My itch to return to the PNW and visit college friends brought me back for a long weekend in Seattle. With work being pretty crazy, the weekend away couldn't have come at a better time. With a late flight in and a long wait in traffic at the airport, I made it to my friend Jon's place near Green Lake. He had to head off to work early on Friday, leaving me to go explore on my own. First up, seeing my friend Jess and having the best breakfast at Portage Bay Café. Jess moved to the Seattle area right after my last Seattle trip and I hadn't seen her for a year. It was so nice to catch up over coffee and a delicious scramble. While we were at breakfast, we kept seeing random people walk by with tulips and bananas. An odd combo, we knew we had to check it out after eating. Low and behold, the cutest little "banana stand" was only two blocks away. Thanks Amazon for the sweet treat.
Having just finished a month of night shifts, Jess headed home to rest up for hiking the next day. I headed to take a ferry to Bainbridge Island. The ferry was so pretty and exploring the island was awesome. I got the cutest little coffee at local spot Pegasus and walked along the water and through the cute neighborhood on the Waterfront trail, taking photos along the way. After a few hours in Bainbridge, I took the ferry back to Seattle and headed to Discovery Park. Having just started watching The Killing on Netflix, I knew I had to see the park. It was a beautiful day and fueled by my banana and a GoMacro bar, I walked the two miles from the visitor center to the lighthouse down at the water. It was such a beautiful park, but I was beat from all the walking. That night, Jon and one of his roommates, Jared, and I went and got delicious tacos and drinks on an outside patio. It was a lovely end to a great day of exploring.
My need for nature led me outside even more on day 2. Jess and I headed to two popular local hikes. First up was Rattlesnake Ledge near Snoqualmie. The 5 mile hike was pretty crowded, but led to a sweet ridge view of a lake and was mostly under trees. Feeling bold, we headed to another hike, this one in Issaquah. With a name like Poo Poo Point, we couldn't miss out on this hike. At the base of the trail, a number of paragliders took off, leaving a sweet view for us on our walk from the car to the base of the trail (actually called the Chirico Trail). My legs already feeling all the steps from the day before and the first hike, really felt this second hike. My patience was definitely low and I was getting hangry. Making it to the top was such an accomplishment and the hike down was so nice. The long drive back to Seattle only continued my hanger and dehydration. But Jess stayed with me and we got fuel at The Shelter, a fun local restaurant at Green Lake. It was so nice to go explore with Jess and it made up for such a long gap between seeing her.
I met up with another college friend Erin at a cider bar in Fremont. We caught up on her life at Microsoft and chatted about college friends over cider. Jon joined us and after Erin left, John and I got some food and then went to Lagunitas in Ballard. The tasting room was so cool with big tables, games and a great outdoor space. I ate a ton of peanuts and we chatted about life in Seattle. After, we walked through the main streets of Ballard, checking out the cool bars, before heading home to rest up for another day of hiking.
Day 3 took us to Granite Falls for a sweet hike to Lake 22, a glacier made lake. The hike was quite the experience- while only a 6.5 mile loop, the trail included wooden/dirt stairs, a waterfall, a super sunny, rocky section and then finally snow. Again, I got hangry and fed up with the snow, which Jon was stoked about. But when we got to the lake, the hunger and effort were well worth it. Still surrounded by snow, it was stunning. Surprisingly, it was very warm in the sun and many hikers were picnicking and enjoying the view. We headed back to Seattle late afternoon and decided to do a Whole Foods picnic at Gasworks Park at sunset to end the day. We got veggies and hummus, chicken and veggies from the hot bar, and brought wine and chocolate. It was the perfect end to a lovely day.
Monday was my last day and it was warm! I said goodbye to Jon as he headed to work and I went out for a walk around Green Lake and then explored University of Washington's campus and the botanical gardens. It was so nice to just have a low key, wandering morning. No trip to Seattle would be complete without my favorite ice cream from Frankie and Jo's, a plant based ice cream company. I got two delicious flavors, Chocolate Jamoca Fudge and Chocolate Date. It was so perfect after walking so much in such beautiful weather. After walking a little more through Capital Hill and getting a thank you gift for Jon, I headed back to his place to charge my phone and grab some Whole Foods salad bar for the flight. I was sad to head back to the bay, but it was such a great trip.
