Northern Exposure
/Runners Up (on Blog titles): I had a hard time deciding, so I thought I'd mention these too...Neighborhood Watching, Sleepless in Seattle, Scoping Seattle, and a few others which I've forgotten now so they must not have been that great anyway. Oh and one with following the 5 to the Emerald City, a Wizard of Oz reference. P.S. I didn't watch Northern Exposure so I hope there are no crazy deeper meanings.
The Distance: The distance between Eugene and Seattle is closer than many would first think. It's actually driveable and takes roughly 4-5 hours. We opted to drive so we had my car and navigation system (we started calling the system Wifey on this trip). Josh did the driving on the way up Friday morning - we got there in 4 hrs 15 mins. I took over the wheel for the majority of the city navigating with some awesome parallel parking. In general, it could probably be called Mrs. O'Neill's wild ride.
Sunday we headed back in the afternoon just in time for the rain to return (so that's an indirect way of saying we had good weather all weekend). And it returned in torrents. The windshield wipers were seemed to be on crack and the rain came down in sheet. Luckily, I got us safely down to Portland. Due to the stressful conditions, Josh took over and drove us safely home. The return drive took roughly 5 hours (longer if you include the stops for gas, dinner, rain, traffic, etc).
Exploration: Take a look at this chart. Now, you can imagine why I was slightly panicked at the amount of exploration and investigation necessary on our ~2 days in Seattle. I calmed down after sitting down and reading though some other articles. And calmed down even more so after talking with our Seattle friend, Andrea. Andrea gave us the low down on all the neighborhoods. In a nutshell, keep north. Our favorite areas included: Ballard, Fremont, Green Lake, Queen Anne (lower), Bellevue, etc. Another fun fact about downtown street names is that they go in twos - two P's, two U's, two M's, and two S's (PUSM sounds funny tho). We now have a much better idea in mind on how the city is setup and where to begin if/when the time comes. Oh, and a Farmer's Market on Sunday = yay!
Non-Exploration: I haven't mentioned yet that Josh's parents were able to join us for our weekend adventure. They were our fearless passengers as we bopped around the city. It was great seeing them and enjoying some time together. Also, we meet up with our friend Andrea for lunch on Saturday (recall: mentioned above she gave some good Seattle tips). We had a nice little lunch catch-up time. We even squeezed in a quick hi and hug with Vince and Jonita, Brown family friends. I guess we not only saw Seattle, but friends/family too!
Food: Nom Nom Nom <-- That's the written version of me munching on tasty food. I imagine you now know that we ate some good food. A few sweet highlights include: banana bread at Columbia City Bakery, orange currant oatmeal cookie and raspberry oat bran muffin from Fresh Flours. As for food, a few savory delights included: crepe at Miro Tea, lunch at Purple Cafe, and dinner at Long Provincial Vietnamese. Seattle definitely has a happenin' foodie scene and the blogs that have been screaming Seattle as the current food trend were not lying.
Frozen Yogurt: I (practically) didn't have this all weekend. Yes, opposed to popular belief I can go without it for a few days without a meltdown. Don't get me wrong, it's tough, but possible. But it turns out Seattle was sadly lacking in this department. I did have the radar turned on though. You probably noticed I put "practically" in parenthesis in the first sentence. This is because I did taste some at a shop in Bellevue called Shnoo. However, I didn't not get a yogurt. For one, it was in the morning and I don't allow myself to eat it before noon (note: a few exceptions). Also, after a taster (or two. ok three), I decided that it wasn't that great. It's the trendy tart stuff and I deemed it just mediocre. Fear not, I have some bookmarked for future ventures north.
Pictures: I'm working on pictures. I forgot my camera, but luckily Don brought his along. I already have a few on Flickr that I took with my iPhone, but more should be coming soon. Keep checking out Flickr.
It was a great weekend and get-away!
Josh & Me in Fremont
The Distance: The distance between Eugene and Seattle is closer than many would first think. It's actually driveable and takes roughly 4-5 hours. We opted to drive so we had my car and navigation system (we started calling the system Wifey on this trip). Josh did the driving on the way up Friday morning - we got there in 4 hrs 15 mins. I took over the wheel for the majority of the city navigating with some awesome parallel parking. In general, it could probably be called Mrs. O'Neill's wild ride.
Sunday we headed back in the afternoon just in time for the rain to return (so that's an indirect way of saying we had good weather all weekend). And it returned in torrents. The windshield wipers were seemed to be on crack and the rain came down in sheet. Luckily, I got us safely down to Portland. Due to the stressful conditions, Josh took over and drove us safely home. The return drive took roughly 5 hours (longer if you include the stops for gas, dinner, rain, traffic, etc).
Exploration: Take a look at this chart. Now, you can imagine why I was slightly panicked at the amount of exploration and investigation necessary on our ~2 days in Seattle. I calmed down after sitting down and reading though some other articles. And calmed down even more so after talking with our Seattle friend, Andrea. Andrea gave us the low down on all the neighborhoods. In a nutshell, keep north. Our favorite areas included: Ballard, Fremont, Green Lake, Queen Anne (lower), Bellevue, etc. Another fun fact about downtown street names is that they go in twos - two P's, two U's, two M's, and two S's (PUSM sounds funny tho). We now have a much better idea in mind on how the city is setup and where to begin if/when the time comes. Oh, and a Farmer's Market on Sunday = yay!
Non-Exploration: I haven't mentioned yet that Josh's parents were able to join us for our weekend adventure. They were our fearless passengers as we bopped around the city. It was great seeing them and enjoying some time together. Also, we meet up with our friend Andrea for lunch on Saturday (recall: mentioned above she gave some good Seattle tips). We had a nice little lunch catch-up time. We even squeezed in a quick hi and hug with Vince and Jonita, Brown family friends. I guess we not only saw Seattle, but friends/family too!
Food: Nom Nom Nom <-- That's the written version of me munching on tasty food. I imagine you now know that we ate some good food. A few sweet highlights include: banana bread at Columbia City Bakery, orange currant oatmeal cookie and raspberry oat bran muffin from Fresh Flours. As for food, a few savory delights included: crepe at Miro Tea, lunch at Purple Cafe, and dinner at Long Provincial Vietnamese. Seattle definitely has a happenin' foodie scene and the blogs that have been screaming Seattle as the current food trend were not lying.
Frozen Yogurt: I (practically) didn't have this all weekend. Yes, opposed to popular belief I can go without it for a few days without a meltdown. Don't get me wrong, it's tough, but possible. But it turns out Seattle was sadly lacking in this department. I did have the radar turned on though. You probably noticed I put "practically" in parenthesis in the first sentence. This is because I did taste some at a shop in Bellevue called Shnoo. However, I didn't not get a yogurt. For one, it was in the morning and I don't allow myself to eat it before noon (note: a few exceptions). Also, after a taster (or two. ok three), I decided that it wasn't that great. It's the trendy tart stuff and I deemed it just mediocre. Fear not, I have some bookmarked for future ventures north.
Pictures: I'm working on pictures. I forgot my camera, but luckily Don brought his along. I already have a few on Flickr that I took with my iPhone, but more should be coming soon. Keep checking out Flickr.
It was a great weekend and get-away!
Josh & Me in Fremont
