Skip to main content

A Seattle Travel Guide for Writers, Readers, and Artists

Travel Journal of Seattle, Washington

Now that the world is opening up a little again, are you making vacation plans? I am so ready to start really traveling again! I get a lot of inspiration when I travel and always come home refreshed and filled with new creative ideas. 

Last month, we traveled to Seattle. It's one of our favorite local vacation spots. It's only a three hour drive from our house so we've made the trip up a few times since we moved here. It holds a special place in my heart because it was my first introduction to my (new) home state. The first time I visited I never imagined I would one day live in this evergreen paradise.

Seattle is different than it was when I first visited. It's grown (maybe too much) but it still has it's charms. If you are looking for a place to vacation this summer, where you can escape the heat, Seattle is a great choice. Here are my recommendations for a visit.

Inspiring Things to See

Fish at Pike's Place Market

Glass Sculpture at Chihuly Museum

Fish at Seattle Aquarium

Glass Sculpture at Chihuly Museum

Glass Sculpture at Chihuly Museum
Burke Museum Display

Burke Museum Display
  • The Space Needle It's a tourist cliche, but you have to do it. We went up in 2017 and I that's when I realized how much the city was growing. So. Many. Construction Cranes.
  • The Chihuly Garden and Glass On my first visit, I wasn't expecting much more than what I saw of Chihuly's glass sculptures in Vegas, but I was wrong! It is a breathtaking display of sculpture but the museum also does a great job of sharing the creative process. I left feeling inspired.
  • Seattle Aquarium I love aquariums, don't you? When I was looking over my Seattle photos it struck me that I bet Chihuly has found sculpture inspiration at this museum. It might be fun to go to both the glass museum and the aquarium in one day and compare and contrast what you see.
  • Museum of Pop Culture If you are traveling with kids, music lovers, or film fans (particularly of  the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres) this museum is a must see. 
  • Pike Place Market A fish market by the pier, fishmongers put on a show tossing fish to one another. There's also great stores, handcrafts, and unique food booths.
  • University of Washington Campus This university is known as the "ivy-league of state colleges". You can take tours and see their "Harry Potter Library", cherry trees, and architecture complete with follies (gargoyles without water spouts). The campus is also home to a small but excellent Burke Natural History Museum The displays are so creative and amazing to look at.

Eats

Coffee and danish at Storyville
Pizza at Serious Pie

  • Serious Pie Delicious Pizza. You know I make pizza and when we were having dinner here, I was furiously taking notes from their menu for topping ideas. 
  • Storyville Coffee We stopped here after we all felt incredibly frazzled from the noise and crowds of Pike Place Market. It's across from the market and upstairs. The doors open and the silence washes over you. The coffee and treats are excellent too. The perfect escape for an introvert. As I write this, I'm wishing I could spend an afternoon writing there.
  • If you are driving between the Portland, OR area and Seattle, stop for a meal at La Tarasca in Centralia. It's the most authentic Mexican food around. So authentic that you won't find chips and salsa. But seriously, I'm from Southern California and this is some of the best Mexican food I've ever eaten. 

Can't go to Seattle? Lots of shows and books have been based in and around the area. I'm obviously not the first person to be inspired by this lovely city.

Shows & Movies

  • Snoqualamie Falls. A short drive from Seattle, this is a beautiful waterfall. The lodge at the top was where Twin Peaks was filmed. 
  • Rosyln Washington (outside of Seattle) was the where the show, Northern Exposure, was filmed. Did you love that show as much as I did?
  • Some of the high school scenes in Twilight were filmed in Kalama. A tiny town between Portland and Seattle.
  • Do I even need to remind you that Grey's Anatomy and Fraiser both take place in Seattle?

 Books

  • Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple (Also a movie.)
  • Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (You can visit the Panama Hotel in Seattle, which is the location of the hotel in the book. Be sure to stop in at the teahouse where they have historical artifacts left behind by the Japanese who were sent to the internment camps.)
  • Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (There's also a Netflix series based on the book.)

Have you been to Seattle or do you live there? Leave travel suggestions in the comments below. 

Do any of these photos spark an idea for a story or other piece of art?

 

 

 


Comments

  1. MichelleMay 10, 2022 at 7:52 AM

    My husband and I love to visit Seattle, and we've been there several times. I have happy memories of going to a Seahawks game in Nov. 2020 - that blissful time before we knew anything about a pandemic. The Seahawks won, we took a seaplane tour, and visited the Chihuly gardens. So much fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. NicoleMay 10, 2022 at 12:20 PM

    It's been many years, but my strongest memory of Seattle is the giant sculpture of a troll under a bridge, holding an actual VW Bug. I hope I didn't dream that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laura BrayJune 2, 2022 at 11:31 AM

      I've always wanted to see that troll sculpture. I'll have to find out if it still exists!

