North by North-West

Our holiday kicked off in the most beautiful and exotic city: the Upper West side. In a stunning repeat of the GMAT debacle of 2012, Jonathan Emmett single-handedly booked our accommodation and the hired car for the 2nd June and regrettably our flight for the 3rd June. FAIL. So an extra day was spent in NYC, fighting our way through the Taste of Times Square Festival with Dan, Jen, Chris and Julian and dropping extra things off in storage (our “first place” together: Room 10054 Sofia Storage on 83^rd St). We feel assured that our “worldly possessions” will not only be safe, but also content with a magnificent view of the park.

After a 6 hour flight from JFK to Seattle, we had arrived for Day 1 of our adventure. We headed to the car rental depot to collect our bright blue Toyota Yaris - later nicknamed Blueberry. When considering a name for our blog we seriously thought about naming it “third party liability” to make the exorbitant fee for it seem worthwhile! Swallowing the cost of Airport tax and other nonsensical costs we were off! After navigating driving on the wrong side of the road- the next challenge seemed to be parking! Finding public parking in downtown Seattle we decided  lunch could only take us 30 minutes as the fee suddenly went from $3 to $11 for the first hour! Ridiculous! Alas, our stomachs won the battle and we ended up paying for the hour. We ate at Fare Start – a really great restaurant that not only provides great food but also trains homeless individuals to become competent chefs. Pretty neat idea! Jono had a delicious burger and I had fish and chips. YUM!

Next stop, the REI flagship store (It is Cape Union Mart and Outdoor Warehouse crossed with Makro) surpassed all our expectations! North West coast Americans are incredibly outdoorsy – everyone hikes, camps, or kayaks or all of the above on most weekends- we were soon to find out why. Anything you want for the outdoors is at REI! After trying on several waterproof jackets we decided a soft shell was the best option. Alas no XS in the colour I wanted- so we placed an order in Portland. Sadly, our only purchase from the store was a small bottle of water purification solution, which seemed a little inadequate among the luminescent kayaks, snazzy tents, portable stoves and state-of-the-art backpacks.

Next stop: Whidbey Island, which is north of Seattle. It required us to cross the ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo, drive past Freeland, Langley and Penn Cove to our destination for the evening: Captain Whidbey Inn. It resembled an old wood-keeled sailing ship that had been cast up on the beach and converted into lodging. After photographing the little pier and the local heron on Whidbey Island, we explored the quaint town of Coupeville. The streets there are lined with flower baskets and quirky shops. We dined at the Front Street Bar and Grill devouring mussels and fish with a magnificent view. Jono had some beer brewed in Oak Grove, a community a few miles to the north. We wandered around the pier and  desperately fiddled with Aperture settings as the sun set over the Ocean. 

Next morning we ate a great continental breakfast and headed back to the ferry to explore Seattle. We meandered to Columbia City to our Air BnB in South Ferdinand St. Columbia City prides itself of being the most racially, socially and economically diverse community in Seattle, and proved to be a charming area with stunning views of the city. We caught the light rail to University station and walked to Pike Place Market to see the famous fish throwing by the fishmongers! I loved the bouquets of flowers – poppies the size of my head! We were going to drink a cup of coffee at the original Starbucks store (or semi-original; it moved to the location 5 years after founding and has stayed there ever since, the original location is no longer a Starbucks), but decided the queue all the way out the door was not worth it. (So we saw it!) Instead we decided on Michou ( three shops down) for Italian sandwiches and Rose Lemonade and then couldn't resist Piroshky Piroshky for a chocolate hazelnut crème pastry and cherry tart with white chocolate.

From there we walked to the centre of Seattle under the Space Needle; wandered around the gardens where the World's Fair was held, watched kids playing in a giant fountain spurting water, walked around the sculpture park, and strolled along the promenade to an Irish Pub - Paddy Coyne's for some cider and local beer. It was a lot of fun to sit and laugh at the other tourists; each on a Segway making their way along the promenade just under the Ferris Wheel. Dinner at Bar Sajor was incredible - it was the most amazing place with a Mediterranean ambiance! I had a glass of sauvignon blanc and Jono had a local Hilliards Chrome Satan Pilsner (weird name but pretty good), which were exactly what we needed to end a great day of walking and exploring.  We ended up trying a few different things: sourdough bread with flake salt and butter, asparagus with crème freshe and aged egg yolk, smoked yoghurt, spicy bokchoi and lemon were devoured. A chocolate gateau with pecan nuts and caramel salted ice-cream was probably too much decadence for one day, especially after our mid-afternoon pastries, but was divine!

We then headed home to sleep and we had great intentions to wake up early to go on the ferry to Bainbridge island, but instead the SNOOZE button was pressed- several times. Taking a leisurely morning we eventually drove and parked at the Space Needle and wandered around the grounds before heading up to the observation deck. Cool views of the city! Despite a very over-priced lunch at Sky City at the top of the Space Needle, we were enthralled by the 360 degree view from the rotating restaurant at 500 feet! From there, we raced to the ferry to make up for the sleep-in! We envisioned a phenomenal amazing race finish to the make the 2pm ferry in just 10 minutes, but alas a family with a stroller scuppered our dreams and instead of leaving their parking place; they were in fact arriving! Feeling rather defeated as the ferry left us in its spray, we drove across to Alki beach and hung out for a while! While supposedly a treasure of Seattle, it was fun but nothing special compared to South African coast-lines! At about 3pm we headed to Portland along the I-5 South. Along the way Mount Rainier – the most "topographically prominent" peak in America – was peering down on us as impenetrable evergreen forests flashed by. We succumbed to DQ- aka Dairy Queen en route to relive Jono's childhood memories of Blizzards from trips to the US in the 90s! Mc Flurries on Steroids! Deliciousness!

CITY RECAP: SEATTLE

Highlights: Lunch at Space Needle, Mukilteo to Clinton Ferry, Sunset over Puget Sound, Wandering around the quaint Coupeville

Lowlights: Missing Bainbridge Island Ferry due to slow parkers, missing the Annual Murder Mystery Weekend Game in Langley (Jono has sworn he will return to take part)

People: Few and far between; surprisingly excellent shape, very granola ( i.e. outdoors, yoga/holistic healing enthusiasts)

Oddities: Suspiciously empty city, people too nice

Jono & Jo’s totally objective and no-way made-up rating scale: 3 non-fat, skim-orange mocha frappucinos from Starbucks out of 5.

Reminds us of: Port Elizabeth, Jeffrey’s Bay and parts of Joburg CBD.

Distance travelled: 196 miles

To do next time: Bainbridge Ferry, Orcas Island, Underground Tour and Boeing Museum