For our 2nd day in Seattle, we had planned all the touristy things. We started by getting our car since we would need it later in the day for our daughter to attend a gymnastics training session
We knew our first stops would be the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass, so we decided to park the car in that area and find a breakfast spot. We easily found parking in the KOMO parking deck and set out to walk the area until we wandered up on a cafe or coffee shop. Luckily, not far from the parking deck was The 5 Point Cafe. We were seated quickly and got hooked up with some coffee. The 5 Point Cafe has an interesting history which you can read on their website. Our daughter went with the blueberry pancakes and April and I decided to split the Deckhand. This was a smart call because it was so much food. For dive bar food, the food was tasty.
We had previously purchased the Seattle C3 City Pass because we knew there were 3 city attractions that we had planned to visit. This saved us about $48 in admission fees instead of purchasing the tickets individually.
We started by visiting Chihuly Garden and Glass. If you aren't familiar, this is a museum showing the artwork of Dale Chihuly. In addition to beautiful blown glass designs, you will find his drawings and paintings. We had previously seen Chihuly's work on a road trip to the Biltmore Estate but this was even more impressive.
The Space Needle is located conveniently next door to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. So, naturally, this was our next stop was the Space Needle. Because it was still early in the morning (10:30am) there was no line, no wait. Were were able to walk right up the ramp into the bottom area of the Space Needle where we had a short wait for the elevator. There are 2 elevators that can each hold around 20 people, so we were on the elevator in no time. The elevator is quick....taking 43 seconds to go from the bottom to the top.
Two of the three people in our family are NOT afraid of heights. Our elevator took us to the top of the 2 observation floors. The upper floor is an "open air concept" but has full panes of glass. The benches are slanted so sitting all the way back was even a bit unnerving for the two of us that are not afraid. Avery and I headed straight to the glass to get pictures while April stayed close to the center.
We went on a sunny day so we had a great 360 degree view of the city and the mountains. From the top floor we made our way down 1 level to the "Loupe". The outer edge of the Loupe is a revolving glass floor. Here we saw many people laying on the floor to take their picture with the ground below (we were those people too). April disliked this floor even more than the upper "open air" floor. The glass floor and the movement definitely put her "on edge"....but we felt that she managed this stress like an all-star.
I think our visit to the Space Needle was a bit obligatory. I mean, technically, we didn't have to visit, but I don't think a visit to Seattle would be complete without the experience.
After grabbing a bite of lunch (bento boxes and poke bowls) in the area, we made the short drive to the zoo. The Woodland Park Zoo is over 100 years old. This is evident, not in the exhibits, but in the beauty of the established trees. We entered the south entrance (not realizing that there were multiple) and felt that it was the perfect place to start. Immediately after entering we made our way to the farm animals and petting zoo. Just to be clear, our 16 year old LOVES animals and this zoo excursion was her idea. Getting to pet sheep, goats and cows at the very beginning of the zoo was the perfect way to get started.
The cool thing about the design of the zoo is that it has a main loop. There is really no way to miss anything and because of the layout you aren't forced to back track. This really made the zoo enjoyable.
Because we visited in the middle of the day, many of the animals weren't viewable. Perhaps it was their nap time or just not feeling frisky but there were many exhibits where we didn't see anything. Ironically, we did see several mice and rats roaming their way through the zoo (in the exhibits and out). It became a joke that we saw more rats than we saw animals.
Speaking of animals, we really enjoyed the otter exhibit and the bear exhibit.
One thing to mention, there were many zoo employees and volunteers on site. If you had a question at any point, it was almost guaranteed that you would find someone quickly that could give an answer or response. This was a nice change from other zoos we have visited.
After the zoo, we headed out to Bellevue where our daughter was training for 4 hours with Gymnastics East. Sending them a shout-out for letting Avery practice!!
Afterwards it was pretty late so instead of a sit down dinner we decided to run to the grocery store to pick up a night time snack. We found that there was an Amazon Fresh a few minutes away. Where we are from, there are no Amazon Fresh stores so we were equally excited and intrigued. If you've never been to an Amazon Fresh store you scan the code from your Amazon app when you enter. You then shop by putting all of your items into your basket. Then you scan your app again and you leave. No need to have a cashier scan your items. No need to scan your own items with the app. It's pretty ingenious.
That pretty much sums up our day.
The Travel Gritty: If planning on visiting the Space Needle and Chihuly you can buy a combo ticket. If you plan to visit one or more other attractions definitely check out the City Pass.
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