      Delete
  3. Dana BarbieriMay 12, 2022 at 4:48 AM

    Thanks for taking us along Laura. I'm glad you're traveling again. What other trips do you have planned?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laura BrayJune 2, 2022 at 11:34 AM

      I'm not sure yet. I know I need to get organized on that!

      Delete
  4. AnonymousMay 15, 2022 at 6:34 PM

    I love getting breakfast at Odd Fellows on Capitol Hill followed by an extended visit to Elliott Bay Bookstore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laura BrayJune 2, 2022 at 11:35 AM

      I'm putting both these suggestions on my list! I did buy my mom a poetry subscription from Elliot Bay Bookstore in the past, but have never been to the shop itself.

      Delete
  5. HeatherMay 17, 2022 at 10:29 PM

    Fantastic recommendations! I am definitely adding that Mexican restaurant to our list. My husband’s absolute favorite is the coconut dream buns from Mee Sum Pastry in Pike Place- they are amazing! We stop multiple times every trip. We also loved Chihuly and MoPop. The International Fountain at the Seattle Center is also a favorite stop, especially during the summer.

    We have heard great things about the art museum but haven’t had a chance to check it out. Have you been?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laura BrayJune 2, 2022 at 11:36 AM

      The art museum has been on my list for ages. I will get there eventually!

      Delete
  6. LoriMay 18, 2022 at 10:10 AM

    You know, as close as Seattle is, I haven't been to most of these places! When I think of going on a quick vacation I always default to the coast, I forget what a great little trip Seattle is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laura BrayJune 2, 2022 at 11:37 AM

      We should go on a retreat to Seattle one of these days!

      Delete
  7. Kari June 15, 2022 at 1:04 PM

    This year, my husband and I might go to Seattle for the first time, so I'm going to save this post. :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Roasted Tomatoes and An Empty Nest

          We are in the sunset days of child-rearing. Our daughter is now a busy senior in high school, with a part-time job and driver’s license. Often, there is one less face at the table, one last voice to talk about the day.      Our meals are simpler now as we no longer have to prepare healthy meals to fill a growing body. As my husband and I sit alone at the table we realize our work now is to reconnect with another, make our way back to each other. Back to the days before daughter came into our lives and the hours of our days were filled with feeding and nurturing her.      Now we turn towards nursing our aging bodies which, as it turns out, need much less food than growing bodies. We are moving away from large meals. Often, I place simple meals on the dinner table along with small glasses of wine to remind us that now we can fully sink back into the early days of our marriage.      Only it isn’t l...
22 comments
Read more

Tuesdays are for Writing

I was thinking about how much I enjoy reading about other people’s days. Do you? I hope so, because I’m going to share some of my days with you over the next few weeks. We’ll start with Tuesdays since they are my favorite day of the week. I set Tuesdays aside to write most of the day. No loads of laundry. No errands. Morning The day starts like all my days lately. I wake up at 7:00am. My husband brings me a coffee in bed while a journal for 30 minutes. I recently started setting a timer for my morning journaling because I could spend hours going round and round on the page, ruminating. By setting a timer, I get what I need to release out, but don’t circle down the drain. After that, I get up and immediately go and exercise for 20 minutes. Right now, I’m loving Pahla B’s workouts. They are quick and meant to be for 50+ women. After the workout, I do a 10-minute mediation and am ready to start to my day. I dress and shower and then head to breakfast. Breakfast is the only meal I...
18 comments
Read more

Building a Cookbook Library

I collect cookbooks.  I know I could look-up just about any recipe online, but I can't give up my cookbooks. I love sitting down with a stack of cookbooks and planning a holiday meal or dinner party. Sometimes, if I'm feeling bored or anxious, I'll pull a favorite cookbook off the shelf and just read it. I love the photos. I love to daydream about making the dishes. Sometimes they inspire me so much I get up and bake something. To me, cookbooks are so much better than cooking blogs. Is it just me or have they gotten impossible to navigate? First there's the pop-up ads that always seem to crash the website at the very moment I'm rushing to check how long the brownies are supposed to bake. By the time I reload the website, I have burnt bricks of chocolate. I also hate the long, drawn-out stories before I get to the actual recipe. Don't get me wrong. I love a good story behind a recipe. Heck, when I share my recipes, I usually give you a story. What I hate about mo...
20 comments
Read more

Sketchbook Musings

       I sometimes wonder what my grandchildren will think if they flip through my sketchbooks?       When they pick-up my Botanical Wonder Sketchbook will they see that I was an avid gardener, deeply in love with nature? Will they marvel at my account of almanac-like posts and see a personal account of climate change?      When they flip through my Recipe Sketchbooks, they will see the Ambrosia recipe I wrote down and illustrated, based on my great-grandmother's recipe. Will they be inspired by notes on our family tradition Taco Nights? Or maybe they will already have Taco Nights and realize where the tradition started.      When they look at my Artist Sketchbooks, they will see that I designed a line of rubber stamps, based on my love of tea and gardens, and notes for some of my embroidery designs. Will they be inspired to learn how to embroider or explore their own creativity?      When they look at...
14 comments
Read more

