Traveling is one of our favorite things to do. Getting free of the office during the school year, is challenging so we’ve become experts at the weekend away.
(click on the pics to embigen)
The last few years we’ve driven up to Seattle, but our first love is taking the train. This was THE way to go when the boys were little.
Sure it has its quirks, this trip there was an hour-long delay as they cleaned up an accident further on up the tracks. Let me just say this; if this delay had happened on I-5 we would have just sat there, our bladders filling and annoyance levels rising.
On the train, they offered us free snacks and let us off the train to stretch our legs at the station where we stopped. I bought a half bottle of wine at the bistro car to go with my free snacks and took a short nap. Yes driving is cheaper and faster, but it’s no fun…at all.
We stay at The Monaco Seattle It’s a really great hotel for families, and people traveling with pets. It’s situated right in the middle of downtown, near Pike Place Market with easy walking to everything of note.
Speaking of Pike Place Market, no trip would be complete with out breakfast at The Athenian Inn. The historic (and Hollywood famous) eatery has the best breakfast in Seattle. Go early and grab a booth upstairs.
We would recommend the blueberry short stack, crab cake eggs Benedict and, corned beef hash. Order a side of Uli’s sausage. Oh, and the coffee is served in a proper diner style, mug!
Our next stop is the EMP or Experience Music Project, or as we’ve dubbed it “The Rock & Roll Museum”. Walk over to Westlake Center and take the escalator up to the third floor and buy a round-trip ticket on the monorail. Again, a giant favorite when the boys were little.
It’s a seriously cool place, with entire wings dedicated to the careers of Nirvana (take a gander at Kurt Cobain’s canned meat collection, LOL!) and Jimi Hendricks, the history of the electric guitar and, lots of interactive areas.
There’s also exhibits about Battle Star Galactica and Avatar. Again, loads of stuff to play with.
(As for whether I’m a Cylon or not… I’ll never tell!)
The newest exhibit is called “Can’t Look Away: The Lure of the Horror Film”
It replaces the Science Fiction Hall of Fame wing of the EMP, a fact that I was bummed about at first, but then I got to see Guillermo del Toro’s sketch book, and Edward Scissorhands… um, hands!
It’s marked outside the entrance of the exhibit it’s PG-13 and that’s the truth, there were several little kids that were demanding to be taken out.
For my big kids (14 & 16) this was their favorite spot.
No trip to Seattle for us would be satisfactory unless we had dinner at The Brooklyn Steakhouse. A perfect steak with all the awesome sides and a glass of red wine; maybe a plate of oysters to start, YUM! We look forward to it all year!
The last place I love to go is DeLaurenti. It’s an Italian specialty grocery at Pike Street Market. I always stock up on my favorite Italian sweets a pantry goods!
So, that’s our weekend away in Seattle! I hope you enjoyed my city guide, I’ll feature more Weekends Away throughout the year.
Kathleen Rear 