Seattle, Washington, USA

As a travel nurse in the United States, I have been given the opportunity to move across my home country every few months.  One of my favorite places I’ve been was The Evergreen State of Washington.

Pikes Place is a great place filled with everything from spices, fresh flowers bouquets, a variety of different foods, small boutique shops, restaurants, and of course the very first Starbucks.  This is also a place where you can watch the famous throwing of the fish. Beechers is a cheese shop that hooked me on their Mac and cheese.  Be sure you don’t miss it!  

This was my favorite spot to take my meal I bought from Pikes and just sit and eat in silence.  It is the waterfront area down from Pike’s place.

One of the iconic spots in Seattle is the Gum wall. Located steps from Pikes place was an improv theater.  While people were waiting in line to get in, they started sticking their gum to the wall.  It soon became something people came from all around the world to do… so go leave your mark.

Located in Post Alley of Pikes Place is my favorite restaurant, Pink Door. Reservations in advance are a must.  On Fridays there is a burlesque show and on Sunday and Monday nights there is a single person acrobat show every 30 minutes.  The food is Italian and they are know for their lasagna.

A famous landmark, seen in many movies, is the Space needle where you can get a 360 view of Seattle.  There is a restaurant at the top and admission is free if you have a reservation. Make sure to book asap because it fills up fast. If you buy a ticket, know it is for a specific evaluator time and you must show up at that time to go up. You can buy a ticket to see multiple attractions in Seattle at a discount.  We decided to do the space needle and chihuly garden and glass.

The Fremont Bridge Troll is an 18ft sculpture that was built back in 1990.  It’s purpose was to bring community together and ward off the rising drug dealing that was growing in that area.  In my picture it was spray painted with graphit I that was later washed off.

We bought a Groupon for a sunset sailing on South Lake Union. We were given the opportunity to help steer the boat.  It was a lot of fun!

In West Seattle there is Alki Beach. You can rent kayaks and paddle boards to take on the water.  From there you can see a great panoramic view of the city.

About 1.5 hours from seattle, we went paragliding off Poo Poo Point. We each had a tandem guide and were driven up the mountain where other paragliding were taking turns jumping. Seattle Paragliding

Three hours South of Seattle, you have the opportunity to go bungee jumping! It was my first and last time.  I’m glad I mustered up the courage to do it, but once was enough. I brought my own GoPro and secured it to my wrist.  I actually found it comforting to grip something while I jumped. Go Bungee Jumping!

During the month of April there is a Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon, WA. Literally thousands of tulips are hand planted each year for a beautiful site. Each bulb is then excavated at the end of the month.  Tulip Festival Information

Emerald Downs is a fun day at the horse races. A couple times a year they also have weiner dog races too… Although you can’t bet on the dogs it is still very cute to watch.

Whale watching by the San Juan Island was exciting! We saw a family of killer whales and some sea lions.  A friend went a different time and had a humpback whale come right up to their boat.  You can also do kayaking tours there as well.

Snoqualmie Falls is a 268ft waterfall located an hour outside Seattle.  It is free to go and has plenty of parking across the street.  There is a short hike down to a river with a small Sandy beach.

There are many snowmobiling tours outside of Seattle. You should Google to find the best one for you.  This was my first time and it was a blast!  This particular tour was located out by Leavenworth.  It’s a small German decorated town worth staying a night in. Snowmobiling

Safeco Field was fun.  I like going to baseball games mainly for the ballpark food. 

I don’t have a great picture of it, but my favorite ice cream is from Lick, in South Lake Union. It’s a small ice cream shop that has great milkshakes.  The owner bakes his own brioche buns, glazes them, and when you order a Lickwich, you will get a fried donut with a scoop of ice cream in the center.  I lived across the street from this place and gained most of my weight here: Lick Ice Cream

With large access to fresh fish, Seattle has some of the best sushi I have ever had.  One of my favorite sushi places to eat was call Wasabi. It is located in the heart of Belltown.  Parking can get tricky, so I usually just took an Uber there.  It is definitely worth checking out their Happy Hour for good prices on sushi.  Wasabi–Seattle

While I feel like there are probably better Korean BBQ restaurants, the one I frequented had an unlimited meat option for $25/person.  I would literally starve myself and chow down at dinner time.  The servers were always impressed… or disurbed… I’m not sure which one. Palace Korean BBQ has two locations: Bellevue and Reston.  Palace Korean BBQ

We took a trip out to La Push from seattle and stopped at Hurricane Ridge and Sol Duc Falls in the Olympic National Park.  If you have more time I would suggest you check out more spots in ONP.  Dogs are not allowed on the trails so we couldn’t go to more places since we were bringing my dog out to La Push.  To go here you will need to purchase an Olympic National Park Pass.Sol Duc Falls

La Push is the location where they filmed the movie Twilight. We stayed in a cabin within walking distance to the beach.  You can purchase a $5 pass to build a fire on the beach.  The sunset was beautiful.

There is another beach, easily named, Beach 2. It’s down the street from La Push and has a short hike trail to the beach.

On a clear day, I suggest going to Crystal Mountain and take the Gondola ride up the mountain.  It is dog friendly and you can eat lunch out on the patio with 360 view of nature including Mt. Rainier.

Here are a few easy hikes you can go online to purchase a day hiking pass:

Wallace Falls: (requires Discovery Pass)

Heather Lake (requires Northern Cascades pass)

Lake Twenty two (requires Northern Cascades pass)

Oyster Dome (requires Discovery Pass) Note: We hiked 5 miles to the top and found out from other hikers that there is a midpoint we could have started at lol.

Larrabee State Park (Requires Discovery Pass)

A harder hike was at Mt. Rainier National Park: (No pass required)