Exploring Seattle During the Pandemic in 2020
Happy upcoming Valentine’s Day! This seemed like a good time to finally put together the trip my wife and I went on late last year when we thought, (and hoped) covid was nearing its ending.
2020 was a strange time for traveling due to the virus pandemic. My wife and I had 2 trips planned earlier in the year, but cancelled due to the outbreak. Those trips were for Portland in May 2020 and LA in August 2020. Our last trip was Boston/Salem back in 2019 for our 1 year wedding anniversary, so like many others we were itching to get away.
Tiff and I were excited to hear, (from prevailing science) that planes are actually more safe than most indoor areas since they constantly recycle air, so we decided to make the leap in late September and purchase two tickets to Seattle, Washington. I wrote this article to not only showcase our trip, but to list a few things you can do, too, if you plan on traveling to the area, (after traveling becomes a thing again).
Day 1
My wife and I boarded a flight in Dallas headed to Seattle in the wee hours of the morning. Early flights are the worst to get up for, but if it means spending more time in daylight at our destination for the first day, we’re in. The trip took about 4 hours which we filled with podcasts and sleep.
We arrived around 10am at the SEA airport, grabbed our rental car, and headed out. We always make a loose itinerary so we decided on the Public Market as our first stop since we had to wait until 4pm to check in to our Airbnb. We should have done a little more research though as most of the shops there were closed due to Covid. As a couple of humans who have never been to and had no map of the Public Market in Seattle, that place was pretty confusing.
We zigged and zagged in and out of the hallways that led us by a bunch of really cool looking shops that were, as you may have guessed, closed. Even with no accessible shops, it was still really cool to get lost there. At one point, we accidentally came upon another spot on our list: The Gum Wall. (Very tourist-y, I know.)
At about this time, we were starving for food and craving some coffee. The last time we had either was around 5:45 AM at the airport back in Dallas. Google maps wasn’t much of a help as it couldn’t tell very accurately what was open and what was closed. Eventually, we made it back to the street level where, like the tourists we were, we approached an information booth on Pike St & 1st Ave. The man inside was really nice and helpful as he guided us in the direction of a few open restaurants further down the street. At that point, we were open to anything that could be consumed, besides maybe the gum back in the alley.
We crossed Pike Street and entered the nearest building crevice we saw with a sign indicating an eatery was somewhere within it. We ended up finding Pike Place Bar & Grill. It was exactly what we were looking for and our waitress was quick and attentive. She also told us about all the cool places she recommends. Overall, it was a great first eating experience in Seattle and I highly recommend you check it out when you visit.
After eating, we still had some time to kill as it was only around 1pm. We looked at the map I had created in Google with pins all across the city. Although pretty tired, we decided upon a historic 20-acre Japanese-style garden called Kubota Garden. We parked in their parking lot though I believe there was more parking along the street if you ever visit.
The garden was beautiful and besides a few screaming kids, it was pretty tranquil as well. This places dates back to 1927, (34 years before the Space Needle was built). It had a really cool Japanese-inspired entrance that led inside where the garden revealed a wide variety of tree colors, ponds, waterfalls, a moon bridge, and a platform that overlooked it all.
Following our 45 minute walk through Kubota, we decided to head over to the Airbnb and check in. The Airbnb was nice besides the fact that the water never got past lukewarm in the shower. We were super exhausted once we got settled so we took a long nap. We woke up a couple hours later, ate at Best Pho and Thai, came back, and fell back asleep again. All in all it was a pretty good first day.
Day 2
On the second day of our trip, we got up early and wanted to go on a real hike. Washington has some of the most beautiful trails in the country and we wanted to experience them. First on the list? The Lake Twenty-Two trail. We first stopped for some doughnuts and coffee and Top Pot Doughnuts and continued on our way.
As we should have expected being in Washington state, it began raining the second we started driving and never really let up. I love dreary weather though so the drive was melancholic which I appreciate. I have to be honest, though: we were NOT prepared to walk this trail in the rain.
After an hour plus of driving, we arrived at the Lake Twenty-Two Trailhead. It was chilly and our feet were soaked as we exited the vehicle, (poor shoe planning on our part). After grabbing what supplies we had and using the park restroom while doing our best not to touch anything, we started on the pathway.
