PNW Trip: Seattle Part 1

 Last Sunday morning we headed off bright and early (like 4:30 a.m. early) to make our way to Seattle!  

Sidenote: If you're local and looking for a great ride option check out Reacher Rides .  I know Trey and his wife through MCA and we were excited to have this option instead of long-term parking our car at DFW or using an Uber (which, for something like this seemed a bit risky in case they didn't show, the car wasn't as large as they advertised, etc.).  His pricing was a bit more than Uber (but not much) and less than a traditional "black car" service and he was great!  He'll be picking us up from the airport as well and we're looking forward to using him in the future. 

I'm a chronically early airport arriver - I would much rather sit and read a book, play cards and grab a snack for two hours than be rushing through the airport or stressed in the security line.  I feel like DFW is a craps shoot where sometimes you walk through security and other times it takes forever and on this day it was a walk-through situation and we had plenty of time to relax while we waited to board.

It was a super easy flight to Seattle and I'm pretty sure everyone except Mason managed to grab a little nap on the way.

Once we landed we grabbed the shuttle over to the rental car facility...

... and picked up our car for the week.  I booked through National Car Rental and the process was super quick and easy.

My original plan was to head into Seattle, grab pizza downtown, explore a bit and then try to check into the hotel early BUT my people were super hungry and when I called ahead to the hotel the likelihood of early check-in was not great so I just plugged "great pizza" into apple maps, read a couple of reviews and we found ourselves at Smoking Monkey in Renton.

Mason and I each got a couple of pieces of pizza to try (I loved that you could order any of their MANY pizzas by the slice)...

... and the rest of the crew got pasta.  Was it the best meal I've ever had? No.  Was hit hot, quick and made everyone happy? YES.

Heart hands ;)

After lunch we drove to Seattle, parked the car and then dropped our bags for them to hold while we went to watch the Rangers play the Mariners.  I hadn't planned on going to a baseball game, but when I was planning our our days in Seattle and realized that our hotel was right next to Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park I looked to see what was happening and it happened to be the Rangers and it was Father's Day! I was able to grab tickets super last minute so we were LITERALLY on the very top row but when we walked in and saw this we couldn't have been happier...

THAT VIEW!!!

Back row, baby!

After the game we walked back to the hotel...

... grabbed our bags...

... went up to the room and they immediately wanted to head to the gym and pool.

The pool area opened up onto this terrace area...

... and I read a book out here while the kids worked out and changed.  They all came to give me their stuff and I made them take a pic even though it was COLD!!!

The indoor pool was heated and pretty big and my kids always love a hot tub.

After they swam the plan was to find a place and go eat dinner BUT everyone was wiped out so we ended up ordering from Fat Shack which was about a block away and Dave and Luke ran and got it and brought it back to the room where we all ate and then pretty much crashed.

NOT MAD ABOUT IT.

Okay - hotel info - we stayed at the Embassy Suites in Pioneer Square and it was AWESOME!!! We had an oversized suite with two queen beds and a pullout couch and couldn't have asked for a better space for our crew.  We didn't plan on spending a ton of time in the room but still wanted something with nicer amenities and SPACE and this absolutely fit the bill.  

They had an AWESOME breakfast that was included, the fitness center was huge and had great equipment and my kids all loved the pool.  It was clean and well-stocked and we had zero complaints.

When you first walked in there was this kitchenette area...

... that opened up into the living room area with a pullout couch...

... and immediately to the left was the restroom.

... which opened into the bedroom...

We were on the fourth floor and I was obsessed with the trees outside of our window.  To the left of these windows the bedroom opened up into the living room area (so the whole suite was like a loop).

It met our needs perfectly and I'd for sure recommend it to families.

Phew! That was a bunch of info ;) Stay tuned for our full day in Seattle and next stops on the trip!

HAPPY Thursday, friends!