Day 5 – Seattle & Bainbridge Island
Seattle!!! What a cool city! Yesterday we were so tired from the Portland conference, ending school, travel…. I was happy to train, ride, pool, and sleep. Additionally, our hotel AC broke, so they gave us a second room on the non-sunny side… spreading out was lovely!! Evan, Kate, and I slept in a king-size bed and on a sleeper sofa and left Jen and Addie to sweat it out down the hall.
All of this to say: I slept really well and didn’t move until close to 8:30. By the time we were up and out, it was after nine. We walked to the streetcar, rode it to the monorail, and exited at the Space Needle.
With the city pass, we have tickets to the Space Needle, Chihuly Gardens, aquarium, science museum, and another place of our choice. Not sure it was as big of a “deal” as marketed, but we will be going to all of these places, lest we overpaid….
Space Needle: so much fun!! I think the crowds of World Cup attendees may have been sleeping off some of their fun because it was relatively easy to walk in and up to the golden elevators. A quick ride up, with views through glass windows, was fun for orienting yourself to the city, but the top was the real boon!
We started with hot iconic pies… I didn’t know this was a thing, but I wasn’t complaining with my hot raspberry strawberry custard happiness. The views of the city, Puget Sound, and Mount Rainier were stunning. We had a blast walking all the way around and using their “scan” a selfie we code system. All our free photos were then uploaded to our “space book.” Cute. I imagine with crowds of people it could get annoying, but it was fun for us!!
We walked a floor down to the rostering glass floor level! That was amazing!! There were people constantly cleaning the glass on both the floor and the windows for perfect viewing. It was cool to see the views, but really cool to see the buildings from the top down. Two standouts were the Museum of Pop Culture, made of colored molded metal that bent and swirled into abstract shapes, and the top of the armory with giant painted spiders.
Next was the Chihuly garden. Yall! I love me some Chihuly…. This was over the top. The number of individual blown pieces was staggering. It was like a bouquet after bouquet of elaborate flower installations with no greenery… just the most exotic and beautiful flowers…. Not that the exhibit was floral at all… I think it was how it made me feel…. Just overwhelmed by the opulence and beauty.
Giant chandeliers, ceilings of undulating color and spiraled design, reflect black pools with glass gardens woven on top. And then the garden… orbs of glass which seemed to be in motion, placed with tall spikes of color perfectly embedded in a garden of Japanese maple, purple mondo grasses, Dalia’s, and aged sea molded wood. Oh. And the space needle towered above it all, and a fabulous glass blowing demonstration with master glass blowers was in constant rotation. It was a good time, had by all…. Not just me!!!
We had a fancy lunch at the Chihuly bar, the walls were covered in his paintings, and the ceiling was strung with accordions in different stages of flux. It was eclectic, modern, and fabulous.
We were short on time for the Bainbridge Island ferry, so we did something we never do!! And jumped in an Uber…. Turns out we would have made it with public transport, but we didn’t know how long it would take to buy tickets or how long the ferry entrance would be delayed. Because they board cars, that entrance starts right at 3, but we were some time after… easy to walk right on and so fun to throw on rain jackets and stand on the decks for photos of the cityscape and mountain skyline.
The island itself had a kind of Cape vibe – cute boutique shops, a few antique or vintage stores, and a great bookstore. Traveling in June always feels like the world is rolling out the carpet for our family, and Banbridge didn’t disappoint. Every store had pride flags, displays of unity and acceptance, and store owners who talked about welcoming the World Cup with open arms into their Seattle open and affirming community on their terms.
Bainbridge has tons of great restaurants and microbreweries, but we had spent enough money on food for the day…. And the kids still wanted to be fed…. A consistent theme in our family. So, we popped into a grocery store and grabbed brioche, cheese, prosciutto, a slice of chocolate cake, a cider for Jen and me to split, some sushi for Addie, apricots, olives, and pickles! Dinner complete.
We ate at some tables just outside the grocery store and walked the quick ten minutes back to the ferry. We couldn’t find a kiosk for purchasing return tickets because it turns out that returning tickets is free!
When we were disembarking, I saw several tables set up with puzzles that people could work on during their commute. I wish that I had seen them earlier, so we could’ve worked on one – what a great idea. We had a quick 30-minute walk back to our hotel and were happy to find the air-conditioning working, and we still have the complimentary extra room.
I fell asleep pretty quickly, and Evan stayed up working on Lego until almost 10 when I told him to turn off the lights. For full-circle wholeness, I will reiterate: Seattle is really cool!
