The Seattle Rundown

Days in Seattle: 9

Neighborhoods visited: 9

• Queen Anne
• Ballard
• Freemont
• Greenlake
• Downtown (public market right)
  
• Capitol Hill
• Blue Ridge
• Eastlake

Parks Visited: 4

• Carkeek ( right) A lovely walk from Kj's house. It has a nice grassy part with a childrens play area and then you cross a bridge over train tracks to get to the beach. The view of the mountains is amazing!!
  
• Kerry Park This spot is pretty much where all the photos of the Seattle skyline are taken. It's located about halfway up Queen Anne Hill (or mountain as I call it!)
• Golden Gardens We went here at night and it was cool because the mountains looked all eerie and blue in the distance. This park has fire pits and many groups of people were there, sitting by their orange fires, dotting the beach.
  
• St. Edward Park (left) We went here with Kj's niece Abby to play on the playground. It was a pretty awesome castle... with room for grownups too!

Restaurants visited: 12 (!)

• Greenlake Bar & Grill Burger with fries, yum
  
• McMenamins- Queen Anne Burger with tots, yum. Local beer sampler, double yum. I recommend the terminator beer!
  
• Macrina Bakery & Cafe I ate here twice! First a brunch of eggs & brioche toast and then the Heirloom tomato salad with a lemon tart for dessert! Double YUM!!
• A place I don't remember More burgers & beer. Seattle loves burgers... or maybe it's just me?
• La Carta A wonderful Mexican place in Ballard. I think I ate three bowls of salsa! Triple yum!
• Blue C Sushi Conveyor belt sushi, need I say more?
• Another Mexican place I don't remember Tacos a go go! Yum.
• Another Burger
• Eastlake Bar & Grill I highly recommend sitting on the patio! Yum.

Coffees purchased: 9 (probably more like 12)
I can honestly say that I found all of my coffees in Seattle at least 3 times better than any I've had in New York. Even the local chains of Starbucks and Tulleys produced a superior brew... My favorites were

• Macrina Bakery & Cafe
• Cafe Fiore
• Verite Coffee
• Top Pot Doughnuts Who doesn't loved a plane themed establishment that serves great coffee and fresh old fashioned doughnuts?

Movies Watched: 5

• Forgetting Sarah Marshall It was an ok film, but the joy was seeing it at the Big Picture, an awesome underground movie theater that actually seams more like a speakeasy. You can grab a cocktail beforehand and even arrange to have one brought in to you during the film! Sitting in the front row means having a comfortable leather footstool. I recommend the "Bogart" which mixed muddled lime & sage with gin.
  
• Lord of the Rings:Fellowship of the Ring extended edition
  
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull We saw this in the packed theater on opening day. It was pretty fun and totally Indiana Jonesy!
• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers extended edition
• Lord of the Rings: Return of the King extended edition

Yes we watched the last two in one day! Sometimes when Kj and I get together, we just have to visit Middle Earth. We also watched the entire third season of Arrested Development.