Seattle

Jetted up here for the weekend to catch 'SC play against the Huskies. Since I was arriving so late into Seattle, I chose to stay near the airport so that I can take the light rail into downtown in the morning and not spend the middle of the night trying to find the hotel in the city. Luckily, I chose the Hampton Inn Seattle/South Center conveniently located next to the Tukwila Metrolink station. From my understanding, the light rail is relatively new to Seattle. For $2.50, who can beat that price to get into downtown Seattle with no traffic? The Hampton seems relatively new especially because the window coverings isn't your typical curtains but a cellular shade. The airport shuttle runs 24 hours and will pick up when you call them. If you're ever leaving out of the United terminal, you will always be at Island 1.

Took the shuttle to the Tukwila Sound Transit Station. The light rail looks really nice and clean. There was about five people by the ticketing machines to help people figure out how to purchase their fares and direct traffic. I've never seen so many people to help out, I can only surmise that the newness of the rail required that number of personnel.


Moved to the Hilton Seattle in downtown Seattle. This is my first time in the Hilton as my previous visits has always landed me at other hotels. Since I was checking in early, I didn't get my original room assignment and opted to take a corner room. In this case, the corner room meant it was smaller than the typical room on the same floor. Nicely decorated and pleasantly comfortable despite the small size of the room. There is free internet in the lobby and lounge, so it wasn't a big issue for me as I hung out at the lounge at off times. Didn't experience the breakfast or complimentary evening snacks as I was out and about in Seattle, I'll have to try on another trip. The bartender did tell me that the restaurant and room service wasn't worth getting unless it was a last resort for food.

Went to UW campus and have to say that the campus is fairly picturesque. Even the stadium was nice with the lakes as a backdrop. I managed to leave downtown Seattle 30 minutes before game time and was able to get to the Husky Stadium, park on UW campus, walked to the stadium, bought some tix and sat in my seats just as the teams were running onto the field. Despite losing the game, the stadium itself was an easy place to get to as well as good seat viewability even at the nosebleed level. A word of advice, carry lots of cash as the concession stands don't take credit cards. They do have good chowder available, the dogs are ok.

My friend had an annual pass to the Space Needle and we decided to drop in before heading out to dinner. I was able to catch a couple of birdeye views of buildings I recognized. The Hampton Inn Seattle and Homewood Suites Seattle Downtown brought back my memories of my last trip to Seattle, saw my friend's apartment building and even the Husky Stadium in the distance.

Had dinner at Marakesh Moroccan Restaurant. I've had better moroccan food but it was probably very good by Seattle standards and reasonably priced. I had the rabbit, was cooked a little too long. My friend had the lamb, that was right on. There was this phyllo ground chicken appetizer that was super tasty and the lentil soup was very good. Otherwise, an adequate meal.

The next day, I met up with another friend for breakfast in the Queen Anne area. One of the older nieghborhoods in Seattle, it was cool to see traditional victorian homes in this hilly area. We ate at the 5 Spot and had very tasty banana pancakes with coconut rum syrup. My friend told me that the restaurant goes through themes and this particular month it was Puerto Rican.

I later went to some upstairs bar restaurant in the Market Place with another friend who lived nearby but I can't remember the name. I only had a seafood chowder since I was still full at breakfast and is no one's loss if I can't remember the name. The one thing I really appreciate about the Market Place is that you can buy unwaxed apples AND the apples are nice and crisp. Must be the cooler climate! Being it was a Sunday afternoon, was able to see the Market Place chock full of vendors and was almost tempted to buy this glass bowl. Luckily for my wallet, I was flying and trying to bring that home would have been difficult.

Spent the afternoon shopping in the downtown area. After getting tired of walking around, my friend picked me up and took me to the "internatonal district" slash Chinatown. Ate at the Green Leaf Vietnamese Restaurant because of Yelp. I do not share in the 4 star consensus as I've had better rice dishes. My friend's Hu Tieu was good so maybe it is more of a soup restaurant. I think I would have been better off eating Chinese in that area and looked for Vietnamese food elsewhere.

I opted to fly home really early Monday morning and decided to move back to the airport area and ensure I don't miss my flight in the morning! Staying at the Hilton Garden Inn Seattle/Renton. The HGI is a little out of the way when it comes to airport location but you can't beat that there is room service, small bar, and mini fridge in the room. It actually was the cheapest Hilton property near the airport beating out the Hampton Inn I stayed earlier. The people were really nice, the front desk even tracked me down when someone called the hotel to talk to me. The room is the largest I've been so far in the trip, ironic huh? The only drawback is that they don't have 24 hour shuttle service.