Our trip to the Pacific Northwest

Over the 4th of July weekend, Derek and I took a wonderful vacation to Seattle, WA. There was no particular reason for the trip, other than to see a beautiful city that I love and that Derek had never been to before. We went into the trip with very few concrete plans but that ended up working out perfectly!

We were in the city Friday-Tuesday, which was the perfect amount of time for sightseeing, a Mariners game, and a lot of good food and coffee.

Friday night we had reservations at SkyCity, the rotating restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. I had eaten there on a high school choir trip and remember it being the greatest Caesar Salad I had ever had, and it did not disappoint this time around! The salmon was also excellent, as was everything that Derek got. It was amazing to get to see the city from the top of the Needle! The restaurant rotates 360 degrees every 47 minutes, so we got a nice view of the whole city and Puget Sound during our meal!

Our view from the top

We checked off a MLB stadium from our list as well, watching the Mariners soundly beat the Orioles with 5 home runs!!! We really enjoyed seeing a new stadium (Derek has seen many, and I'm almost through all of the west coast stadiums). Eventually we'd like to see every stadium!

A must on my list for our trip was finally getting to see the Seattle Public Library. I've heard wonderful things about it from the librarian community and I can honestly say that it didn't disappoint! It's such a wonderful testament to the library's role in the 21st century, not to mention an architectural wonder. We spent well over an hour wandering around each floor and taking lots of pictures (I'm lucky that the husband also appreciates books and humors my need to see every inch of new libraries).

Seattle Public Library

We also explored Pike Place Market, bought a beautiful flower arrangement for our room, and filled up on delicious fresh produce and fresh cheese (and even brought some cheese curds home to make poutine!) We also made a stop at the original Starbucks store at Pike Place. We had wonderful homemade ice cream at Molly Moon's even got to meet up for coffee with some friends who recently moved to Tacoma from California.

Me and my beautiful bouquet!

Piroshky, Piroshky

The original Starbucks at Pike Place Market

Finally, on the 4th of July we headed to the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum to take a look at their Star Trek exhibit, as well as a few other exhibits that are currently at the museum. The Star Trek exhibit was so much fun and there was something awesome to look at at every turn. As someone who grew up watching The Next Generation, I loved getting to see the costumes and some of the props, as well as learn a little more about the history of the franchise.

My favorite: Geordie La Forge

A timeline of the Star Trek universe

It was so nice to get away for a few days and explore a new (well for Derek, anyway) city. We'd definitely like to make these little trips a tradition!