Day 2: Nick got up around 7:00 to get a little work done. I slept in until 7:45. It was great. Admittedly, during this two week break my schedule has been wildly unorthodox and unhealthy. This trip so far has actually been a great reset.
We were out the door by 8:45, on our way to a coffee shop, Uptown Espresso- Belltown, a few blocks away and one of several in a local chain. They had good coffee, an abundance of cute dogs happened to be accompanying other patrons, and they even had a drink that combined cider and chai… which Nick ordered, as those are his two favorites. Though I’m not actually sure how he ended up feeling about it.
Our plan was to go from there to Biscuit Bitch, for a number of reasons: close by, great reviews, looked yummy, and of course with a name like that…. Unfortunately it would be the first of several disappointing and unexpected closures. They had a sign on the door saying they’re unfortunately closed the entire week.
I’m briefly going to take a moment to do a little bitching… despite posting Valentines and Thanksgiving closures on their Instagram, they didn’t post this one. Google business hours were unchanged. The leather shop we wanted to go to, announced 12 hours before the closure that they would be closed, through a tweet. We missed it and found ourselves disappointed at the door. AND then the pasta place we had planned for dinner, also closed, not on the instagram or the website link from google, as their link through Google bypasses the “enter website” part and went straight to the ‘welcome’…
All places we really wanted to try. All places we will probably try to get up here again to try… but all places I will have a little less respect and desire for and will never give a five star rating to, because if I google you on a day that isn’t a holiday, a day you would normally be open, and it says you’re open. BUT YOU AREN’T and I wasted time driving, walking, gas (thusly money). to get there, on MY vacation, I’m always going to harbor some reservations about trying you again.
ANYWAY…. after reaching the biscuit place and finding it closed, we trekked to Pike Place Market, which is really quite cool. They were just opening most of the stores when we got there, which was nice, it wasn’t too crowded and we got a chance to explore. We had breakfast at Lowells, upstairs, by the windows, with a great view of the water and the ferris wheel.
Afterward we spent another hour exploring the Market and then after a quick stop at the near by Target, started the trek back to our place. Now at this point it was about 40 and raining. There’s ice covering half the sidewalks. It was a slow, cold, wet walk.. but nice to see the city and to do together. We got our 10,000 steps in!
We spent almost two hours back at the home base, decompressing, warming up, drying off. Then we geared up for round two, which meant hopping in the car and heading down to the market again. There we stopped quickly for some warm pork buns, that were devoured on the way to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. I’ll definitely be posting some of the videos I took on other platforms, it was really cool.
A calming, informative, thought provoking exhibit for sure. They really focussed on the unique use of colors and light Van Gogh used to really bring his work to life. It was really cool to see some of his studies together and really compare. His self portraits, sunflowers, and similar landscapes. A vibrant, fun, and new way to experience the art, for sure. We did wish they had done more work to emphasize the use of texture in so much of his work.
We left there, were disappointed at the doors again before landing ourselves at Mox, one of the board game cafes in town. There we enjoyed some drinks and two rounds of Patchwork the board game. For dinner we found ourselves at Bizzarro Italian Cafe… which was a bit weird, but really wonderful. Enjoyed the atmosphere immensely. Funky lights and chandeliers, church pew benches, weird and mismatched paintings, moroccan lamps, and the floral skeleton thing. Its a vibe for sure. The food was good, the service was great.
After dinner it was still pouring and cold, so we stopped quick at Midnight cookies and headed back to the condo for another cozy night in. Cuddled, shared Tiktoks, and then Nick fell asleep, just in time for me to do a little writing, stretching, and shower. Tomorrow is another big day.
Coffee & Conundrums 