I'm in love with Pikes Place Market.

So, here I am in Seattle. And in spite of missing my husband dearly, I am having a great time.

It took a little while for me to get in the swing of this whole traveling alone thing. It's not the first time I've done it, but I don't do it often. Last night I was so proud of myself--I actually went and had dinner at a REAL restaurant all by myself! It was actually pretty cool, because they had a "tasting bar" that put you right in front of the chefs, so I plopped down there and chatted with the cooks and got to sample a few things besides my delicious crab cake. It wasn't the most comfortable thing ever, but I did it. :)


This morning I did a food tour of Pikes Place Market. And I am officially in love. Holy crap, that place is A. MA. ZING. It's full of all different kinds of food, including the famous fishmongers tossing giant fishies, the most vibrant and lucious produce EVER, and flowers... beautiful, beautiful, beautiful flowers. For DIRT CHEAP. I can not explain how it made my heart ache that I can't just gather up armfuls of those suckers (which would have cost me about $20) and take them home. I considered buying some to keep in my hotel room since I'm going to be here for a while, but decided against it. I'll hardly be in there to enjoy them. I spent hours there today... oh, how I wish there were markets like that in Richmond. (Note to self: Go to more farmer's markets, find some semblance of Pikes Place near home.)


I also went and checked out the Olympic Sculpture Garden, a lovely, peaceful park right on the harbor. I plopped down there and had an iced coffee drink and read my book for a while and refreshed a bit before making my second trip to Pikes Place. :)


After I brought my purchases back to my hotel, I popped into the Seattle Public Library, which is a block away from where I'm staying over the weekend. Surprisingly, the library is one of the big tourist stops here. The architecture is super cool (no, not a technical term to describe architecture). I was in the mood for something a little more low key for dinner tonight (after my love affair with the market lightened up my pocketbook a bit...), so I just went to a shopping center down the street and ate some cheap asian food.

Tomorrow, the plan is to hop on a ferry and go across the harbor to a little place called Bainbridge Island, then come back and do the underground Seattle tour. Oh, but FIRST! I'm headed back to the market to this little French bakery for a pain au chocolat... which makes me drool just thinking about it. :) Then I'll have to head out towards the airport to the hotel where my training is and actually take care of the business that brought me here in the first place. :)

Now, I'm sitting in the lobby of my hotel with my free wi-fi, sipping on a scrumptious apple martini and checking out the crowd... life is good.