Earlier this month I traveled all the way to Seattle to converge with my best friends (and bridesmaids) for our second trip together! Two of my friends, Jenny and Sarah live in Seattle, while the remaining three of us, Tamiko, Shehani, and I, all live in Virginia. We stayed at Jenny’s apartment just outside the city and metro’d in for our adventures! I’m pretty sure I gained about 10 pounds between food, lattes, and boba tea, and desserts, but it was SO worth it.

Much like our trip to Chicago, we all splurged on the CityPass and enjoyed our time seeing the touristy sights. We started off Day 1 by going to Starbucks Reserve Roastery. I got the cold brew flight (yum) and split their prosciutto and arugula croissant (also yum) with Jenny. We then walked our way down toward the Public Market, stopping off to explore the architectural wonder of the library! After continuing to Public Market, checking out the gum wall (gross) and the fish tossing, we split a chowder sampler at Pike Place Chowder for lunch and enjoyed Rachel’s Ginger Beer next door! We finished off Day 1 with the Aquarium and Dim Sum!

Day 2 fell on Superbowl Sunday, which we didn’t realize until dinnertime would be an issue…since by then everywhere had closed. Why? You tell me. We decided to spend that day at Seattle Center and went to Biscuit Bitch for breakfast and then on to the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, and Collections Cafe for lunch. By the time we left the cafe it was snowing, so we walked back to the Space Needle. As it turns out, the CityPass includes a second admission time to the Space Needle at night so we headed there to try and catch some views before dinner. It was mostly a bust, but it did get us out of the snow for a bit! We decided to try and walk to a pizza place for dinner in the snow, which we all regretted about 2 minutes into the walk. And then when we got there disaster struck: it was closed for the Superbowl. WHAT? We trekked onward to a Pho place, and managed to catch them open (thank God) because by this point we all looked like drenched cats. Or maybe that was just me…

Day 3 and we were almost snowed in at Jenny’s! But we all walked (figure skated) to a delicious hot pot place near her apartment for lunch and tried to figure out if we could venture into the city at all. Our initial plan of going to the Museum of Pop Culture was put on hold because they had closed for the day due to weather, so we decided the next best option was grabbing an Uber to take us even farther away to Ballard. Our Uber driver did not have much experience driving in the snow so it ended…about as you would expect. He may have screamed just a bit as he locked his brakes sliding down a GRADUAL hill (at 2 miles an hour). I’m not sure if he made it home. He might still be driving around Ballard to this day, who knows. We perused a record store, inhaled chocolate lava cakes at Hot Cakes (oh my god…yes), and then my friends lost me at Ballard Consignment where I debated having thousands of dollars of home goods flown back to Alexandria, VA for me. We spent the next few hours playing board games at Mox and high-tailed it over to the Octopus Bar for some dinner, drinks, and trivia.

Day 4 we MADE IT to the Museum of Pop Culture, but not before enjoying probably the most delicious baked eggs known to man at London Plane. They had the most delightful assortment of florals and goodies for sale too–so English. After some much-needed coffee, we almost spilled our to-go mugs in the backseat of our Uber. Our driver, who at first seemed like a normal gentleman driving a minivan, clearly turned out to be a not-so-professional drag racer. At this point I’d take yesterday’s driving miss daisy, but alas. We made it to the Museum of Pop Culture where we spent pretty much the rest of the day. Right as golden hour was starting, I made us all hike up to Kerry Park in Queen Anne for some phenomenal views of the city. As we left we decided what better way to end the day (and our trip) other than eating our weight in Xiaolong Bao, going out for Boba Tea, and staying up until 1am playing Red Flags at Sarah’s place.

To sum up this trip, I’ll say this: I’ve known these girls since elementary and middle school, and even though we may only see each other once a year, I just know they’re the friends I’m going to have for life. I’m so glad I got to share these few days earlier this month with them, and I am so excited to show a few highlights of the trip with you all now!