I’m going to be honest—as a trip, our visit to Seattle in 2018 was hardly my best planned vacation. Our time in town was too short to really experience the city, yet our budget was too cheap to take advantage of our short time there. But still, I loved our visit.

Travel is beautiful, and going somewhere to see a new place is only one part of it. Travel is a stake in the sand where we give ourselves permission to step away from ‘normal life’ and focus on ourselves, our families, and our friends. That’s what Seattle represented for me: a weekend spent with my closest friends—a celebration of our collective journey before life was to spin us off into different directions.

I’m not sure if you’ll get a lot from this post in the way of planning a trip to Seattle. But perhaps, you might enjoy the story of six friends spending a moment with each other.

Chuck, Chris, Cindy, and I woke up painfully early and caught the morning flight up to Seattle, putting us at Sea-Tac around 8:30 am. We caught the local Sound Transit light rail into the city center and met TJ and Jess at a Starbucks under the famous Seattle Monorail. TJ and Jess opted for the late-night flight into town and shared an Air B&B before meeting us there.

We caught the monorail to our hotel. I had booked us a 6-person room adjacent to the Seattle Center, where the Space Needle is. After dropping off our bags, we grabbed a quick bite at the Armory, an indoor gathering-place/food court and then prepared to catch the monorail back into the city-center.

Disembarking from the monorail, we headed to the most touristy spot we could think of—the Pike Place Market.

The Pike Place Market is possibly the most famous tourist destination in Seattle, second only to the Space Needle. The indoor stretch of vendors looks like a farmers market, art fair, and fish supply, all in one. In addition to luring tourists to see the world’s first Starbucks, Pike Place Market is famous for the Pike Place Fish Market. This stand, located smack in the center of the market, is known for enthusiastic clerks who throw fish purchases through the air for packing. The shop meant a great deal to our friend Chuck. I felt it was best that he explain why:

“I believe that a person would be hard pressed to find anyone who worked during the 1990’s and early 2000’s in a leadership role in customer service who had not had the opportunity to learn about the service philosophies of at least one of these companies- Zappos, L. L. Bean, Farrell’s, Macy’s and of course, Disney. And if you worked in a role where your goal was to deliver “inspiring” leadership content in a classroom setting, then you were exposed and exposed others to the aforementioned companies multiple times... maybe even a hundred times. For me, both scenarios are accurate, and the philosophy that seemed to be on repeat, like Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day, was...FISH.

The Pike Place Fish Market took a unique approach in the late 90’s that transformed their humble farmers market-style fish stand into a destination along the waterfront of the Emerald City. They began having fun with their patrons by throwing fish! It sounds silly, and maybe a little gross, but they made it look fun, and soon this philosophy (“Be There,” “Play,” “Make Their Day,” “Choose Your Attitude”) was captured on VHS and DVD format (accompanied by a treasure trove of other retail products), neatly packaged and “tossed” around the World for all to see just like the actual fish that made them so famous with Seattle tourists.

Having viewed that video a lot (did I mention probably 100 times?), there was no way that I was going to miss visiting the birthplace of this phenomena during my first trip to Seattle. It didn’t matter that it was created 20 years ago. It didn’t matter that I believe “fish are friends, not food.” It wouldn’t have mattered if none of my friends wanted to see it- the number one item on my list of things to see in Seattle was a fish fly at the Pike Place Fish Market.

Leading up to this trip I had began to hear multiple reports that the service had declined over the years and the engagement with patrons had dwindled, and sadly, seeing a fish fly had become a rare thing. “They don’t do that anymore,” had become annoyingly somewhat of a broken record. Needless to say, going into the Public Market Place, my confidence was low, but I hoped, in my heart, that my simple wish for this trip just might come true.”

— Chuck Garcia-Howell

With all of Chuck’s anxious expectations, I thought the Pike Place Fish Market team team put their absolute best foot forward. The problem lied, not with them, but with me. You see, tourists like me have turned Pike Place Market from a legitimate venue for Seattleites to a tourist check-box. Though the Fish Market tried to hock fish to passers by, most folks congregating around the stand were tourists awaiting a chance to view the famous fish-throwing, without any intention of buying for themselves.

Still, we unabashedly collected photos and the left the market for the Seattle shore.

Perhaps unclear to the outside observer, Seattle is built high on a bluff leading to the sea. A pedestrian must take several interlocking staircases to get from the primary city-level to the shoreline. While annoying, our hillside-trek was well worth it for springtime views of snow-capped mountains again the Puget Sound.

Down at the shore level, we journeyed around the touristy piers but couldn’t bring ourselves to pay touristy-prices for any of the touristy experiences, such as the Seattle Great Wheel or Wings Over Washington. That said, we knew we had to make the trek back up the staircase worth our while somehow. With the price of a Seattle harbor cruise running at ~$32/a head (minimum), we thought it might be worthwhile to indulge a travel-hack I read online—and so, we booked passage on a public ferry, instead.

The ferry we boarded travelled to Bainbridge Island, a small town on a slightly larger island (also called Bainbridge Island), immediately across the Puget Sound from Seattle. The journey cost $8/each, with free passage back to Seattle.

From the decks of the ferry, we were greeted by a beautiful, elevated view of the Seattle skyline. As the vessel departed, the view grew more and more expansive, while the city shrunk down smaller and smaller. Eventually, Seattle appeared only as small blocks between the sea and the Cascades, with the Space Needle adorned like a hood ornament on the northern edge of the city.

