After walking around Pikes Place Market the day before, we had already scouted out our breakfast place. Marriott Courtyard brands do not offer complimentary breakfast and even if they did we would have decided to have breakfast elsewhere because the breakfast options were abundant
We headed directly to the market, specifically Le Panier. The line was out of the door but it moved rather quickly. Once we got inside there were so many choices of fresh baked pastries and breads. We settled on a Pain au Chocolat, an order of Chouquettes, Jambon Mornay, and a peach pastry. I also got an Americano. No words, except YUM!!
There is standing room only with a standing height bars and we were able to snag a place at the end of the bar overlooking the sidewalk.
Without a doubt, when we return to Seattle, Le Panier will be one of our first stops.
After breakfast, we made our way across the street into the Market. Some vendors were just getting set up, but the seafood, fruit, vegetables, and flower vendors were already very busy. We sampled some fruits from the employees handing them out, we stopped to smell the flowers (literally), we sampled cherries from Chukar Cherries, and we finally saw the flying fish at the Pike Place Fish Market.
As we were walking by we noticed a small crowd and saw the fish flying in action. As someone would choose a fish for purchase, the employee outside the coolers would toss a fish to someone working inside the booth so they could weigh and wrap. After waiting a few minutes without any action someone asked if they could see them throw it again, so the fish thrower happily obliged.
We also knew that we needed to make another Starbucks visit. Some of my coworkers are avid Starbies so I felt the need to grab them a reusable cup since they often treat me to coffee. The line was ever longer than our previous visit, but once again moved pretty fast. As we were getting closer to the door someone walked up and asked the Starbucks partner if they could peak inside to look for a cup. The employee respectfully let that person know that it was in fact not okay but they could look over the laminated "menu" and if they wanted something they would need to go to the back of the line.
We walked inside, ordered the 3 cups at the register, and excited quickly.
We were scheduled for a FREE 2 hour walking tour through Seattle 101. To be clear, free tours are not free, but instead of a "pay what you want, pay what you can, pay what you think the tour was worth" enterprise. We really enjoyed our tour. Our guide, Amalia, was funny, witty, and super informative. We really learned a lot......the great fire, Chief Seattle, the ferries, and the hammering man. I do think that 2 hours was a bit long, though. We had 1:15 lunch reservations at The Pink Door and had to cut out of the tour at the last stop to make it on time. Overall, the tour was one of my highlights of our Seattle visit. I highly recommend.
Our last stop of the tour was on the Pier near the Great Wheel and The Pink Door is on Post Alley. We cut out of the tour around 1:05 and had to bust it to make it on time.....which we did, barely. After a short wait, we were seated outside. This restaurant was recommended by some dear friends so we knew we were going to have some amazing food. I started by ordering a beer. Much needed on a beautiful day. Our server went over the specials and the Salmon with asparagus and potatoes sounded amazing, so that was my choice. Avery ordered the Pappardelle Al Ragu Bolgnese and April selected the Penne Alla Vodka.
Our server brought out a bread basket and olive oil.....which went beautifully with our entrees. This was one of the top meals of our trip. Without a doubt, a stellar recommendation. The desserts looked delicious, however, I was determined to get back to Le Panier once more before we headed on our way to our next destination.
Once again, Le Painier did not disappoint. This time we got macarons, almond-chocolate croissant, and meringue.
Because we were still stuffed from lunch, we decided to save them for later. As we made our way back to our hotel, April and Avery had a hankering for a bubble tea so we made a quick stop at Tiger Sugar. Bubble tea is not my thing but they said it was enjoyable.
After picking up and loading up the car, we made our way to Discovery Park. I had not done enough research on this place......which was a very bad call on my part. But just know that it was beautiful and worth our challenges.
As we pulled in, we weren't exactly sure where to park. This seemed to be a massive park in a residential area. If you are fans of the Netflix show Firefly Lane, Kate's house would fit right in (although I think the actual house is in Vancouver). We parked in the first lot that we came to and with Le Panier in hand, we started walking to the beach. While there were signs, we weren't exactly sure of the distance to the beach because we really weren't sure where to go. Evidently we parked in the lot farthest from the beach.....and the farther we went, we quickly realized that this was a big downhill drop in elevation. All good going done, but was not going to be cool coming up when we were already pushing over 15K steps for the day. We were tired, and we really needed to get out of Seattle and make progress towards our next stop.
There was some conversation abut stopping....turning around. But luckily, I was able to talk the fam out of this. I am so grateful they agreed to keep going, otherwise we would have missed this.
Just know, there are lots of steps going down and we were really questioning our ability to make the uphill trek (1.3 miles) after the already long day. However, we paused to enjoy the scenery. The tide was out and we were able to walk through it to see a few critters and to be sprayed with clams (?) shooting water out of the sand. It was a moment when time really stood still.
The girls played and laughed while I brainstormed how in the heck we were going to get out of there without them hating on me for the rest of the day. I am pretty fit....on a normal day I exceed 18,000 steps a day easily. However, April works a desk job, from home. The amount of walking that we had been doing day in and out was starting to catch up.
I make my way to the edge of the lighthouse where I see a .......what a minute, what is this??? A parking lot!!! With no cars.....and signs posted that there was absolutely no parking. But I did see a few cars drive through and turn around. I quickly pulled up the Uber app and realized that we could get an Uber ride out of there. Problem solved.
We had to wait about 10 minutes for the car....which was the perfect opportunity to pull out those beautiful French pastries.
And just like that we were back on the road to our next destination.
The Travel Gritty: The Pink Door is supposed to have some cool entertainment at dinner. Check it out and get reservations. If you can't make dinner, lunch is a must. Le Panier will go down as "my favorite" food of the entire trip. Do yourself a favor and make a stop. Discovery Park is well worth the visit. Read ahead so you know what you are doing.
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