Hoodies, leggings and pumpkin spice everything screams the beginning of Fall on Labor Day weekend in Seattle. I clearly wasn’t prepared for such a drastic change in weather, much less the season, it’s still hot as fire in Oklahoma. When we left OKC, it was hot as usual for Labor Day weekend, folks wrapping up summer by the pool, football on TV and of course cook outs, but by the time we arrived in Seattle, I was questioning how in the world I was going to survive in Alaska if I was already freezing in just a matter of hours. Good thing I packed everything, I was totally prepared with both a light jacket for use during the day and evening and of course my full ski jacket for when I arrived in Alaska. I have to say, I really liked Seattle, it seemed like a smaller version of San Francisco, but offered enough to keep two folks busy for a few days. We had gorgeous weather the first two days, but by day three the expected Seattle doom-and-gloom had returned. The first two days were spent doing all the typical tourist stuff, we went to Pike Place Market (can we say OMG to the fresh flowers, I seriously can’t stand it just thinking about how beautiful they are), visited the beloved, yet recently cleaned “gum wall,”(yes, we added our own gum to the spectacle…do as the locals….or tourists, right?) and a quick stop at the original Starbucks. We rode the Ferris wheel (I love these things, we have done them in so many cities now), visited the Chihuly Glass Museum, and the Observatory at night for an overall amazing city view. So, clearly Seattle is a coffee town. Neither one of us are coffee drinkers, but I’m fascinated by the concept of coffee because it’s like the universal drink of everyone. Everyone, everywhere, in every county in the world drinks coffee, all served just a different way. Now, you all know I’m up to try just about anything new at this point, so to the Starbucks Roastery and Tasting Room we went, in hopes to better unlock this mystery known as coffee. This is a different place than traditional Starbucks, it’s where their special blend coffees are made and are only sold in limited quantities. So without further waiting, I’ll share our experience. 1. don’t sample freshly brewed, strong coffee at 9 pm, we are still awake days later because of this. 2. Who do we think we are? We sat down like undercover coffee experts at the tasting table (mind you I’ve been a wine drinker for a long time, so I get the concept of tasting, I’m just assuming coffee is likely done about the same way…not exactly), ready to confidently take on this coffee situation when in all reality, we have no idea what we are doing or looking for in the coffee. Is it flavor, bitterness, temperature, how it makes you feel, who knows? Maybe this actually makes us the best tasters (or the worst, we still don’t know), but my previous coffee experience has been pretty minimal and Matt’s is limited to some foo-foo Caramel-iato thing at Starbucks or Vietnamese coffee (basically all cream drinks with a splash of coffee), but regardless the baristas were good sports and entertained us as we tried $70 worth of coffee and left still not understanding why people love this stuff. We purchased two bags (another $40 to send some home) of the two “most liked by us” that we had tried, so if you make your way over for dinner at our house, you might just get to try these speciality coffees too terrible tasters personally picked out for your liking. Who wants to sign up now? While on the topic of good things, we have eaten our weight in fish-n-chips, clam chowder, fried chicken, ice cream and teriyaki while in Seattle, so minus not getting to the one sushi place Matt just “needed” to get to, we can’t complain about any of the food we did try, as it was all fantastic. The next day we headed north to Everett, Washington to go to the Boeing Plant, as Matt is obviously obsessed with all things aviation right now. I have to admit, the tour was pretty fun and very interesting as to how the planes are built. We also attended the Future of Flight Museum, so I feel pretty confident in my aviation history and development knowledge at the moment. We took the ferry across to Whidbey Island for a scenic drive and a chance to get a picture of the lighthouse. Overall, Seattle (and the surrounding area) were pretty great and I highly recommend a short trip out for anyone who wants to spend a few days away, it’s perfect for that. Now off to cruise to southeast Alaska for the next seven days… cell phone service will be limited if available at all, so updates will be highly sporadic until we return to civilization. See you all in Alaska….
Cars & Culture · September 11, 2016
