Seattle at last! E and J kindly opened their awesome Capitol Hill hispter chic apartment to us just after midnight when we finally arrived from Portland. We were wary of the legendary Seattle drizzle but it failed to materialize and we enjoyed beautiful sunny skies all day Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Tuesday we embarked on a grand bike tour of the surprisingly hilly city and its beautiful parks. First stop: Volunteer Park, just a mile or so north of the apartment. The enormous medeival-looking Water Tower was an easy climb and offered fantastic 360-degree views of the city and its surroundings. We hopped on convenient trails east to the next park, Interlaken, and wound our way downhill through soaring trees and lush jungle growth. After skimming the western edge of Washington Park, we took a narrow set of trails further north to Foster Island and paused to picnic at the lovely edge of Union Bay. Refueled and recharged, we proceeded back west along the Foster Island trail: a series of winding dirt and modern wooden paths through water lillies and other scenic marsh areas. Eventually we came to a steep staircase and schlepped the bikes up and onto Montlake Bridge, where we then proceeded north onto the University of Washington campus and into the University District. We enjoyed a tasty snack and beers at Big Time Brewery, then spent an hour getting lost in the excellent Magus Books.
On our way back to the apartment we passed scores of lovely houses and spotted in front of one the neat free books box pictured above. (The trend is sweeping the nation, apparently: check out these NYT articles.) None of the books interested us at the time, but the concept is fantastic! J arrived back at the apartment shortly after we did and we proceeded to drinks at the superb Elysian brewpub. E met us a little bit later and we all headed to dinner at the tasty Artusi. After feasting there for a few hours, we ambled back to the apartment where J and I rallied for one last outing at Smith bar.
Wednesday was a bit more leisurely: slept in, explored Capitol Hill and downtown on foot, wandered through Pike Place Market, indulged ourselves in the awesome Metsker Maps store. Eventually, it was time to head to SEA for our evening flight to ANC, the final stop on our western tour!