A Quick Layover in Seattle
Time for our 13 hour layover in Seattle.
My brother drove us to the airport. I shared with him my questions about what people do in the forests west of Portland, and the other weirdo questions I had. He told me that some people use some of the abandoned quarries as shooting ranges. His former coworker would run into them when he was hiking and looking to do the same thing. Yikes.
Welcome to Seattle
We made it! The plane ride was only 30 minutes, and we dropped our bags at a luggage storage in the airport and took a Lyft into town. The luggage store is reasonably priced, and we later paid about $20 bucks for them to hold our rolling carry-ons.
Seattle - Chihuly Garden and Glass
I wrongfully assumed that the brunch place I wanted to go to was open at 8am. Turns out, it's only open that early on the weekends. Fortunately, the Chihuly Glass Garden is walking distance from that restaurant. We headed over to check the work out.
If you didn't know, this is the same guy who did the colored glass ceiling in the Bellagio. That style of his art is undoubtedly the most familiar, his other works are probably more beautiful!
In case you're like me and ask strange questions, the museum employs people who have degrees in fine art to clean the glass. The teams come late at night or early in the morning to clean the glass with... Baby diapers! They're the least fibrous of materials, so nothing gets left behind on the glass they wipe. The degrees in fine arts ensures the person cleaning knows how to handle it.
Seattle - Tilikum Place Cafe
In an episode of Anthony Bourdain's The Layover, he headed over to this place for their Dutch Baby. They did it in this Eater episode too!
I got the classic Dutch Baby with lemon, while Tam got their special that day. It had green peppers, onions, and he added Pike's Place Cheese to the omelette! A+. It's really eggy, kind of like eating a thick pancake soufflé. I highly recommend coming here, but make sure you get reservations before you do. We were here when it first opened, so we got seated right away. People after us had to wait up to 1.5 hours!
Seattle - Pike Place Market
Plus side is that this place is a 10-15 minute walk away from the brunch place we went to. My favorite thing about this place is that they have beautiful wildflowers all the time. I love walking through the market to look at them. Since they're seasonal and I've been to Seattle different times of year, I've rarely seen the same flower twice.
Tam had me try this place that had a oyster cocktail and a shrimp cocktail. Both of them were good. I used to hate marinara sauce, but I've found I like them better when the sauce is homemade.
Seattle - Pike Place Chowder
Maybe too quickly after eating breakfast, we stood in line for this place. It's pretty popular, and infamous for having beaten the east coast in chowder tastes and recipes. They also have a flight of sorts here. I don't recall which we ordered, but I remember liking the seared scallop chowder.
SeaTac - Beecher's Cheese
We eventually got tired on this layover and headed back to the airport. If you love cheese, and you love Beecher's, go to their kiosk at the airport. They're stocked with most of the popular cheeses, and they have a 4-year Aged Cheddar that's really the most amazing thing.
It's crumbly, and has a sharp cheddar taste. Some parts of it are crunchy, this is due to some of the lactose crystalizing during the aging process.
Plane Ride Home
We got on the plane! Yay. Alaska Air was a surprisingly pleasant flight home... Save for the fact Tam woke me up to fill out the declaration form 3 hours before we landed... And there was a child sniffling behind me. Overall, it was a great trip! I can't wait till our next one.