Summer Travel - Seattle & Vancouver

Michelle Chew
Aug 7, 2017
3 min read

Updated: Oct 18, 2019

A couple of weeks ago I travelled to Seattle and Vancouver with my girlfriend for the sole purpose of finding the best foods and eating as much as we could. We've done a few of these trips in the past and if you don't already know, I have a serious passion for food and I love eating. LOVE. I'll post my food adventures on a separate blog post but on this trip we also made it a point to take in the sights and explore the city. Here are some of the things you can do in both cities.

Seattle

As this was my first time to Seattle, I was excited to visit the home of the original Starbucks. From reviews online I was advised to visit early to avoid the mad queues. I got there just after opening and it was manageable. The staff at the store are very organized and I was able to order my coffee and grab a few souvenirs in approximately forty five minutes.

All counters and furniture at this store is originally and have not been replaced. It was quite special getting the coffee I drink almost everyday from its' original store.

Pike Place market is right next to the Starbucks store and this place reminds me of a similar market we have in Toronto. It's busy and lively and of course, I got to watch the famous "throwing of the fish!".

All the fresh fruit, flowers and seafood!

The Chihuly Gardens and Glass was another amazing exhibit right next to the Space Needle at Seattle Centre. Go before 10am and you can save $10 on your general admission ticket.

I really enjoyed taking pictures of all Chihuly's glass works. My husband would have been proud of me as I was channeling his passion of photography.

There's my girlfriend, Vivien (right) taking a picture of the glass flowers.

This would have been a great picture of it wasn't such a cloudy day. Oh well, at least it didn't rain.

Continuing on our coffee tour, we had to visit the flagship Starbucks Reserve store. Now I know why Starbucks named one of their coffee blends Pike!

This Reserve store definitely had the "wow" factor when you enter. It's probably the largest and fanciest coffee store I've been to.

There was a menu for coffee tasting. I was definitely in heaven. My girlfriend, not so much! LOL I may have overdosed her with caffeine that day!

Coffee blends: Mild - Center, Medium - Left and Bold - Right

The coffee roasting process changes the colour of raw beans (light) to roasted beans ready for brewing (dark).

Probably the highlight of my trip was to the Seattle Art Museum. I love art museums and try to go to each one in every city I visit. On now till September 10 is the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibition. Advance tickets are all sold out and day of tickets are almost impossible to get if you don't get there early to line up. My girlfriend and I got lucky and managed to score tickets from a couple outside who had extra tickets because their friends couldn't make it, yay!

And all too soon our four days in Seattle came to an end. I had a fabulous time and will definitely be back to explore the rest the city had to offer. Thank you Seattle!

Vancouver

I've been to Vancouver twice before but always during winter so this was my first time experiencing warmer weather. It wasn't the warmest of weathers but then again, it didn't rain once while we were there and that, I heard, is unusual for Vancouver.

I noticed Vancouver is a very bike friendly city and people enjoy keeping a active lifestyle. By the water there are views for miles of snow capped mountains and lush green trees. I enjoyed my days sitting by the water enjoying my ice cream or coffee.

The 2010 Winter Olympic cauldron.

A short distance from Canada Place is Gastown and the famous Steam Clock.

And of course no visit to Vancouver is complete without a stop by Granville Island and the markets.

On our last day we visited Stanley Park. This park is huge. I could imagine myself taking long runs or walks here. The views are breathtaking and there's something about being around water that makes one calm and relaxed.

Our daughters spent two weeks at UBC taking a summer course and one of the reasons why we made the trip out to the West coast was to pick them up when their course ended. It was also our excuse to get some eats in!