Seattle |continued| — #meadadventures

This is a continuation of a previous post...

We had another day to explore while our tour guides worked, and we had a packed agenda. Tommy chose to start his day to go on another run. I chose to wait for him to bring me back some coffee and a scone...it's all about balance. By the time we were out the door we were ready for lunch, and a Beecher's grilled cheese was calling our names. The line was long, the sandwich was worth it, and afterwards we made a swing by the gum wall to make our contribution.

From the market we made our way to find the UPS Waterfall Garden, and then through Pioneer Square to find the Merchants Cafe. Once burnt down in the Great Seattle Fire, it was rebuilt in 1890 and is still going strong as Seattle's oldest restaurant. We stopped in for a drink and to admire everything from the ceiling to the floors. The Belfry was right around the corner and was another oddity shop that Tommy had on his list. This store was the much more organized version of the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, and was full of things you wouldn't see in your basic store. It's your go-to place in Seattle if you're looking for a baby pig dissected in half and placed in a beautiful vase.

We decided to start making our way back to the apartment and hit a few stops along the way. The first stop was Freeway Park to see more waterfalls in the middle of the city, and then to the Public Library. This is not your average library...it is more like a brightly colored maze with books. If you go all the way to the top level you will find incredible views, and if you search hard enough you will find a hallway that is entirely red. If I didn't already love to read, this would have converted me. Peeling ourselves away, we finally made it back to the apartment where we met Andrew who held our plans for the evening. Unfortunately he had to work that night, but fortunately we could tag along (and he actually needed our help).

Tonight, Tommy and I were official nonofficial members of the Local Lens Seattle crew. Scott Disick was making an appearance at the Bellevue Sugar Factory and they wanted Local Lens to do a segment on it. I would love to say I'm the girl who doesn't care about stuff like this and that I wasn't phased at all, but who are we kidding?! As soon as he hit the red carpet and I was officially breathing the same air as the man, I was a twelve year old girl. Then his kids walked by me, and that's when it sunk in that I was in the presence of reality TV royalty. I have to confess though, my favorite takeaway moment from the entire experience was when Tommy (who thought a Kardashian was a type of sweater), pointed the camera at Scott's bodyguard thinking it was him. Once pointed in the right direction, he smashed his first gig as a red carpet cameraman and figured out what a Kardashian was at the same time. When we all came back down to earth, we went to dinner at the famous Dick's Drive-In. It could never replace my deep love for In-N-Out, but when you factor in Dick's strawberry milkshake, it came very close.

The weekend was here and that meant we got both Andrew AND Lesley all to ourselves! We started our day with coffee and the SODO Flea Market, and from there we hit the road to Mount Rainer National Park. The park itself is a little over an hour and a half from Seattle, but the drive will be worth it when you take in the views. It had snowed just a few days before we got there, and everything was draped in tons of fresh white snow!

We took our time driving through the park stopping at turnoffs to take pictures...and to play in the snow. Time meant nothing to us until we all started to get really hungry, then we got serious about making it to the nearest visitor center. When we finally reached the Paradise visitor center we all ran straight to the cafeteria. Thank goodness we did, they were closing it down as we scooted under the gate and got the last few slices of pizza. We failed on following our own #meadadventures tip: checking the park's seasonal closure times. Sadly, we didn't have time to complete the hike Tommy was looking forward to. It wasn't just due to our poor planning though, Mother Nature wasn't having it either. The beautiful snow we were so happy to see when we arrived made the hike a bit difficult...actually near impossible. We were able to go up far enough to get a pretty good view of Mount Rainer, but the hike back down was a very slippery experience. We were pretty exhausted by the time we made it back to Seattle, but our memory banks were full.

Lesley unfortunately had to work this day, but she made us all a gourmet breakfast before she left. Andrew and I walked to get coffee, and afterwards we all headed out the door for another full day of exploring. Our first stop was to visit the "Mystery Coke Machine" I had read so much about. Apparently this old coke machine is stocked by an unknown stranger, and you have no clue what drink is going to come out of it when you push the button. Well, sadly on the day that we visited the machine, it was out of order (or empty). It was still very cool to see, but I can't say that I wasn't a little bummed about not getting a drink from it.

Our next destination was lunch, and for that we headed back to Pike Place Market. When my parents visited last year they had a bowl of chowder that my dad still talks about to this day (and mentioned every time we talked to them while we were there). We knew we couldn't leave without getting some, and waited in the very long line in Post Alley to grab a bowl of Pike Place Chowder. The people waiting in that line are there for a reason, and the signs advertising "Hall of Fame Chowder" is no exaggeration. At the risk of sounding just like my dad...wait in the line, eat the chowder, and thank me later.

Okay now we move on to the main event of the day...a Seattle Sounders game!! Tommy and I had been following the team since they started playing in the MLS in 2009, and were pretty pumped to have a chance to watch them play in person. I had been monitoring tickets online our entire trip, but once game day arrived they skyrocketed. Just when I thought we were going to be paying a lot of money, Andrew swooped in with a very cool app. Here it is sports fans...#meadadventures tip: If you are wanting to buy tickets to a game but not break the bank, download the app Gametime. The idea behind this app is that you find which game you are wanting to go to, how many tickets you need, and the app will find you tickets. The awesome factor of this app is that the longer you wait, the cheaper and cheaper the tickets get (you can literally wait outside of the stadium a minute before the game). However, it is a bit of a gamble because there is the possibility that if you wait too long, you could miss the window altogether. Play it smart and you will get great seats for over half the price!

As we were walking from lunch, we were also checking Gametime pretty regularly. We refreshed the app and then it happened...we found three tickets for LESS than what we were going to pay for just one! Now that it was official I realized that I definitely needed a Sounders scarf. With my new scarf around my neck, I have to say, I felt pretty legit crammed on the light rail to the stadium with all of the other fans.When we got into the stadium all three of us were pretty excited when we found out that our seats had a perfect view of both the field and the city. We cheered, we won, and we left having had an incredible time.

The chowder from lunch was long gone, and Andrew had the perfect place for dinner. We were a short walk from Tai Tung, the oldest Chinese restaurant in Seattle's China Town. They sat us at a family style table complete with a giant lazy-susan in the middle, and also in the same room as the table that Bruce Lee ate at as a child. As soon as the food came we started spinning that lazy-susan like the wheel on Wheel of Fortune to fill our plates with some of the best Chinese food. By this time, Lesley was off of work and we ended our day sitting around a fire pit on the roof of their apartment. That night we sat around talking and forgetting what time it was just like we used to do at our parent's house.