use real butter

On Saturday, I did something odd and decided to ditch kayaking in favor of exploring Seattle. I don’t typically enjoy urban exploration, but when you’re in a lovely setting with great character and even better hosts, then it is hard to pass up. Erin and Caroline are the perfect tour guides, much like Jerad and Kell of Sydney. Here’s my tour of Seattle in pictures. Unfortunately, it doesn’t capture everything we did!

blueberries growing in erin and caroline’s yard

begin the tour from their lovely front yard

First Caroline prepared an uber special cappuccino for Jeremy - because she is as much a caffeine connoisseur as he (and also a major foodie) - and we all chatted over fresh market berries to discuss the order of the day. We walked a few blocks to Macrina Bakery for a small brekkie bite of amazing baked goods and then they took us for a morning stroll through their neighborhood of Queen Anne. Seattle neighborhoods have a very lived in feel to them. Land is precious and people with limited land but loads of money design and grow the most beautiful gardens around their homes. It has a wild and elegant look to it - and so green! The Emerald City, right?

jeremy, erin and caroline at a neighborhood park

the purplist of purple hydrangeas

our fantastic friends with the puget sound behind them

local shops in queen anne

Erin had to get the car so she could pick up their friend, Kelley, who was flying in for a conference. She dropped Caroline, Jeremy, and me off at Pike Place Market on the way. We grabbed a mouth-watering lunch at Matt’s In The Market before touring the rest of Pike Place including the awesome Fish Company where employees shout in unison and throw and catch raw seafood in a sort of incredible performance art spectacle and several other food and art vendors.

melt-in-your-mouth catfish sandwich at matt’s in the market

nuggets of fatty goodness: mini donuts with a line of customers you wouldn’t believe

where fish mongers give cirque du soleil a run for their money

one of several flower stalls gushing color

lots of fresh produce everywhere

scrumptious summer fruits

In celebration of Pike Place Market’s 100 year anniversary this year, 100 pig sculptures were commissioned to be installed around the city a few years ago to promote art and to raise funds for the market’s human services. We spied several pigs everywhere we went which was incredibly fun in addition to all of the other great art around Seattle.

this little piggy is rachel, the market’s bronze piggy bank

bumble pig

guess who’s coming to dinner

pigasaurus

quantum man

a huge chihuly at benaroya hall (symphony)

the other chihuly at the opposite end

We met Kelley and Erin at Benaroya Hall and set off in search of something to cool off with… perhaps some gelato? I had bought a box of a dozen macarons for everyone to try, but especially for Jeremy, who has never had one before. We opened those up to have with our passion fruit and pear gelatos. Then they took us to Caroline’s office where there is a Chihuly in their lobby (Amgen)! After Amgen, we drove to the locks where there is a nice park and you can watch the salmon swimming up the stairs that were built for them.

orange, chocolate, and vanilla macarons

chihuly in blue: it’s supposed to be a cell, which is fitting for the company

erin, caroline, kelley, and jeremy on the double helix bridge

double helix - i love the union of science and art

amgen has some lovely gardens on their campus

erin and caroline at the locks

By the time we were done watching enormous salmon swimming upstream, we went to dinner at Pair which is not tapas, but serves smaller plates so you can let’s say, order 3 or 4 between two people. Dinner was incredibly good (though long). Kelley is terrific and fun (another foodie - yay!) and coined the term: delicious air (referring to fatty, light, delicate foods). Chris and Jen were going to drive down from Bellingham to visit since we were in town too, but Chris was feeling under the weather, so they had to cancel. We were all bummed, but I know we’ll see them again either here in Colorado or there in Washington. So many awesome women.

dinner at pair

pair: creamy cambozola fondue

pair: smoked salmon toasts

pair: roasted beet and frisee salad

pair: my dungenness crab mac was the pinnacle

pair: jeremy and erin gave their butter roasted halibut the thumbs up

We got home at 11 pm and were all five of us, *wiped out*. Such fun! Unfortunately, Jeremy and I had to get up at 3:30 to catch our morning flight. Caroline stayed up and made banana bread which she packaged along with fresh blueberries, napkins, some fruit leathers, and the macarons and left on the door knob for us. Love Seattle. Love Erin and Caroline. Alaska Airlines, not so much…

We left Whistler (finally) and headed for dim sum in Vancouver. Dim sum was very good, although I think my parents ordered too much (they kept saying they weren’t hungry, but then they ordered so much food!). Unfortunately, we had to wait a half hour to be seated, and by the time we headed for the US, we were behind schedule. That was quite unfortunate because the border crossing (a different one, as we thought we’d be smarter) took 3 hours. It boggles the mind how people and systems can be so poorly implemented, but it happens on a daily basis. So all you can do is creep along in the very slow line (400 meters in 2 hours).