Though Bainbridge Island appeared to be a cute, charming, Cascadian sea-town—you guessed it—we didn’t have time to explore. We literally disembarked the ferry, pulled a u-turn on the landing, and re-boarded for our journey back to Seattle.

Confident we had seen all the ocean views had to offer, we ventured inside the vessel for some chips, pretzels, and a beer. Honestly, for $8, it was the best way to see from the sea.

As snacks had merely whet our appetite, back in Seattle, we found a pub to grub near the Pike Place Market.

With appetizers and even more beer to grease our interest, we concluded our day at one of the more colorful destinations in town: The Market Theater Gum Wall.

Named “one of the top 5 germiest attractions in 2009, second only to the Blarney Stone”, the Market Theater Gum Wall is a 50 foot alley south of Pike Place Market that’s covered in chewed gum. That’s it. For nearly 30 years, residents have stuck their gum to the alley walls in a part-art display, part-middle finger, part-tourist attraction and symbol of the city itself. It’s like the Goldrusher lift hill, times a million.

There was actually something quite collaborative and pretty about the space, once you got over the grossness. Still, it’s only gum on a wall and at some point, we had gathered all of our photos. It was hardly evening, but we were all beginning to crash and burn. It had been a long day.

Day 2 began predictably: With the 6 of us queueing for the one in-room bathroom to wash for the day. Two hours later, we were ready and headed downstairs for the complimentary breakfast (which was pretty decent, if I remember correctly).

Despite staying across the street from the Space Needle, with a stunning window-view of it, we had yet to really explore the structure and the surrounding Seattle Center. So that’s where this day would begin.

If you’re wondering, our cheap-asses couldn’t be bothered to actually enter the Space Needle. In hindsight, that was probably a mistake, but the attraction was heavily under refurbishment and $35 felt pretty tall, no pun intended. Still, we wandered around the Seattle Center, a large community/park area once host to the 1962 World’s Fair. The space is famously home to the Museum of Pop Culture and the Chihuly Garden and Glass art installation. I won’t tell you if we paid to experience those things—but your guess is probably correct.

Perhaps one of the reasons we were so quick to dismiss admission to the Space Needle was for yet another travel-hack. Why pay $35/each for a view of Seattle from the Space Needle when you can pay $0 (but really, the shared cost of an Uber) to get a view of Seattle with the Space Needle?!

And so, one confusing Uber experience later, and we arrived at Kerry Park, a charming, quaint, hillside city park—likely ruined by tourists like us. But you can’t deny why when you see the view.

Kerry Park has a lower stretch with typical city park amenities, but the viewpoint was the main draw. We spent all of our time at the viewpoint, watching the soft clouds filter the morning light down to the city. It was peaceful and probably my favorite view of the trip. But like the gum wall, eventually everyone has taken their photos and it was time to move on. One more Uber-ride later and we found ourselves at our next stop.

Located on Pike Street, nearly a mile uphill from the original Starbucks location (which we passed on to avoid a formidable queue) is a Starbucks Reserve Roastery. While these hyper-bougie coffee shops are beginning to pop up in more places, this Seattle location was the first such cafe and is particularly insane. Perhaps this is to pay homage to the city itself, a coffee mecca, and hometown to Starbucks.

This “roastery” is the mega-corporation’s foray into a “craft coffee” scene, with all sorts of unique aging, roasting, and brewing techniques to draw out original and unexpected flavors. Part artistry, with a wooden-copper, hygge-centric design, and part corporate-showmanship (complete with a gift shop)—I ate everything about it up. It truly was a “Disneyland for coffee”.

The rest of the gang indulged me, respectfully. Some may have even liked the experience. And yeah, the coffee was good.

As a footnote, this Starbucks is located at Capitol Hill, 6 blocks away from the current “CHAZ”, or the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (I wonder if when I read this back, if the CHAZ will still be a thing). It was peaceful when we went, but appeared to be a space inhabited by wealth, art, and a culture intrinsically kind to change.

Anyway, from Starbies, we headed down Pike Street on a 15 minute walk. We were quiet, still tired and well aware that our time in town was running short. We stopped for a drink and explored some of the small businesses along the way. My personal favorite was Metsker Maps, a store of maps both practical and ornamental. I’m a sucker for information visualized.

And that’s all I have to say about Seattle. That’s all my pictures tell the story of, at least. There was more that happened. At some point, TJ and Jess shucked oysters while we dined at a Red Robin like the classy fools we are. There was a lot of walking. A Target, a mad-search for a bar, a sketchy visit to a half-door bathroom stall at Pike Place Market, and deferred visit to Biscuit Bitch (due to a long queue). But this was all I really remember.

Seattle was a mad frenzy of criss-crossing from photo spots to photo spots, never dedicating the time or money to “do it right”. I think all 6 of us admitted the need to go back and see the city again, “for real”.

But still for me, it was a cherished moment in time. You see by this trip, we knew that TJ and Jess were to be married before emigrating to Australia. And our secret—even among our four friends—was that Cindy was pregnant. With how brilliantly she acted when considering, and then turning down, a glass of bourbon at the hotel, she could have won an Academy Award.

Today, I write this as TJ and Jess sit quarantined in Brisbane. Meanwhile, I try to keep the click-clacking of my keyboard down so as to not wake my one year old son. Life charges on. So thank god for moments like our weekend in Seattle.

Before we end: Chuck was awesome and rolled his GoPro on much of our visit. I thought I’d edit together the footage for a more tangible, sights-and-sounds depiction of our visit. I hope you enjoy—

Last but not least, as always, please click to enjoy more photos from our time in Seattle. Thank you—