PNW Trip: Seattle Day 2 (Part II)

So to recap... Sunday we flew in, went to the Mariner/Rangers game and hung out at the hotel.  Monday we started out at the Space Needle and then walked over the the Pacific Science Center which is where we're picking up now ;)

 Outside of the Science Center there were several water exhibits but I couldn't stop looking at the flowers.  

We left the Science Center and walked about a mile to Pike's Place Market...

I hadn't planned an official lunch on this day, but told the kids to let us know if something looked/sounded good and we'd stop and eat.  Essentially we were on our own unsanctioned food tour ;). Our first stop was Beecher's....

.... where we shared a large mac and cheese..

... and a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Hands down my favorite stop of the day.  SO SO SO GOOD!  

The market was PACKED and we loved every bit of it.  I picked out a print that the loveliest man was making/selling...

 

... his name was John Sollid and we chatted for EVER.  We'll frame this little print for the shelves in the playroom.

But this XL watercolor ALMOST came home with me.

I KNEW there were going to be flowers but I wasn't anticipating just how stunning the peonies were going to be.  They were HUGE and gorgeous and so so so so much less expensive than they are in TX.  Pretty much, if you live somewhere where peonies are in abundance PLEASE don't take it for granted! 

I just kept sending photos to my friend Elise who loves peonies like me with captions like "CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!?!!"

Had to stop and get some Rainier cherries and blueberries.  Between the fruit and the peonies I was feeling real mad at Texas at this point ;)

After the market we made our way to the gum wall...

Which was mind-blowing and disgusting all at the same time.  

Then BACK to the market in search of ice cream...

... which we found at Shy Giant.

Mason got a frozen yogurt twist...

Dave and I shared a bunny tracks (best ice cream I've EVER had!)...

... and Luke and G shared a giant smoothie.

It was also at this point that we'd polished off the blueberries and were breaking into the cherries.

Our next stop was the Seattle Aquarium.  This was also part of CityPASS and I'd reserved our tickets ahead of time.  The aquarium wasn't huge but it was really well done...

... they had touch tanks which is always a hit...

Shenanigans ;)

We were at the aquarium for a little over 90 minutes and then walked down a pier to board our harbor tour (also part of CityPASS and booked ahead of time)....

... and G took over my camera at this point ;)

... we played cards, listened to the guide and cruised around for a little over an hour.

IT was REALLY chilly and wet out so we hung out inside.

... except for the occasional photo op ;)

Mason doing the MOST!

We got off the boat around 6:30 and were walking down Alaskan way when we saw a sign for a "curiosity shop" so we decided to check it out...

... I was NOT expecting what we stumbled upon and honestly, it was one of my favorite parts of the day.  The shop has been in a family for 5 generations and has all of these "oddities" and collections and it's just kind of mind-blowing that all of these things are on display in one spot.  We spent almost an hour in the shop just taking it all in.

They also had Lego minifigs ;) hahaha

I mean- there were mummies.  Like ACTUAL mummies.  There were all kinds of oddities and artifacts and "freak animals" and it was just so unlike anything else I've ever seen.  I loved every single bit of it.  

My plan was to grab some food on the go... there were a couple kind of grab and go places (seafood, meat pies, etc) but it had started to rain and was pretty chilly and, honestly, nobody felt like a sit down restaurant dinner after the LONG day we'd had so we decided to walk back to the hotel (in the rain - hahaha!) and then everyone showered, Luke went and worked out, we ordered Fat Shack for a SECOND night in a row (traveling with kids is wild, y'all) and everyone ate and then literally passed out.  That may have been from the 17,000 steps we'd walked OR the sandwiches made up of mozzarella sticks and french fries we inhaled OR both ;)

This was by far our most packed day, but we had a BLAST and felt like we saw a ton.  The CityPASS really does make things easy and less expensive and while there are a ton of other fun things to do/see it kind of narrows it down a bit if you have limited time.  

Seattle was beautiful and we really enjoyed our time in the city. Phew! What a post! I promise the pace will slow a bit on my next recap ;)