After the border crossing, we dropped my parents off at their friend’s house in a woodsy Seattle suburb where they were spending the weekend. Then Jeremy got us to downtown Seattle where life and the city were hopping on a Friday night. We managed to park the car at the one spot that opened up and changed in the front seat from our grubby clothes into something more presentable for our reservation. Cascadia was just around the corner and an absolutely beautiful restaurant inside. We felt so hungry and thirsty! We agreed to order a really nice meal and just *breath out slowly* relax - or rather rejoice. The food here was fantastic. Caroline said Kerry Sear is one of the best chefs in Seattle. Oh man…

cascadia: ahi tuna appetizer with passion soy (!!)

cascadia: kobe carpaccio appetizer with tandoori relish

cascadia: organic beef tenderloin main

cascadia: crab and white truffle gnocchi main

Did we want wine? Yes please! When we are tired, we don’t usually want to drink alcohol, but we felt that the long day warranted a nice glass or two.

Caroline called to say their basketball game was over, so we arranged for them to come meet us for dessert. When I asked the server to please bring our bill to settle up before they arrived she said it was taken care of. WHAT?! She sheepishly said that the person who made our reservation had already given instructions to charge their account.

Our faces dropped. It was the sweetest gesture in the world for Erin and Caroline to treat us, but… but… Had we known, we wouldn’t have ordered what we did! I guess that was the point of them not saying anything, but still. I felt horrible. Jeremy chuckled and said, “Caroline beat you at your own game!” I couldn’t believe they did that. I knew it was their way of thanking us for shooting their celebration - but that was OUR gift to THEM.

I simultaneously scolded and thanked them when we all hugged our greetings and you could see how happy and victorious they were. It was so nice to sit down and chat and enjoy the company over dessert and coffee and tea with these two incredible ladies.

a shared triple crème brûlée: hazelnut, latte, almond

We got to their gorgeous house after 11 pm. We had been once before right after climbing Mount Baker, when they had moved in the week prior and boxes lined the halls. This time, their place was home and it is beautiful. We really feel comfortable visiting with these two (or having them visit with us) because they’re so with it, they are so on top of everything that it is a real pleasure to spend time together. Well, I am finally in a place I love (Seattle) with three people (including Jeremy) I love to be with, and the morning is nice and cool.

With the trails on the upper mountain closed due to snow (sheesh), we could have attempted another steep trail this morning, except I was tired of the frenetic pace of waking early to hike hard and fast only to return to the timeshare to entertain my parents for the rest of the day. This morning I took my parents to Brandywine Falls, a nearby short hike to what turned out to be the best waterfall I’ve seen in the area.

brandywine falls - a spectacular display

It was thankfully cooler, but muggy and extremely buggy. The mosquitoes are quite large here and although they weren’t attacking and buzzing around kamikaze style (like they always seem to do in the backcountry), they would land on you and take a nip if you weren’t vigilant. A high pressure system has been sitting atop Whistler for the past couple of days and that is something to really enjoy. Just that when it’s nice and sunny, it gets to be warm and sometimes the air is that awful still, thick, suffocating air. My parents liked the falls and then we took them for a short hike to lava lake, which was neither lava nor really a lake. Still, I think my parents aren’t paying that much attention to where we hike or what we see, rather they like to just get out, be active, and talk with us.

mom and dad getting into the whole woods and scenery thing

We returned to the time share so I could make lunch for everyone and then Jeremy and I left for the shelter.

We went to volunteer walk a dog at the Whistler Animal Shelter. As we pulled up to the building and parked along the side, we caught a glimpse of one of the dogs in the outside run. It had a cute face. Whistler’s animal shelter is a no-kill shelter, in other words, they do not euthanize animals if they can’t find a home. The new building is really nice and they have indoor and outdoor runs for the dogs, a cattery for people to go and give kitties some love and affection, and this awesome volunteer dog-walk program. After handing over my driver’s license, we were presented with Bodie. He’s a white husky mix and a handsome boy at that. Very sweet and mellow, yet extremely excited about his walk.

bodie and jeremy on one of many trails in whistler

Bodie was good at stay, sit, come, heel, wait. He looked up at me (or Jeremy - whoever was walking Bodie at the time) on occasion to make eye contact. I can’t believe he hasn’t been adopted yet. Such a sweet and obedient dog. Jeremy led the way along the creek then up to a network of trails near the village. When he went to check a mapboard, Bodie and I waited in the shade. I knelt down to pet him and he looked at me and began to cry. He definitely wanted to keep walking - what’s with the standing around crap?! So we went on some multiuse trails and Bodie wasn’t bothered by the mountain bikers at all. He was so happy to just keep walking and walking and sniffing and walking.

bodie loves his walks

After a few hours, we had to get back, so we brought Bodie back to the shelter. The woman behind the counter came around to get him while thanking us and asked if he was good (absolutely). Bodie immediately turned around and bounded toward the door as if to say, “Okay! another walkie!” I wanted to cry.

For dinner, we took a chance on Zen Whistler, a sushi bar. I was understandably gun shy about dining out in Whistler, but this one came through for our last evening. As expected, it was ass expensive, but the quality was quite good and our server was incredibly well-informed and polite.

zen whistler

the east meets west roll

chef’s assortment of sashimi

Definitely looking forward to heading back to Seattle tomorrow. I am not sure I’ll ever come back to Whistler. My memory is long and there were just too many things that pissed me off here. Whistler is fine, but personally, I can get just as good (if not better) with more solitude and peace right at home - and that’s why I live where I live.