Small Town Girl, Big City Life: Seattle Spring Break

The girls and I decided to go to Seattle for Spring Break. Our parents were in Mexico visiting Mallory, so it was just the four of us.

MONDAY

We arrived around lunchtime and drove around the Ballard neighborhood, looking for somewhere to eat. Turns out most restaurants in seattle are closed on Monday and Tuesday. We eventually found Savour Specialty Foods, a cute cafe/specialty food store and had a delicious lunch. I had the delicious Vegg Out! sandwich and wondered how anyone eats a baguette without getting crumbs halfway across the room.

We explored Ballard and stumbled upon a popcorn shop called Kukuruza.

25 kinds of popcorn! I got Salt & Vinegar, and the girls got

Hawaiian Salted Caramel, and Dark Chocolate Kettle Corn.

They were so good!

We ventured over to Trove, a vintage boutique that came highly recommended.

Looking at the racks made me want to makeover my closet with fancy hangers.

I tried on this gorgeous blue skirt but of course I talked myself out of buying it.

My favorite part was looking at all of the clothes and shoes and especially

hats and imagining the ladies who wore them.

I wanted to take home all the dishes.

These were light bulbs in mason jars--so cool!

Just to show you how beautiful the store is. This picture is c/o Trove, from their website. You can kind of see the old-fashioned cash register on the far right. It really worked!

We stayed at my friend Jessie's place and had so much fun just hanging out.

We went to Tutta Bella for a delicious pizza dinner.

This was the view from our table.

TUESDAY

We headed to Pike Place Market to eat and shop. We also met up with our sister who had been vacationing with friends at Orcas Island. We stumbled upon a gluten-free bakery and had some delicious hot chocolate.

I was really excited to try a vegan cinnamon roll from Cinnamon Works Bakery but they were all out!

I did find a vegan banana chocolate chip muffin that was delicious, even if it didn't look so pretty.

We ate at Crepe de France inside the Market and they were the best crepes I've ever had.

We shared Tomato and Herb Cheese and Ham and Cheese

They were so good that this happened...

... and then this.

And then we found doughnuts the size of my head. Crazy!

This elevator up to the market reminded me of something from Harry Potter--

I thought maybe we were heading to the Ministry of Magic.

We ran into my aunt and cousins--we knew they were going to be there, but we literally ran into them in the market. great timing!

Of course, had to take a picture of this.

We drove to the Fremont area of Seattle to go on the Theo Chocolate Factory Tour

We got to learn about how chocolate is made and sampled some delicious flavors.

The factory was small but super efficient as it's the only one for the Theo company.

The whole tour felt very Willy Wonka-esque and I loved seeing how everything was made. This was the highlight of the trip for me and I highly recommend the tour if you're ever in the area.

Most of the restaurants we planned to eat at were still closed but we managed to find Paseo, a delicious hole-in-the-wall to grab some sandwiches. The line was long and full of locals so that was a good sign. The tofu delight sandwich came highly recommended and it was so delicious. The flavors were so good!

That night we made it down to the waterfront to get on the Seattle Great Wheel. This ferris wheel has been in Seattle for almost a year and it is the largest on the West Coast. I loved that they had enclosed cars so I didn't feel like I was going to fall out. The views were amazing!

this is my i'm-having-fun-but-also-terrified-face

There are few things I love more than looking at a city all lit up.

We got off the ferris wheel and walked around the pier. We found this cute/creepy carousel, totally deserted at 9:00.

We came home and watched 10 Things I Hate About You, because that's what you do when you're in Seattle.

also, you cry a little bit because, heath ledger.

WEDNESDAY

We woke up relatively early to grab some pastries at Honoré Bakery. It's tucked in the middle of the Ballard neighborhood, and is so tiny that you can't open the door if there's lots of people inside. But oh, the food!

i finally tried a macaron because i wanted to see what the fuss was all about.

well, they're definitely beautiful but i'm not a fan of the texture.

deliciously dark hot chocolate with hand stamped cups. i'm dying.

kouing-aman, my favorite. buttery, sweet, and a bit salty.

this croissant is as longer than my hand. unreal.

for our last hurrah in seattle, we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island.

i was not expecting the ferry to be so huge! it was like a high school cafeteria in there!

i wish we had brought something to do--a puzzle or cards--it was longer than i thought.

great view of the Seattle Great Wheel

really horrible picture, but those are starfish! they were so bright!

Once we got off the ferry, we walked around Bainbridge and

found the cutest gazebo straight out of Stars Hollow.

We ate lunch at The Madison Diner, the cutest little restaurant in a dining car from 1948.

Seriously.

We missed our first ferry back because we waited too long to walk/run back.

I was really stressed about our car being towed because we were over the 4 hour limit. We got back just as the parking officer was checking the cars. Phew!