Coming from Texas, this trail was already unlike anything we usually get to see. It reminded me in part of our trek through the arboretum in Hawaii back in 2018. We felt like we had abruptly penetrated the Amazon rain forest. It gave me a number of Tomb Raider vibes.
Before I push forward with this hike, I’d like to point out that Tiff and I brought umbrellas along which turns out is a huge no-no on real hikes, according to real hikers. Each individual who passed us showed us looks of despair and anguish as they studied us first, then our umbrellas, and then back at us again for one last glare of dissatisfaction. As mentioned, we were not prepared for this sum of rain, so what we had is what we had. “Serious hikers” with sticks up their butts can go cry in their hiker forums about this now. Believe me, no one preferred us to have better gear than US. I think the umbrellas made for some Hayao Miyazaki-esque pictures, nevertheless.
This was the first time I’d ever hiked a trail that had numerous water falls breaking through the pathway itself. They created a more challenging and fun experience, though it assuredly made matters wetter. The fallen and cut through timbers were also really cool to observe. While counting rings, we discovered some pretty mature trees.
Although we lacked vital grip on our shoes, we pushed forward. Eventually we got to a bridge that had rapid moving water traveling over and through it. I saw in Tiff’s eyes she was unconvinced she could make it over. I was so excited for her though as she overcame her worries and not only crossed that bridge, but the next waterfall passage where we had to jump from rock to rock, (VERY Lara Croft).
After about 1 1/2 hours and being thoroughly soaked, we headed back. It was somewhat of a downer to not see the lake itself, but we were not wearing the correct hiking gear to traverse the complete trail. We paused at a really cool wooden bridge, took a picture, and began walking back towards the trailhead. Some further shots from that hike are below. Some are a bit blurry because I presume they transferred that way on the terrible Wi-Fi at the Airbnb; bummer.
On our way back to the Airbnb, we stopped and got some pretty mediocre Mexican food as well as some dry socks from Walmart. One of our last stops that night was at an awesome place called NW Rockhounds. We ended up buying a serpentine rock and some others for our collection. The owner was super helpful and it was a great end to that days adventures.
Day 3
On the third day, we slept in a little. Our goal for that day was to spend half of it hiking somewhere in the city and the other half spent checking out shops in some of the cooler Seattle neighborhoods. Since we had less daylight after getting ourselves up, we chose a nearby nature area called Discovery Park, but not before stopping at our now favorite place to get breakfast/coffee in Seattle, Salt and Sugar Cafe and Bakery. Everything about our meal here was perfect.
Discovery Park wound up being one of the best city parks I’ve been to. It was massive and utterly wonderful to wander around during fall. The trails lead through forest, fields, historic buildings, a seashore, and a lighthouse. As you can see from the pictures below, we had a great time!
We walked WAY too far from the car at this park. After the beach, our hike back was about 45 minutes to the central parking lot, a quarter of it uphill. It was a remarkable leg work out. When we arrived back where we had begun, we realized we had toured the entirety of Discovery Park, so that felt like an achievement.
At this point, we wanted coffee and to explore some shops so we headed to the Ballard neighborhood just across Salmon Bay. We parked in front of the Ballyhoo Curiosity Shop which we then went into. As far as antique/weird shops like this go, this was a pretty cool one. It was only the second shop like it that I’ve been in where they were selling human skulls, though unlike the one we went to in Boston in 2019, the Ballyhoo collection of bones from various creatures was much more extensive. We ended up purchasing a rabbit skull and few smaller items.
After bone shopping, coffee was a must. We headed down about half of a block to Caffe Umbria and got some coffee. We hung out there for a about 15 minutes until it closed. One detail I left out earlier on this article was that I had brought my skateboard to at least skate once in the Seattle area, (just to say I have). I settled on Jefferson Park and after eating some Kidd Valley, (a fast food restaurant native to Washington) we headed to the skatepark.
Have I ever mentioned how awesome my wife is? She ended up filming me at the park after about 1 minute of warming up. I fell A LOT. Below, you’ll find a picture Tiff took and a short edit I made for Instagram.
