with you #jetlagisreal. I spent the weekend in Seattle, WA., visiting some good friends, hiking in the mountains, and exploring the new-to-me city.

Side Note: This flight was purchased by my Southwest points that I had earned from opening their credit card. Let me just start by saying Best.Decision.Ever. I’m not a huge fan of credit cards, especially ones with an annual fee or high interest rate (this one has both), but several of my good friends have been telling me for months to get the card because of the travel benefits, so i finally gave in. The way i look at is, if you’re going to spend the money anyway – why not get rewarded for it? Also, they’re currently running a special for 40,000 bonus points when you spend $1000 in the first three months of getting the card. In more comprehensible terms, this equals out (at least it did for me) to two free roundtrip flights! Yep – FREE. Except tax – but i think a flight for $11.20 is pretty damn cheap 😉 Since the flight was taken care of, I wasn’t ballin’ on a budget as much as usual. Ironically, though, most of what we did was free or super cheap, so all in all this was a very inexpensive trip.

Itinerary:

Friday: Sarah picked me up from the airport and we went to a bar called Shelter. We got whiskey gingers and danced until we decided to move to another bar to do the exact same thing. Hey – don’t knock a good thing. We then went across the street to grab some late night food, but the kitchen had just closed so we decided to Uber home. Before our ride arrived, the nicest bartender ever ran out to us with some guac. For free. I was sold on Seattle immediately.

Saturday: Our original plan was to hike, but (one) we woke up late and (two) then discovered it was supposed to rain most of the day. The next day forecasted sunshine, so we switched our plans up and went to brunch at Hattie’s Hat in Ballard. The food was SO good – I got the chorizo scramble and, an unbeknownst to me, GIANT pancake. Why do servers not tell you when you’re ordering way too much food?! This pancake literally could have fed my entire family.

After brunch we went downtown to the Public Market, which is somewhere i’ve always wanted to check out. Between the insanely cheap + gorgeous fresh flowers to all of the yummy food smells and the views of Puget Sound, this is definitely somewhere I would frequent if I was a Seattle resident. Farmers markets = ❤

It was only drizzling — typical Seattle — so we walked around downtown a little more and saw the original Starbucks (!!!) and a cute craft donut shop called Top Pot. We then went back to Sarah’s to freshen up and eventually made our way to Fremont Brewery. This was an awesome spot for craft beers and sitting outside, plus it’s dog friendly which just makes everything even better. After a few drinks we went to grab sushi at a place that was not very good (service or food) so I won’t even name. Later we met up with Sarah’s friend Lena and went out in Capitol Hill, to o a place that I will forever want to go back to — Rachel’s Ginger Beer — or RGB. This hipster bar has craft your own Moscow Mules with some interesting flavors and liquor combinations, AND you can get a frozen one if it’s ever warm enough in Seattle to want an even colder drink. I created a White Peach Whiskey Moscow Mule and it was so yummy. From there, a bar called Montana which was pretty fun but at that point I was exhausted and knew I didn’t want to drink much since we were hiking the next day. Lena wanted a Torta before we called it a night – i wasn’t hungry but she offered us bites of hers, and WOW was that delicious. The Seattle F&B scene is definitely on the right track.

Sunday: We decided to go to Snow Lake, which is ia 7 mile hike in North Bend. I love hiking, but I’m obviously not at all used to hiking in the mountains! Thankfully the elevation here wasn’t that bad, and the hike was semi easy/moderate. The views were absolutely unreal throughout the whole hike – the snow covered mountains, changing fall colors on the leaves, and rocky trails were amazing to see on the way up and down, but the most amazing part was Snow Lake itself. I felt like I had inserted myself into a postcard. The weather could not have been better, and it wasn’t at all crowded on the trails even though it was a weekend. Bucket List Item: Hiking in the mountains: Check!

We headed back to the city and decided to stop at a marijuana dispensary since those don’t exist in Indy (yet?) just so I could see what it was like. Pretty damn cool if you ask me! We then had a quick dinner at Buckley’s in Queen Anne to refuel, and then I met up with another good friend, Kait, at Elysian Brewery. Their beer was AWESOME, and it was great to catch up with her and meet her friends.

Some tips on traveling in Seattle: 

-Bring a rain jacket. And rain boots. And umbrella. Even if it’s not raining every second, it’s pretty much guaranteed to at some point during your trip, and the ground will be wet.

-Uber is your BFF. I think this is true in most bigger cities, but here i didn’t even see any cabs. Driving is a little nutty because of the hills, and while there are city buses, most sites are close enough that if it’s pouring, finding shelter until your uber finds you is definitely worth it.

-Check out the neighborhood you’re staying in prior to booking accommodations to figure out where you want to be. Like most cities, each neighborhood has a different vibe, and if you’re like me, you’d rather stay somewhere more chill (Ballard or Fremont) than a club/bar scene (Capitol Hill). There is PLENTY to do in any area, and it was pretty easy getting from one ‘hood to another, so no matter what, you’re in good shape.

So there you have it — Seattle in a very abbreviated nutshell. I wish i could’ve stayed longer, but a girl’s gotta #workworkwork. Lucky for me, though, I’m headed to Denver on Friday for what will undoubtedly be another amazing weekend.

Until next time.