Seattle whirlwind

And then just like that, we were packing up all of our bags, saying our good-byes to Grumpy, and boarding the train to Seattle. The catching up with family and exploring the beautiful national parks of the Northwest portion of our trip was over and we were ready for our next adventures.

After a short layover in Portland (complete with Voodoo Donuts and Powell's Books) we were off to Seattle for an extra short visit in one of my favourite places that I've been lucky enough to call home. We settled in for the night and braced ourselves for a crazy day taking in all the big tourist sights.

By 8.30, we were in our Uber on the way to the waterfront and the Seattle Aquarium. We petted anemone, wowed at the amazing colour-changing, texture-morphing octopus, and giggled at the seals and sea otters doing somersaults in their pools.

Then it was time for our cruise around Elliott Bay to see the skyline (not the mountains due to the smoke from the forest fires) and be amused by funny anecdotes about Seattle. Best of all, we got to watch the cranes load up a massive cargo ship with freight. Those crane operators are impressive.

Next, we climbed the stairs to Pike Place market to watch some fish get thrown around Seattle-style and eat yummy German sausages and sauerkraut. Then we made our way to the monorail for our ride to the Seattle Center. 

Once we organised our time to go up the Space Needle, the boys went nuts climbing around the awesome playground there, and we had a quick trip to the Museum of Pop Culture where we made all sorts of fun music in the sound booths upstairs.

And then we were off to ride up to the top of the Space Needle to learn about the engineering feat that it was in its day and to check out the city of Seattle from a totally different perspective. Once we were back on solid ground again, we made one final Seattle Centre stop to marvel at the amazing creations of Seattle's famous glass artist, Dale Chuhily at his impressive museum.

But the day wasn't over yet! Nope. We Ubered up to Capital Hill to catch up with my old uni friend, Kristine and her kids for dinner and cartoons at a hip movie theater followed with a bit of wine and reminiscing at her gorgeous house before an escorted walk back to our Air BnB by her lovely husband, where we all collapsed in utter exhaustion.