The Sugar Thief

I should have known Stacy was going to be trouble the day I watched in horror as she sprinkled sugar onto her bowl of macaroni and cheese. Anyone with that much of a sweet tooth should not have been allowed within fifty feet of one’s sugar collection. I've moved to Substack. To finish reading this personal essay, click here .
15 comments
Read more

Curiosity and Experimentation in a Writing Practice

  Experimentation is a big part of my life. When I work on my visual art, I always strive to find new techniques to improve my work and make it more interesting. When I cook, I try new recipes, tweak old ones, and use new ingredients. The list of experiments goes on and on. Now I try to bring that same air of curiosity to my writing practice. My Writing History When I first started writing, many years ago (before computers! gasp!) I wrote my first drafts in longhand, in journals then they would get typed up. Eventually, I moved to a word processor, which allowed for some editing on screens but I usually stuck to handwriting to start. Computers came along and it took me awhile to write directly into a Word document. I think I finally crossed over into writing my drafts electronically around the time my blogging began in earnest. But now, as I’ve begun my journey to take my writing more seriously, and am working on writing an actual book, I’ve found that I have gone back to h...
14 comments
Read more

Finding Your Purpose in Midlife

For the past few years, I have been struggling to figure out what I am going to do with the next stage of my life. I closed my business, and my daughter will be leaving for college in a year and a half. A new season of my life is dawning and I am feeling lost. The last time I felt like this was when my daughter was a toddler. I was winding down my career as a business consultant, looking for ways to live that allowed me to be the primary caregiver for my daughter and still feel fulfilled. It was an uncomfortable time, and I spent the first two years of her life flailing around, trying to find my purpose. The thing that saved me, that set my life back on track all those years ago, was reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron . I worked through the twelve-week program and came out of it an artist. It is fair to say that it completely changed my life and served me well for a good fifteen years. Now here I am again, feeling another momentous change is on the horizon and I am unsur...
15 comments
Read more

The Garden Through the Years-June

This is our sixth year gardening. It's been a journey, every year we learn a little more. The garden has not only taught us how to grow plants, but also how to have patience and hope. It's taught me the healing power of nature. It has helped my husband and I grow our marriage through planning the garden and working side by side. It's inspired me creatively. Every year, I usually share a monthly update of my garden during the summer months. I'll continue the tradition this year, but I am also planning to share the garden's growth over the past six years. I'll show you what it looked like each month over the years. We started our garden in 2017, about 10 months after we moved to the Pacific Northwest.  My husband built our raised beds and we put up temporary fencing around the perimeter to keep the deer out. It was cumbersome to get in and out of the garden and it didn't deter the deer or the bunnies. They found a way in regardless. We grew tomatoes (too many)...
24 comments
Read more

What Lies Beneath

  Since I last wrote about my garden , a lot has happened. And a lot hasn’t happened. We went from a wet spring to a few sparse weeks of beautiful summer weather, and then roared into blistering heat. My garden, unable to contend with Mother Nature’s mood swings, had suffered. Between heat waves, I would wander into my garden and, instead of looking to see what was growing, I looked for destruction. Which crop failed this week? The beds, usually lush and beautiful, have big bare spots where the vegetables failed to grow. Our potato plants, which seemed to be the only crop that survived the wet spring, had dried and brown foliage, leaving me to wonder if my Irish blood somehow invited blight. While the garden withered so did we. Heat, illness, and general malaise made us wither almost as much as our garden. In the midst of this ennui, my husband and I trudged out to face our wilting, seemingly dead garden, ready to pull the dead plants, and to grieve over the failed plot. ...
12 comments
Read more

What I haven't told you

  I told you how I started making art, when a surprise pregnancy, at the height of my business career, propelled me into an identity crisis and I went in search of who I really was. I worked through The Artists Way , discovered a love of art in my past and built a new identity around that. I hung that idea high and called it my North Star. The stories I told around that idea supported it. I talked of my love of art and how my wicked art teacher took that dream, stomped on it, and sent me fleeing into the business world. But that is not the whole story. I didn’t leave out parts of my story to lie, I just brushed past them to connect with my creativity. I didn’t tell you about the literature classes I was taking in high school. Beloved teachers taught my literature classes and they opened the world of literary criticism for me. They most decidedly were not like my wicked art teacher, they supported and encouraged me. I didn’t tell you there were always stacks of books piled up ...
12 comments
Read more