May 2, 2018
Location summary:
Seattle, WA
Pike Place Market
Storyville Coffee Company
Starbucks
Piroshky-Piroshky
Rachel’s Ginger Beer
Argosy Cruises
Post Alley Gum Wall
Pike Place Chowder
Ellenos
Seattle Great Wheel
The second day of our trip was essentially wandering around Pike Place Market and exploring all that it had to offer (just as a note: many of the places that I listed under location summary are actually part of the Pike Place Market)! We also did some sightseeing on land and on sea.
Pike Place Market
Storyville Coffee Company
After a quick venture around the Farmer’s Market, we had our mandatory “local coffee” stop at this little peaceful place that was full of warm tones and picturesque views of Pike Place Market. We ended spending at least an hour just sitting there by the window, chatting, drinking our mocha + cold brew, and enjoying our time together.
Starbucks
Following coffee, we had MORE coffee at the Orignal Starbucks Store! Just kidding—we didn’t (nor did we want to) purchase any drinks, but we had to make this our next travel priority because we noticed that it was fairly empty when we passed by. And by that, I mean there was no line outside but still packed inside HAHA.
Since the store was so small, it didn’t take long for us to peruse their merchandise (I bought a Pike Place mug that is part of their “Been There” collection) and snap a couple of photos.
Piroshky-Piroshky
Appropriately, we visited a highly recommended bakery after our back-to-back coffee stops: Piroshky-Piroshky. We were in luck—again, no line! It was definitely difficult choosing a few pastries as our breakfast, and in the end we decided on a cherry white chocolate streusel, cinnamon cardamon bread, and ham+peas piroshki.
Rachel’s Ginger Beer
Rather than eating our pastries in the cramped shop, we took our bakery purchases to Rachel’s Ginger Beer (this place was highly recommended by Darren, as he’d been here before on a previous PNW trip). While inside, we chatted with the employee about photography and the different ginger beer flavors only to find out hat he was also a fellow San Diego native who went to school in a very familiar school district! Anywho, we added a 20 oz pink guava ginger beer to our breakfast menu and ate our goodies whilst filling out our travel notebook.
Sightseeing
Next up on our itinerary was our Argosy Harbor Cruise, but rather than drive, we decided to meander our way down to the waterfront on foot—there were a lot of pretty sights to take in on our walk!
Argosy Cruises
Our harbor cruise was a 1-hour narrated cruise that provided more beautiful sights of the city as well as sights of the surrounding landscape (we were lucky enough to get clear viewing conditions + sunny skies). And in case anyone was wondering: yes, we did buy a copy of our cheesy boarding photo, hahaha.
Post Alley Gum Wall
By the time the harbor cruise was over, our stomachs were voicing their displeasure at not having been fed more than pastries and ginger beer… so we listened to our bellies and made our way back to Pike Place Market. Except we made a teeny little detour: the famed gum wall.
I smelled it before I even saw it—the cloying scent of fruit. And just around the corner from where my nose detected the smell was this great alley of gum wallS. Not just one, but two walls in Post Alley that were completely covered (pipes, doorways, and all) in chewed gum. Gross!
Here’s Darren smiling and trying not to get his hair stuck to the wall:
Pike Place Chowder
Surprisingly, our appetite was still strong after visiting the gum wall. Onto lunch we went! We decided on the famed Pike Place Chowder, where we again lucked out on the long lines (I guess it helps to go after the lunch rush) and ordered a clam chowder and a cold dungeness crab+shrimp roll that hit the spot.
Ugh, writing this post is making me crave some clam chowder. Just look at this deliciousness:
… they also had this fabulous chowder flight that I regret not getting. 🙁 Next time!
Ellenos
Being the food connoisseurs that we are (Heh, just kidding. We’re no experts; we just really like food), we had to get dessert at none other than Ellenos: real greek yogurt. It might sound odd to have greek yogurt as a dessert, but I personally love greek yogurt—and Ellenos’ preparation of the yogurt with a myriad of different flavors (orange tumeric and raspberry ginger for us) made it more reminiscent of a really smooth, slightly less frozen, frozen yogurt. Heh.
Airbnb & Nap 🙂
Of course, after all of that walking and eating and travel craziness from the day before, we figured that a nap would be a good idea before our evening adventures. Thus, we headed back to our Airbnb to take a nap as well as take care of a few things bugging us back home.
Seattle Great Wheel
Our evening adventure consisted of the Seattle Great Wheel! We timed our trip well and was rewarded by a twilight city views:
