The second week of September arrived along with my friends from Minnesota for our bi-annual vacation to explore a region of the United States. Our chosen area of exploration this time just happened to be Western Oregon, including the Washington Coast, highway 101 and all of the things along the way.
But first we needed to get a little Seattle tourism in, covering all of the arty and interesting spots we missed on previous trips. This included such spots as Gas Works Park (crazy face group selfie above), the Fremont Troll, the Ballard Farmers Market and Bruce Lee's grave site. As well as eating, all of the eating of all of the things.
Here I am waiting patiently in the car at the Bruce Lee grave site as Jeremy and Dan waited patiently for their turn for pictures in front of it. It never came because there was a very excited family of 12 taking individual photo sessions with Bruce and Brandon.
My view of them from the car.
Before movie star grave sites was brunch at Sisters and Brothers in Georgetown for Nashville hot chicken and waffles. Jeremy got Chiliquiles – fritos, eggs and chili. Fritos have the magical power to stay crunchy even if completely covered in goo. These met expectations – as did my hot chicken and and waffle – all very tasty and spicy, but not offensively so. Sisters and Brothers is always solid as long as you don't expect white linen table service, or really that much service at all – order your drinks and food in one session with the staff as you may not see them for a while. They are all lovely people though (when they are actually at your table) and have great tips on where you can purchase locally designed art clothes and jewelry.
Because it was Sunday, and there were things to see in the area, and they are foodies, I brought my friends to the Ballard Farmer's Market. Ballard has the largest year round farmer's market in Seattle. There were many tempting treats to purchase, but we made it mostly unscathed except for our visit to Hot Cakes.
Rich chocolate goo steaming in a cup. So good, but so rich. I chose the peanut butter cup, foolishly thinking I could actually eat a whole cake by myself. Fail. We all had to abandon ship on the bounty of dessert in front of us and walk it off exploring the Nordic Museum.
The Nordic Museum has a balance of art, geography, history from the Vikings to the immigration of Scandinavians to the United States. It also currently hosts an exhibit on Finndians, the name for the Finnish Native American blending that occurred primarily in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It just opened in its brand new building, built for exhibition and lecture early this summer so it was treat to be able to go.
Troll photo, oyster happy hour and Gas Works Park happened. Then it was time for our dinner reservations at Westward.
Westward sits on the tip of Lake Union with a great view over the lake and features a nautical theme in all of is decoration. Most importantly, it has really good food – vegetable forward and filled with interesting flavor combinations.
clams with spinach and sauce
scallop crudo
halibut and cous cous
lamb and potatoes
Lamar and Angel looking rather calm and contemplative over the clams.
All in all it was good day in Seattle to begin our West Coast adventures.