What a whirlwind of a trip!  My non-stop flight to Seattle was diverted to Portland where I had to spend the night at a hotel, until a noon flight the following day.  Apparently Seattle experienced a winter storm they haven’t had since 1962!  However, my friend Gaynia and I made the most of it.  She flew on Southwest Airlines with no problem, and I on the other hand flew on American Airlines.  Since our hotel was in walking distance to many restaurants and attractions we walked a lot.  The only time we opted for an app ride was when it starting snowing hard again, after our lunch at Miners Landing and when we caught a round-trip ride to Nectar Lounge, where the reggae concert was held.

We kicked off Saturday night at Nectar Lounge where Fiji was headlining and it was amazing from start to end!  The vibe was great and it was nice to see such a diverse crowd.  AND… he was only a few feet away for most of the time, up until it was his turn to perform.  Spawnbreezie was also there, and I luckily managed to get in a hug and hello before the crowd finally started to take notice of where Fiji and his entourage was, to the left of the stage, at the bottom of the stairs where we managed to be the entire time.  My friend Gaynia got to experience first hand the craze and love the crowd had for Fiji and Hawaiian reggae.  I told her that he was basically a legend in Hawaiian reggae and that it was my first time seeing him on stage.

In addition to the concert we did manage to squeeze in some time to tour the city:

The iconic Space Needle had stunning views and I even worked up the nerve to lay on one of the glass floors near the stairwell, to take a picture 500ft above!  I smiled through some of the uptight tourist sneers of is she suppose to be doing that?, can she go there and do that?!  Uhh dummies (thought to self), the glass floor is for the thrill of standing on and taking pictures with if you are adventurous and bold enough!  No place for judgement here, why don’t you go to the science center across the street (bubble thoughts over my head) haha I only wish we could have done it in the evening.  The views were so beautiful and I’m sure night lights would have made it more captivating.

Fishermans Market Restaurant & Bar–  The food and service was great.  It was located next to the Great Wheel overlooking the harbor.  I had the prawns & chips and my friend had some type of seafood platter that had mussels, crab, lobster, shrimp etc.  We cleaned up our plates!

1000 Spirits is the bar and restaurant we went to when all of Miners Landing was closed Saturday.  I had olives and meatballs since I wasn’t that hungry and my friend had a seafood dish.  The food and service was good.

We ran into Pike Place Market on our walk back from the Wheel.  We cut through one of the streets and found the place!  We didn’t stay for very long but managed to take a few goofy pics with the sign and pig fixture close to the entrance.  Again, it was an icy night but we managed to get out, however we did not get to experience the joy of them throwing fish around, as I once saw on the travel channel.

The Seattle Great Wheel was breathtaking!  We circled around four times although they said it would only be three, and the views of the water and harbor were beautiful!  My friend is scared of heights but she managed to make it through with me on the Space Needle and this ride, kudos to her!

I booked the hour long Harbor Cruise by Argosy Cruises but it was cancelled due to inclement weather.  This is the one tourist attraction I was looking forward to because I wanted to see the skyline from the water.  Maybe next time!

We stayed at Homewood Suites by Hilton Seattle Downtown.  I loved it because it was in an ideal location.  It was next to a bridge that eventually led you to the piers where everything was, all of the above locations we went to.  It was easy to get around and it was close to the water.

Will I be back?  Most definitely!  If it wasn’t for the inclement weather we probably would have been able to squeeze in all that we had planned to do, but I’ll definitely return for the harbor cruise and the round-trip Victoria cruise to Canada.  Besides, I’ve already discovered that one of my favorite Hawaiian reggae groups, Ekolu, is set to perform at Nectar Lounge in April.  My ideal trip…reggae music and being by the water!

Thanks for reading about my trip.  If you’ve ever been to Seattle, please let me know what else I should check out when I return!

Haze- Blue Crush Travel

Pic:  My dish at Fishermans Restaurant, Seattle Great Wheel, the legendary Fiji at Nectar Lounge, 1000 Spirits, me posing on the glass floor at the Space Needle, my name on the Space Needle visitor board, airplane view of my landing into Seattle and harbor view from the Space Needle (clockwise).