After the skatepark, we drove back to our Airbnb to get ready for the night. After more naps and showers in lukewarm water, we got dressed and decided this would be our night to go drink. We headed to a bar with social distancing enforced called Star Brass Works Lounge. It ended up having fair priced drinks and a really neat dive bar feel. We ended our day/night here.
Day 4
Our fourth day in Seattle was our last full day of vacation. At first, we wanted to get breakfast at another small, local diner, but to make the most of our time we went to good ole Denny’s since the lines wrapped around the buildings everywhere else we sought to go. The food was… as you would expect, and it made me have to poop, which was appropriate considering our first trail of the day was:
Tiff was a lot more mature about this.
As much as we wanted to hike the Poo Poo, as we started out on the trail, we only lasted 5 minutes before turning back due to an overwhelming amount of people on it. Every 5 seconds someone was trying to pass by us coming up or down the hill. If you go, just know this is a heavily trafficked spot, especially on the weekends.
This is the official entrance after the POO POO Point Trailhead sign.
We opted to drive around the area instead and find a path at random. We settled on Highpoint Trail which was beautiful, but eerily silent. We kept looking around for cougars and bears, but obviously we didn’t run into any because… well, I’m typing this. The mushroom growth was insane here as was all the moss. I wish I was a mycologist so I could have identified all the weird shrooms we saw. Maybe someone out there can?
It wasn’t all shrooms on the trail though. There was also moss and other cool to hold like giant, fallen branches covered in moss, cool leaves, and Tiff.
After finishing up on the Highpoint Trail, we preferred to take it easy before our last day in Seattle. We made our way back to our Airbnb and ordered pizza. It ended up being the absolute WORST pizza either of us has ever eaten. I’m not even being melodramatic here. A Lunchables pizza left cold would have tasted better. I won’t mention the name of the pizza place since it was so dreadful, but if you go to Seattle, steer clear of a chain of restaurants that starts with the letter “P“ and ends in “agliacci”.
Day 5
On our fifth and final day in Seattle before flying out that night, we had a few more spots we wanted to check out. We packed all of our things and left early in the AM. We made our way to a breakfast spot that ended up being our second favorite of the trip. The restaurant was called Hangar Cafe. There was a bit of a wait so we hung around outside where Tiff got attacked by a wasp and she took a picture of me kickflipping in front of a wall next door.
My phone buzzed shortly after and our table was ready. The food here was unbelievable. Tiff got veggie crepes and I received a panini-styled veggie breakfast burrito thing that I suffocated in a unique hot sauce I admired so much that I took a picture.
Breakfast wrapped up and we headed over to the Fremont Sunday Street Market. We only stayed for a bit as it was super windy on that street specifically for some reason. I guess the universe was pushing us to go somewhere else. We had already paid for parking so we explored the area. We did a little shopping for ourselves, friends, and family. Tiff went plant shopping at a place called Peace Love and Happiness Club where we got a Pinstripe Calathea.
A couple blocks away we discovered the famous Fremont Troll. I think we came at a good time because there weren’t many people around. I can imagine this place is probably packed with tourists like us most of the time. If you look closely at the picture below, the troll is holding an actual Volkswagen Beetle and has a California license plate. Originally, there was a time capsule inside that included a plaster bust of Elvis Presley, but sadly vandals stole it at some point in the past.
Unfortunately, our time in Seattle was coming to its end. We walked back to the car and headed to the airport.
It was originally our intention to go hike at Mt. Rainier National Park and to see my former high school friend Gene, who moved to Washington state from Dallas long ago. Sadly, neither of these panned out because we never made it out as far south as Gene lived, and Carbon Glacier Trail near Mt. Rainier had an unforeseen storm that came with loads of snow. Being in a rental car, we agreed against that hike. We’ll definitely be back one day! We did catch this photo on the way to the airport, though.
Another interesting occurrence while there was Biden being announced as our new president. At one point, we had to dodge crowds filling the streets in celebration. It was a really cool place to be as all of that unfolded. Definitely a different political atmosphere than here in Texas.
We took off heading back home and that was that; the end of a great trip, (and our only trip in the year 2020). Once Covid-19 is manageable again, we’ll definitely get back to traveling more. Cheers to future flights and adventures in a non-pandemic world.
