A trip to Seattle

Last Sunday afternoon, Tim and I Left our sweet babies in good hands and hopped on an airplane, just the two of us, and headed up to Seattle. Neither of us had ever been. It was AWESOME!! I finished nursing Molly in April and I always feel like between pregnancy and newborn and nursing hormones and all of it I am never quite myself for a good 20months.....and well I finally feel like myself again, hooray!! And so we thought it would be a good idea to get away, and it was a good idea :) We had a blast!! And since we were lazy and didn't bother to really ask people to take pictures for us, this is the trip of selfies...

I persuaded Tim to try out some snap chat filters with me while we waited to board the plane....isn't he pretty?!?!

Super serious puppies

Pretty little flower kitties.....so ridiculous!!

Boarded and ready for take off!!

Mt Rainer from the plane! It kind of made me giddy to see it peeking above the clouds. It was beautiful!

We weren't planning on renting a car and then last minute when we got to the airport we decided to and it was such a good decision. I was surprised at how much we were able to fit in and all the little things we were able to do and see.

We stayed in this great Air B and B in a neighborhood called Fremont. It was a third story "apartment" of a really cute craftsman house. The ceilings were pitched and it was nice and small, but simple and perfect. We had fun walking to local restaurants for some of our meals and being close to other fun sites like the Theo chocolate factory, The Fremont Troll, and Gasworks Park, which had the most amazing views.

After dinner our first night. They neighborhood is a lot like San Francisco. Everything is on an incline or decline. We were amused by the random staircases connecting the sidewalks from street to street.

Visiting the Fremont Troll.....

It is literally a Troll, under a bridge, holding a VW bug. It's a pretty cool sculpture.

The view from Gasworks park was amazing. It's a gorgeous view of the Seattle Skyline (which is impressive) as well as Lake Union. This was the clearest the sky was the entire time :)

This is the remains of an old gasifications plant. It's fenced in with vines growing all over it.

There was this fun tunnel in the park that I thought was pretty cool.

Monday morning we got up nice and early and headed out to explore Discovery Park. We grabbed some bagels on our way and then started walking. I'm not quite sure how far we walked, but I'm guessing it was somewhere between 3-4 miles. It was a beautiful walk/hike.

The beginning of our walk. As we were about to enter what looks like a rainforest. The trees were so thick and lush and beautiful.

In some areas the trees were growing together forming a tunnel.

There were some great views of the ocean as well. I told Tim it was like Flagstaff and San Diego had a baby.

There were these fun look outs off the trail in random spots where you could stop of a rest and a beautiful views.

We were both really impressed with all the moss growing on the trees.

A driftwood shelter.

There was an old lighthouse once we got down to the ocean.

Tim took this great driftwood picture. Driftwood is not something we are used to seeing when we go to the beach.

A really good bumpy tree.

A gigantic slug we came across.

And the hugest tree! Discovery Park was definitely a highlight for us. We love being outside exploring together and the weather was perfect. Nice and cool and no rain!!

After the park we headed downtown for some real touristy experiences...

First up? Pikes Place Market

I love this iconic sign.

The flowers were one of my favorite parts. They were SO beautiful and there were so many of them. I even convinced myself that buying a $5 bouquet was a good idea. 

So much sea food!! And we even got to see them throw the fish around!

The fruit was DELICIOUS!! We even went back and got some on Tuesday because it was SO GOOD!!!

Look at those donuts!!!

Three cheers for the Public Market!!

And then we stumbled upon the gum wall which I had wanted to see anyway.

It was pretty impressive...

And pretty disgusting.

Then we headed over to the Space Needle. And had to wait to take an elevator to the top, so we went to the glass garden that was next door.

We walked through Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit.

It was pretty impressive. I especially loved the way they used light to display the glass. This is a ceiling display that you had to look up to see. 

It was also fun that Chihuly used boats for some of his exhibits.

I think all of the Chandeliers were my favorite.

Then we made it to the top of the Space Needle for a very impressive view. Did you know that the Space Needle was supposed to be for Seattle what the Eiffel Tower is for Paris? I think it's doing a good job. They built the Space Needle in the 60's during the space race and the space needle was supposed to be this real futuristic spacey building. It's definitely an iconic landmark. 

After that we went to watch the locks. We were entertained by the "pirate" who was waiting to get through the locks.

