Fourth of July in Seattle!

My first view of Puget Sound!

For this year’s Fourth of July holiday, I visited some friends in Seattle. I didn’t have the chance to go to their wedding earlier this year, so I thought I’d make it up to them by going out to see them!

I had hoped to get in around 4:30 that Friday, but due to multiple delays, Southwest didn’t get me there until 8 o’clock. I took the link train to Capitol Hill, a hip LGBT-friendly neighborhood in Seattle. My friends picked me up, and we immediately went to Dance Underground to go blues dancing. My friends had never been blues dancing before, but I love it, so I wanted to introduce them to the dance! We had a nice lesson, but because of the small crowd and late hour, we left pretty early. But it was still fun, and my friends were happy to branch out and try something new!

The next day we checked out Pike Place Market. It’s well-known, and I liked checking out all the local produce, crafts, and other goods. And we enjoyed a very yummy pumpkin cookie from Cinnamon Works!

We got to see the first Starbucks! There was quite the line to get in!

Of course Washington state is known for its seafood, and there was plenty of it at the market!

The market had beautiful flowers!

There's a gum wall near the market. This isn't even that bad, because the wall was recently cleaned off!

That night we went to a Mariners baseball game. The Orioles happened to be playing them that weekend, so that was fun for me as an O’s fan! We had perfect weather for the game, and even though the Orioles lost, it was a high-scoring game and quite exciting! 

Me and my friend Lauren at the game

The Mariners have some of the fanciest stadium food I've seen, including chocolate covered strawberries!

I caught a glimpse of Mount Rainier from the stadium!

After the game, we checked out Unicorn, a colorful bar that serves drinks like “Unicorn Jizz” and "Hellicorn." Actually, we oddly saw lots of unicorn-related things; Seattle knew I’d be visiting!

"Unicorn Jizz" is delicious, by the way.

Random chalk unicorn near the market

This funny looking unicorn is named Pablo, and he was all over the city!

The next day we took an underground tour of the city. Seattle wasn’t built in a great location due to flooding and such, and it actually had to be built up extra high. So now there are tunnels beneath the city. Our tour guide was funny and very knowledgeable as she told us about the many problems the city had throughout its history. And while this was the family-friendly tour (they offer one specifically for adults), we did get to hear about some of the scandals of Seattle in the time of the wild West, including all of the "seamstresses" (i.e. prostitutes) in town; taxes on their profits totaled 87% of all the taxes collected by the city! It was fun learning about big players in Seattle's history, from the founders to the mayor who would pardon himself for his own wrongdoings. Definitely worth the money ($18 per adult).

So many poop/toilet jokes on this tour...

There was even a bank teller down there at one time! (Hi, Max!)

There are skylights in the tunnels to allow for light to come in. You can see them from the streets above (see next photo).

From the streets the skylights look like purple ceramic squares. I had even noticed them the day before!

Lou Graham and her most profitable "seamstresses." Notice anything interesting about a few of those women?

Then we stopped in for a walk-in yoga class at 8 Limbs. The class seemed to me more like physical therapy than yoga. We did a few poses, but very few vinyasas or sun salutations; instead we rolled foam balls along our backs to work out the kinks in our muscles. I guess since I do yoga regularly it wasn’t my cup of tea, but my friend enjoyed it, so that was good.

We were planning that night to go to a music festival in West Seattle, but after our busy day we just wanted to chill out. So we made dinner (using some fresh dill and rosemary from their front porch!) and watched The Wedding Singer. They had never seen the movie before, and I was so happy they liked it!

For the Fourth, we went hiking with a couple of my sorority sisters to see Teneriffe Falls. I thought it was fitting to go hiking on Independence Day, since nature is one of America’s greatest assets. We heard that there had been a black bear on the trail, but we didn’t see it. But we did see some beautiful flowers, a couple of slugs, and the lovely falls at the top! Here are some photos:

This little guy was eating a leaf right at the start of the trail!

Anyone know what kind of flowers these are?

My friends (L-R): Lauren, Cat, and Marisa.

The very green view from one of the overlooks

The falls!

On the way back we found this big guy!

And this slug was hanging for dear life!

The night of the 4th was just as fun!

We could see the Space Needle across Lake Union.

Ivar's Salmon House is beautiful on the inside!

Of course we had to see fireworks that night. We thought about going to Gas Works Park and setting up a picnic so we could watch from the grass. But we decided to have our picnic early at home, and waited until later to head out, since the fireworks show wouldn’t start until 10:20pm (higher latitude and all). So we went to Ivar’s Salmon House around 9 o’clock, where we could sit outside on the deck to see the fireworks. We enjoyed some salmon chowder and a seafood medley so I could try the great seafood that Washington has to offer. The food was good (the shrimp were delicious!), and we had the perfect view from the restaurant looking right out over Lake Union. A helicopter flew over the lake with a huge American flag, and then the fireworks show began! I was very impressed, and they seemed to go on forever! And it was fun to see other sporadic fireworks from other parts around the lake. PLUS we got to see a couple get engaged right there on the water! What a fun night!

It was a great vacation, and I had such an amazing time! A huge shout-out to my friends for hosting me!

And of course I must mention their dog, Hoshi! He accompanied us throughout the trip.