What We Did
Sandpoint --> Seattle
We left Sandpoint on a Saturday morning, driving west across the border of Washington before heading south through Spokane. There's no noticeable difference between eastern Washington and the Idaho panhandle - culturally and geographically they are truly identical. We briefly drove through Spokane before entering the sunny rural farmland of Central-Eastern Washington. Much of the land was yellow grasses and rolling hills, with any structures few and far between. It was very windy. We passed through the Gorge area, where the boring landscape quickly turned dramatic: steep cliffs dropped deep down to the river below, with small waterfalls flowing along the sides. Once we got west of the gorge, the farmland turned more to orchards, with hundreds of fruit trees and fruit-processing plants along the side of the highway. The small hills got progressively larger, and very suddenly turned to mountains. We had entered the Cascade range. There was still lots of snow on the ground at parts. We made our way into the storybook town of Leavenworth. The whole town has a very intense Bavarian theme to it. Even more than just a theme, every restaurant and bar served German food and had servers in traditional German clothes. It was bizarre. We had a heavy lunch of Wienerschnitzel, Goulash, and beer. We left the town via Steven's pass, getting stuck in terrible traffic as we passed the ski resort. It delayed our arrival to Seattle a few hours. At last, we drove across the 520 bridge (to much nostalgia) and arrived at our next temporary home in Wallingford. The first thing we did was walk down to Gas Works Park for a view of the skyline over the lake - a surreal end to a long day.
Wallingford Our Airbnb in Wallingford was the basement of a house on the corner of two hilly streets. The whole area is very hilly. The place itself was... not great. Small, dark, old, and the furniture was severely uncomfortable. There was no dishwasher, an old TV, an ant problem, and a clogged drain. Regardless of the discomfort inside, the neighborhood was amazing. Like most of Seattle, it was heavily forested despite the density. Our street had a view of the skyline, and the spring weather meant that we were surrounded by hundreds of flowering plants. We were also walking distance to breweries, restaurants, and Lake Union.
Seattle
We really had a chance to explore most of Seattle - the end of ski season meant that we had a whole extra weekend day for activities around town! Some highlights of our stay include:
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Exploring Fremont (troll and all), Green Lake, Ballard, Eastlake, Madison Park, Volunteer Park, West Seattle, Capital Hill (comedy night!), and Queen Anne.
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Visiting Pike Place and the Seattle Aquarium, where we saw octopus, otters, and more.
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Eating Szechuan food in the International District before a Mariner's game.
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Visiting the Eastside, including Katon's high school and old home.
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Getting some sun at Golden Gardens
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Walking around the Seattle Center, including the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens.
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Hiking to Lake 22 on a cool foggy day.
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Walking 9 miles through the city, admiring the old houses in Magnolia and Queen Anne.
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Biking the Burke-Gilman Trail to UW and Lake Washington.
Thoughts
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Seattle might be the nicest city in the country. Everything is clean and green. It has fun, interesting neihborhoods - the neighborhoods have an old charm, but not in a way that feels rundown at all. The city also has so much new development that it feels fresh and on the rise.
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We really lucked out with the weather. It only rained a handful of times. The first week we were there was the last week of winter - it was still very dark, cold, and rainy. After that though it was blue skies and warm and perfect.
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It was shocking, in a nice way, to see how much diversity there was after being in Idaho, Montana, etc for so long. Different cultures, languages, and cuisines are everywhere.
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Traffic in Seattle can be really terrible, but even when the highways are clear, drivers love to go the speed limit.
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When the Mountain is out, it really does give a burst of extra energy to the whole city.
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The outdoor culture is strong here. Great nature and scenery make people want to be outside as much as possible, even when it's raining.
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The water has a very strong presence: people live on house boats, kayak/canoe/row recreationally, go fishing, etc.
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The alternative/grunge side of Seattle is still alive and well. There's a casualness in the fashion, except for the few neighborhoods that were taken over by the tech industry.
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Seattle has a really classic, textbook spring. Flowers blooming, ducks and ducklings everywhere, light rain followed by sun, bunnies hopping around. Felt like every day was Easter.
Favorites
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Gas Works Park - Iconic grassy park with views of the skyline over Lake Union. We were here all the time as we lived just a few blocks away.
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Chihuly Garden and Glass - Breathtaking glass-blown sculptures underneath the Space Needle.
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Fremont - Our nearest neighborhood, Fremont is the Troll-protected, Lenin-lovin', Mead-drinkin' Center of the Universe.
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Wonderland Gear Exchange - A wallet-saving consignment store in Fremont that we used to gear up for summer.
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Lucky's Pho - Perfect on a rainy day
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How to Cook a Wolf - Creative, modern Italian restaurant in Madison Park.
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Kin Len Thai Night Bites - Fun, themed Thai spot with a line out the door.
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Sisi Kay Thai - Crazy cocktails and peanut sauce noodles.
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Delancey - Neapolitan pizza spot, duck-proscuitto was wild.
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Pagliacci - Locally-legendary pizza chain.
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Stone Way Cafe - The go-to lunch & brunch place for the weekend warriors of Wallingford.
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Fremont Brewing - Solid, classic brewery with lots of dogs.
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Gas Works Brewing - Row-in-row-out brewery among the house boats of Lake Union.
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The Nest - Sleek rooftop bar overlooking the Sound.
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Buna - G & M's 4-month old chocolate lab who loves to fetch and nap.