This statement might come as a shock, but I hated the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Maybe it was my dislike for Tom Hanks or maybe I hate rom coms, nevertheless, I didn’t let the movie ruin my love for this fan-fucking-tastic city in the sound.

 

Ever since I was in high school I felt like I just belonged in Seattle. Seattle just “got me”…having never met each other. It was my spirit city. This stop marks my second time in Seattle (Craig, too) and much like my first time, the weather was great and I was left, for once, speechless. I was also left thinking all the talk about crap weather was just a conspiracy theory to get people to not move there. Well we’re on to you, Seattle.

We arrived in Seattle via the glamorous Amtrak. Truth be told, I really do love trains. Even if you are guaranteed to have a group of retirees who talk way too loud and tell way too many stories to random strangers who are too nice to stop them talking at 6am. The train ride from Vancouver to Seattle is gorgeous and filled with lots of photo-ops. Just ask the lady and her giant iPad sitting across from us. Seriously. Homegirl snapped the shit out of the ride. Leaving us feeling a bit like a paranoid stoners since most times it was her aiming her iPad right over our head to take a picture of…god knows what? Maybe this? (But probably not.)

The train ride is about 4.5 hours so we were pretty happy to get off and get to exploring Seattle. Oh but wait, Amtrak lost our bag filled with ALL of our camping gear. And by lost, we mean forgot to take it off the train at Seattle, so it went on an impulse trip to Portland. Fun. Our camping bag is so spontaneous. Luckily, they found our bag and we weren’t camping for 3 nights. Crisis averted. But then they neglected to pay the cabbie they sent to bring the bag back to us, so we had to handle that. Thanks, Amtrak.

During our 3-night stay in Seattle, the weather was H-O-T. It was so refreshing being able to wear a tank and skirt instead of all the clothes I own. I’m pretty sure it was Seattle just showing off to us. But we’ll take it.

We checked in at our cute and quaint bungalow near Capitol Hill (and Seattle University, the same university I looked at with my mom about 13 years ago).

Then we decided to escape the heat. Which is best done by finding the nearest watering hole. Stat. Enter Unicorn Bar. Or as I like to think of it, the type of bar I would open with AK.

Speaking of AK, my dear, sweetly sour, love-her-so-much AK. She met up with us our first night (among many) and we watched the Warriors kills the Cavs. Suck it, Cleveland.

The next day, we did what we do best. No, not drinking. Walking. We took advantage of the amazing weather and walked downtown. First stop, the Chihuly Garden & Glass Museum. Have you ever gone somewhere and constantly thought how you want all the things in your dream house? Well this is the place. So many colors. Must have them all. It’s affordable, right?

 

What you don’t see is all the damn people there on a Monday afternoon. I guess everyone just wants to tap that glass. Can you blame them?

Time to float on out of that place and take it to the water. We walked to Lake Union to rent some kayaks and soak up the sun just like Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You.

See, don’t we look just like them…with a different backdrop? And yes, I’m fully aware that we are kayaking and they are pedal boating. And I’m 99% positive that Craig wasn’t bribed by one of my sisters to date/marry me so they can date/marry. Oh, Alex Mack.

 

Unlike Sleepless in Seattle, I totally love 10 Things I Hate About You. So much so, that I tried to convince Craig to go on a tour of all the hotspots in the movie. No surprise, he said no. But I did get one more place out of him…

 

With 1.5 hours of kayaking under our belt, we walked (shocker) to meet up with my old childhood friend, Carly. And where do you meet up with old friends? At bar, to show what classy adults you have become.

Our last full day in Seattle we met up with my dear friend Alecia. I met Alecia when I studied abroad in Italy. I amo her hard and haven’t seen her in about 10 years. She was my tuck-and-roll buddy. My buddy whom I drank peach vodka with on the train platforms. I would’ve never seen the shitty town of Ancona (and laughed so hard) if we hadn’t closed our eyes and dropped our finger on a map one week. I also got to meet her adorable offspring. I’d like to think I introduced them to selfie sticks (see below for proof). I can’t wait until Craig and I move to the Seattle area and movie in with Alecia and her husband Jason and become their third and fourth children.

 

After lunch? Well, we drank. We found a killer rooftop bar.

The sun was shining. Life is so good. And you know what? It’s about to get so much better. Because we are about to rotate the shit out of Seattle. AK met up with us again and we hit up a big ol’ ferris wheel.

Yes, I busted out the selfie stick. And yes, AK (and Craig) pretended not to know me.

Around and around we went, but it was time to switch up the rotational axis. Space. Needle. It’s not a secret that I’m obsessed, we’re talking Glenn-Close-in-Fatal-Attraction kind of obsessed, with rotating restaurants. And scoring major bestie points? AK, for making reservations at the restaurant on top of the Space Needle. Seriously, the view was breathtaking and the mushroom risotto was beyond delicious.

And then this happened. Shit you not. That Seattle sunset is such an attention-seeking whore. She loves when everyone watches. And watch we did.

So, how do you end an amazing trip in Seattle? By visiting the bar with the vagina door. Said the local, AK. We have no pictures of it, because we never drink and tell. But it was truly magical.

Until then, see you next time. We promise you’ll hear all about our first backcountry camping trip, island…and dome life, during our last week in Washington. Or as my grandpa likes to call it, Warshington.