Pacific Coast Adventure: Day 1 Seattle

I started traveling yesterday as soon as I left work around 3pm. I drove to my parents' house to pack my stuff into a suit case suitable for travel. Then I went to my cousins' house to leave my car there for the duration of my adventure. I was going to take a train from her house to Penn Station, and then hop on the New Jersey Transit line from Penn Station to Newark Airport.

When I got to my cousins' house, my uncle was still awake and immediately began giving me a ton of advice. He was so concerned over the fact I still didn't have a real plan and I was leaving in a few hours. Oddly enough, I was totally okay with not entirely knowing where I was going or what I was going to do. I had a flight booked, a car rented, and a hostel for the first night in Seattle.... what more did I need? (I wound up using Google My Maps to at least see all the places I wanted to go to in order from North to South, so I had some guidance).

I told my plan to my cousins and their boyfriends and one of them offered to drive me to the airport. I originally tried to decline, but he insisted and at 3:30am I woke him up and we were out the door at 3:55am to head to the airport. Exactly one hour later, and a really good car ride of awesome conversation, I had lost any nerves I had and was ready to get on a plane and begin my 11 day adventure.

I boarded my plane at 6:45am and by 7am was in the air. I arrived at 10:19am Pacific Time, and was able to get some sleep while on the plane. As soon as I arrived it started raining! Typical Seattle! I tried to call an Uber as I didn't want to walk between public transportation locations with the rain. Uber Pool decided to give me a ton of issues and eventually I had to call an UberX to get me to my car rental location. Now I could have just rented a car from the airport, but I found that renting one from a different location saved me about $150.

I have to say, the Seattle airport was so well organized and had an entire section set for people to wait for their Uber/Lyft to arrive. Once I was picked up it took about a half hour drive to get to my rental car. I picked the car up from Hertz and the women at the front desk were so friendly and helpful, I knew it was the start to a great day. I drove around Seattle a bit, trying to get a little feel for the area and layout of the city.

After driving around a bit, I stopped in a McDonald's parking lot, to use Google My Maps again to locate everything I wanted to do while in Seattle. I also looked up my hostel, the Green Tortoise Hostel, to see if they had parking. They didn't, but they partnered with a near by parking garage to offer discounts to their guests. I went to the parking garage, unloaded my car, and went to store my bags in the hostel.

From here I had my backpack full of essentials and valuables (wallet, laptop, camera, GoPro, chargers, and an extra battery pack meant to charge my devices) and I began walking around Pike Market Place and looking for the original Starbucks. After all, when in Seattle, how can you not? I was also hungry at this point and wanted to grab a quick bite that I knew wouldn't cost too much and would hold me over. I Googled, and the one it had originally said was the Sister Location to the original, I got my tea and sandwich and walked to the original site to get a nice selfie there. Then I decided to walk in the direction I thought I remembered the Space Needle being in. After a little bit I was able to see the Space Needle hovering above the city, so I knew I was going in the right direction.

The Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass offered a package for the ticket so I bought that option. I then started on the path to the evaluator for the Space Needle. Along the path were boards with information and history of the Space Needle. I was in awe at the information and pictures I saw! The workers didn't even wear safety harnesses while they were building.

I got to the elevator and took a 47 second ride (maybe it was 41 seconds... I don't remember at this point) up to the observation deck! You can see soooo much from up there, I can only imagine what it must have been like for people who were visiting in 1962. I went to the outside portion of the observation deck and all of a sudden it began to snow/rain/hail. Everyone ran inside, except me, and and I got to experience what the locals are saying is "crazy weather that never happens." After taking in the views, the storm made sure nothing else was visible but clouds and fog so I decided to take the elevator down. Well when I made it to the bottom there was hail falling inside the building. Then I walked outside in the hail storm to really feel the weather and get to the Chihuly Gardens and Glass Museum. In the two minutes I was outside, I saw the sky light up and then heard the loudest crack I have ever heard followed by more thunder. The crack sounded unlike any storm sound I have ever heard before, and what I found out a few hours later was the Space Needle had been hit by lightening! Leave it to me to be someplace when a crazy storm is going to hit.

I entered the glass garden and was amazed by the beauty I had walked in on. There were blown glass sculptures that made you feel as though you were in an enchanted forest. You became mesmerized by each piece, and really got lost in the beauty of it all. When I made it to the outside garden it was snowing, no more hail. I notices that this point my phone battery was really low, 13%, and I connected it to my travel charging back. I spent a little more time inside enjoying the sculptures and then the weather let up and it was time to see more of Seattle.

I walked aimlessly again toward the water, deciding now would be a good time to see the pier area and hopefully scope out a place to eat dinner. While walking along the water, I came to an area that had plenty of benches and chairs and was inclosed. I took that time to sit and relax for a minute. I also took my phone off the charger and wanted to find out where Seattle Grace Hospital was located. For those of you who don't know, this is the hospital form Grey's Anatomy. I was able to locate the hospital and put it on the map.... problem was, as I was walking I didn't see anything!! I figured a hospital would be easy to spot and there should have been signs around town pointing people in the direction of it. So then I decided to actually read the information regarding Seattle Grace Hospital, and I learned the real hospital was in Los Angeles. At least I got to see more of Seattle and my search put me in the Pioneer Square Area.

I walked around the historic area, but most of the places and sight tours were closed/canceled due to the extreme weather. I looked across the way and saw a sign for the oldest restaurant in Seattle, and figured that would be a good bet. Whelp, thanks to the extreme weather again, the cook called out and they weren't going to be serving food. I pulled out my phone and went on yelp and looked for a good place to eat. The first place I clicked on was closed on Mondays, so I narrowed my search and found the Radiator Whiskey bar. It was serving American food and the price value seemed fair.

On my way to the bar I stopped at the Target by my hotel because I realized I forgot to pack the memory card for my GoPro. I also needed Shampoo as I hadn't packed any. In Target one of the associates helped me get the memory card I needed and then I wound up talking to him and his coworkers for a bit about the weather. That's when I learned the Space Needle had been struck by lightening!

With everything I needed in tow, I went to the Radiator Whiskey bar and had some of the best food I could have imagined! It was like a BBQ place playing rock music and I felt right at home. I decided to be brave and have one of their signature cocktails, the Johnny Appleseed, which has whiskey in it. Well, me and whiskey aren't the best of friends and about half a drink in I was tipsy. I wound up talking to the guy next to me, which started before I even got tipsy, and it turned out we both weren't from the area and both went on Yelp to get there. He was here on a conference and I'm just adventuring. It's amazing how people can be so friendly in a city you've never been to before.

The bar was right up the road from my hostel, so I had a quick two minute walk back. I came back to movie night and a bunch of people playing games. I was able to make friends and talk to people from several countries. We all agreed, if we had been staying in a hotel, we wouldn't have met anyone at all.

Well.... time for day two! I'll post pictures when I can!

ps... sorry I started writing this at night and then finished up in the morning, so it's kinda a day late.