Seattle 2014: Pike Place Markets

This time last year we were on vacation in Seattle and Portland. A whole year has passed and I still haven't really written about our trip. I think that's got to be some sort of record on my behalf there!

Ok, so I did actually share a highlight post after our trip and one about the Gum Wall while we were in Seattle, but I have so many more photos I want to share with you guys so I think it's time to get back to it.   A year is long enough, I think!

One place that we visited regularly in Seattle was Pike Place Markets. Our hotel was located close by so the markets were a convenient place to stop by for breakfast, lunch and coffee. Ok, maybe the coffee part wasn't always so convenient given the long queues at the original Starbucks! We couldn't visit Seattle and not go to the original Starbucks even if it did mean standing in a queue for half an hour for our morning latte. Of course, the original Starbucks isn't the only place to get coffee at the markets if you need that caffeine hit without a wait.

Seattle & Portland Trip

Towards the end of the long Summer break we went on a week long vacation to Seattle and Portland.

I had planned on sharing our trip as we went, but apart from writing a post about the Seattle Gum Wall (simultaneously the grossest and most colourful place I've ever visited!) on the first day I just didn't find the time to write anything else. At the end of each day I was just exhausted. Sometimes vacations are tiring. And the kids were tiring. Oh so tiring!

Now that Summer is over and the big kids are back at school and preschool I feel a little less stressed. A little less exhausted. Time to get back into blogging mode.

So lets go back a few weeks and have a look at that trip of ours because, while it was tiring at times, we did an awful lot of fun stuff and saw some pretty amazing things. Seattle and Portland are great cities and we really loved both of them. Oh, and all that rain and gloom that you hear about in the Pacific Northwest? Well, it must've been on vacation at the same time as us as we didn't see it at all. Not a drop of rain. No grey clouds. Just blue skies and lots of sunshine. I think we lucked out and got the one week of the year when it doesn't rain in Seattle or Portland!

To start off, I thought I'd share a quick look at what we did each day of our vacation. Then I'll share more detailed posts on each of the destinations/activities/tourist attractions. Expect to see a lot more of Seattle and Portland coming soon!

Day 1
We started our day with a morning flight to Seattle from Oakland. We headed straight to the Ace Hotel in the Belltown neighbourhood, our home for the next four days and a great spot close to most tourist destinations. We ate lunch then headed out to nearby Pike Place Market and the Gum Wall. You can see my Gum Wall post here. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the waterfront before getting an early night. We were all exhausted from our early start and we had a big day ahead of us.

Seattle: Gum Wall

Greetings from Seattle!

We arrived yesterday for our week long vacation to Seattle and Portland. Yay!

I just had to share this place that we visited yesterday. It's equal parts disgusting and amazing. I'm talking about the infamous Gum Wall in Post Alley under the super touristy Pike Place Market.

That's right... it's a wall covered in gum. And not just a little bit of gum either. Great big globs of the stuff!