At the end of September, Chris and I embarked on an Alaskan cruise, marking my 50th state to explore. Before and following the cruise, we had the pleasure of seeing the sights in Seattle for two days. Lucky with the weather both days, we packed it in! I’ve included both the start and finish days of our trip to Seattle for simplicity; next up will be our Alaskan voyage.

Seattle included a walking day of over 25,000 steps. We stayed in a lovely hotel, Inn at the Market. “Seattle’s only hotel — Just Steps Away From the Vibrant Atmosphere of Pike Place Market & the Seattle Waterfront. The rooftop access area had seating, fire pits, and a lovely view of the waterfront, The Seattle Great Wheel, and Pike Place Market. We found this to be a pleasant spot to stay close to everything, as well as a short Monorail ride to the Seattle Center, where the Space Needle and other attractions are. The Pike Place area is a bustling downtown area that provides endless entertainment and put us in the center of almost everything we wanted to do.

We walked from our hotel to the Seattle Center area. Being jet lagged, we woke before dawn and felt as if we were waiting for restaurants and coffee shops to open. We explored the outdoor art of the area around the Space Needle, waiting for even it to open. Once the rest of the world awoke, we hit the Chihuly Museum of Glass, Seattle Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, and explored until we couldn’t walk anymore. We enjoyed Pho Viet Anh for lunch and a seafood feast at The Crab Pot for dinner. The following day, we awoke to enjoy Cafe Opla for breakfast and boarded our cruise to begin our real trip!

On our final day in Seattle following our trip, we felt we had seen most of the highlights, but we had a full day before heading to the airport. So we ventured to Smith Tower, the Underground Tour, and the Seattle Aquarium. The underground tour was the highlight; surprisingly, I hadn’t seen it mentioned on any of the top things to do in Seattle. It explained so much incredible history, and we walked under the streets of Seattle. Unforgettable tour.