Seattle, WA — #meadadventures

If you've been following along you know that back in 2014 we made a very short day trip to Seattle. You also know that when I say it was short, I mean it was s.h.o.r.t...we drove up from Portland, saw the major sights, and then left within a few hours. However, even in that small amount of time, Seattle won us over and we knew that we would be back for a longer stay. What we didn't know was that my brother and sister-in-law would move there, thus moving this #meadadventures quickly up on the to-do list.

Our flight time almost lined up perfectly to when Lesley got off of work, and by the time we made it from the airport to downtown, we only had a few minutes to wait. We didn't want to stray too far from her (after all, we were lugging around two small suitcases) so we chose a pretty great place to wait...Starbucks, duh. Once she got off of work, we all made the short walk to their apartment and waited on Andrew to get home. That night we ate dinner at a place Andrew had been wanting to take Tommy to since they moved there, Lunchbox Laboratory. Honestly our decision to dine there was mainly based on the fact that it had a "science" theme, and it just made sense that Tommy would love it. However, if you don't have a mad scientist in your family, but you love really great food then this is the place for you too. After dinner we headed to Hello Robin for dessert, and to see where Andrew filmed one of his first Local Lens Seattle videos. Let me just go on record saying that the Mackles'more cookie from Hello Robin is probably the best cookie I've ever eaten. No exaggeration, it's that good. From there we headed back to their apartment where we wrapped up the night getting to see Michael (Andrew's best friend since elementary school and practically my second little brother) who ironically moved to Seattle that year. The laughs were the same and having everyone together in one room actually made me forget that we were almost 3,000 miles from home.

The next day, Andrew had the day off for a dentist appointment and Lesley happened to have it off too. We decided to try to see as much as we could to maximize having a weekday off with the both of them. We started our day going to a few of their favorite places...Top Pot Doughnuts (incredible), Starbucks (always good), and then the Pike Place Market. The market is one of the things that we saw the last time that we were here, but you can go a million times and it feels like the first. The locals love it just as much as the tourists do, and even on a random weekday you can bet that it will be busy. It was nearing Andrew's dentist appointment so we headed back to their apartment to grab the car and off we went to University Village.

That place is amazing. It has anything and everything you can possibly imagine, and we had no trouble finding stuff to do while Andrew was at his appointment. Lesley took us to the Restoration Hardware store where I thought we might lose Tommy, but shockingly I think he enjoyed it more than we did. If you've ever drooled over one of their catalogues (I seriously cannot be the only one) then you would faint if you walked into this store. It's floor after floor of the gorgeous pieces they are known for, the staircase drips with chandeliers that put on a rainbow show when the sun hits, and the roof is full of patio furniture inviting you to have a seat. It was a gorgeous day so we did just that. When we finally decided to move on, we went to the Amazon Bookstore (which was like walking into Amazon from your computer screen), and then met back up with Andrew at the Veggie Grill for lunch.

The name University Village could only mean one thing...it was close to the University of Washington. This also made it super easy for Tommy to squeeze in his #meadadventures college campus tour. The University of Washington is definitely one of the top three prettiest campuses we've seen, and trust me, we've seen a ton. The buildings are old with a ton of character (they have a section in their library that is basically Hogwarts), you can see the Space Needle from the square, and from the stadium you can see Union Bay. (If you are really lucky and time your visit just right, during the spring you can see all of the cherry blossoms) We walked around the whole campus exploring, laughing, and pretending like we went to school there. It was only the first full day and we were already having so much fun!

We went from a clear day yesterday to waking up to colder temperatures and misting rain today. Both Lesley and Andrew had to work, leaving us on our own to explore. We started the day with a long rainy run around the city, stopped for coffee to warm up, and then back to the apartment to get ready to explore some more. I had been obsessed with going to the Chihuly Glass and Garden exhibit and so we decided to start there. It was everything that I was hoping that it would be. Honestly, pictures don't even begin to do the glass sculptures justice. When you get up close to them you see how intricate and detailed all the pieces are, and then you remember all of it is glass and you're even more impressed by them. If you're looking for something to do to dodge the rain or if you're just wanting something beautiful to look at, I highly recommend this exhibit.

From Chihuly we walked to the waterfront to find a little store Tommy was wanting to check out, the Ye Ole Curiosity Shop. The middle of the store is your basic souvenir shop with coffee mugs and magnets, but when you look up at the ceiling and along the outer walls, that is when you find the real store. There were mummies, and whale bones, and a bird with a bunny head...it all lived up to the store's name, we definitely left full of curiosity.

Afterwards we walked back to the apartment and met up with Andrew and Lesley for dinner at Serious Pie. Another place that lived up to its name...it was some seriously good pizza! The next stop on their tour for us was the Starbucks Reserve. Watching my brother follow the coffee beans as they traveled up a tube after being roasted right in front of us was probably the most Willy Wonka thing I've ever seen. To say this kid loves Starbucks is an understatement, and it was so much fun to see this place through his eyes...the coffee wasn't half bad either.

Starbucks was a very "Andrew" thing, but our next stop on the tour was a very "Lesley" thing and my taste buds were excited! We walked through a very fun section of the city to reach Cupcake Royale. This place is home to what I now refer to as the best cupcakes in all the land. We all sat around a giant white table talking, laughing, and devouring our treats. It was truly the perfect way to end such a great day.