Seattle for a Day

I love living in the Pacific Northwest. I've lived here since I was in the 4th grade. I've only lived in three NW cities/towns...North Bend, WA, Portland, Ore (while at Bible College) and Woodland, Wa (current town, only 30 minutes from Portland and where I've lived the longest actually). I have loved every place I've lived. The PNW is just an amazing place to live and visit. Living in SW Washington affords us the convenience to the cities, the mountains and the coast. I love it. 

A month ago we were up in Seattle for a weekend soccer tournament. We decided to take advantage of being up there and visit the city. The weather was beautiful so we parked the car and walked around for several hours. I think my hubby and daughter logged over 16,000 steps, which means I did too. Yay us. 

One of our plans was to head to the Seattle Skyview Observatory, staying til dark in order to see the night lights. I cannot believe I have never heard of this place nor been to it in all the times I've visited. It was incredible. I wish I had better knowledge of how to photograph at night and a better lens, but it was fun and it was the memory kept in our minds that really counts, just google it and you'll see amazing photos. The price was also very reasonable and you have no time limit to be there. There are couches and chairs all around the observatory to sit in and chill while waiting for the sun to set. 

Before we hit the observatory, we walked through Pike Place Market, enjoyed some ice cream, fresh organic juice/smoothies and browsed and people watched, walked the waterfront, saw a movie (that is not even worth mentioning) and ate dinner at Cutters Crabhouse. There is nothing like really good seafood and this place had it for sure. I remember a few years ago, my hubby and I went to Red Lobster for dinner because we had a gift card. I remember looking at my plate and going "let's not come back here". I'm not sure anything was remotely fresh. The fried clams reminded me of boxed frozen clams. Blech! Cutter's is not your budget friendly restaurant, BUT we had money set aside, so in this case, on this day, it was in the budget, otherwise we wouldn't have eaten here. I enjoyed their Baked Lobster and Crab Gnocchi which had large and several pieces of lobster and crab, wild mushrooms, tarragon, sherry cream sauce and parmesan crust. Oh. My. Land! This was divine. Not to mention the yummy bread. My daughter had crab legs and hubby had their Jambalaya. It is so worth going to. We were able to get a window view of the Puget Sound and that was the icing on the cake! 

It was a fun, relaxing day, but a bit sad because our oldest daughter, who was married last December, couldn't be with us. That is such a crazy transition. Taking trips without her. Bittersweet. We have one more year of HS with our youngest, though I think she'll stick around and live at home awhile longer. 

With Joy UNquenchable,