Waiting for the water to lower so the gates can open and the boats can get through.

So the gates at the other end close and all of the water in the middle lets out and lowers the boats and then the gates at this end open and they can be on their way. It was very interesting.

Tuesday morning we went to Mecca Cafe which was recommended by a friend. The bacon and the hot chocolate were both delicious!! It was a fun local experience.

Then we went on a tour of the underground. In the early 1900's 30 city blocks of downtown Seattle were burned down. When the city planners talked about rebuilding, they told businesses that they were going to bury the city and that they would need to build their buildings so that the second floor would eventually be their ground level and the bottom floor would become the basement.....crazy right? They literally buried the city!! So this picture is underneath the sidewalk. The people put this translucent materials in the sidewalk so that they could see in the underground. 

This is where a tellers cage was.

Do you see the store front? The windows? This was originally above ground. Why does that blow my mind so much? It seems so weird. The tour was very interesting!!

We peeked our head in Union Station. It is such a beautiful building.

Then we hopped on a ferry to Bainbridge Island where we had lunch and I found a fantastic pair of shoes at a super cute boutique.

The way back was pretty windy.

There was another park, Kerry Park, that also had beautiful views of downtown. 

Pretending to fall over the edge...I'm so funny....I'm actually disappointed because I thought there was a significant drop on the other side of this wall, really it was just a super steep hill. BUT, I thought this was going to be a hilarious picture and well it's not really at all. hahaha!

Another set of stairs in the middle of a neighborhood.

The first high school in Seattle. Now luxury condos.

Did you know I have a DJ name?!?

The dinosaurs of Fremont

Wednesday morning we visited The University of Washington. The campus was so beautiful!! And I'm obsessed with the smell of real roses. 

It reminded me of Hogwarts (which side note, we watched Harry Potter 2-6 on our trip!! it was so fun!!)

Inside the UW library. Tim's just holding the world in his hand.

Then we went canoeing on Lake Washington.

It was really fun!!

And there were really pretty lilly pads and blossoms all over.

As well as the very picturesque bridge that we did not fit under.

Then we headed over to Woodinville where one of my friends from BYU lives. I lived next door to Jill the entire time I was at BYU. She is so fun and sweet and happy. I haven't seen her for almost 10 years and it was so fun to see her again. Her and her parents took us up to Snoqualmie Falls. And the Falls were amazing!!

Me and Jill

Tim knew Jill from BYU too

The area around the Falls is pretty impressive too!

Tim and I took a quick jaunt down to the bottom of the falls to get a view from down their. It was a quick walk down and an exhausting walk up!

They have the bottom of the falls all fenced off so that you stay on the "bordwalk". It's probably much safer that way. The river is beautiful!

Part of the hydroelectric plant at the falls.

Do you see the frog?!? I was so excited that I spotted it :)

Tim found the perfect chair log with a footstool and all!

We saw these crazy trees growing over old stumps...isn't that nutty?

Totally hollowed out log.

peek-a-boo

Trying on glasses with Jill!! Love this girl and her parents. Such good people!

On our way back to our place we stopped by the Seattle temple. 

I loved the statues that they had out front.

I think this one was my favorite. I was missing Molly a lot on this trip and this statue really reminded me of her.

So grateful for temples!!

Thursday morning we packed up our stuff and headed out. We picked up breakfast at the grocery store and headed out in the rain to eat it along the river under a tree (we really didn't get very wet). But we were both shocked when we saw this big 'ol boat? yacht? whatever, just floating by. And see that peach in my hand? it was rock hard and rolled right into the river. We laughed pretty hard.

Tim had a breakfast pizza left over from our first night. Breakfast of champions!!

Then we went on a tour of Theo chocolate factory. We got to wear these really pretty hairnets!

It was so fascinating to watch and learn how chocolate is made. It's not easy feet. 

And then after that we made our way to the airport. Filled our rental car up with gas, returned it, and flew home! 

Traveling with Tim is dreamy!! He is seriously so easy going. He's good with a GPS and is happy to take direction from me and run with it. The trip could not have gone smoother and I am so grateful to Whitney who had Molly the entire time and Claire and my Mom who split their time with the boys. It's such a blessing to have reliable trust worthy family members to leave kids with. So grateful for the awesome memories. Thanks Seattle!!