Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The Emerald City at Christmas Time

Every couple of years, I take Robby and Katie to Seattle to stay a weekend and see the big city.  Growing up in such a small, country-like atmosphere, they really don't know what hustle and bustle means.  When we shop, we know the clerks in the store and often we know the owners/managers.  I like the small town atmosphere.  My kids are welcomed and comfortable here.  However, I also like the excitement of the big city with its beautiful buildings, activities, and crowds.  Yes, I love a great crowd.  That's a different topic, though.

We stayed for two nights at the Red Lion Hotel, right in the middle of downtown.  With the car parked underground safely, we stepped out and experienced different modes of transportation.  The monorail took us to the Seattle Center.  Both kids had ridden the monorail before, but who gets tired of that ride?  On Sunday, we took a taxi to church.  This was a new experience for the kids.  They were nervous and tried to get their seat belts on quickly.  Not an easy task, but the ride lasted a quick 5 minutes.

We shopped for hours on both days walking the main part of downtown to the Westlake Mall and surrounding shops.  Robby's favorite store was the Husky Store.  He added to his Christmas list there.  Katie loved Fireworks, where we bought Auntie Rochelle's Christmas present.

On Sunday, we spent a few hours down at Pike Place Market.  Watched fish get thrown, stuck gum on the gum wall and ate Humbow.  The kids had never tried Humbow before.  Robby chowed on it and declared it the best new food of December.  He wants us to try to make it.  I'll have to research some recipes.  Any suggestions from cyberland?  Katie wasn't as keen on the Humbow.  She liked the baked better than the steamed, but said the bread was a little too chewy.

Besides the window where we bought the Humbow, we ate at a couple of great restaurants.  We had lunch at the Tap Room.  Yummy and fascinated to look at the 100 beer taps they display (and use!).  We had dinner at the Sky City Restaurant in the Space Needle.  Incredible views and they had just installed a snow machine, so as we rotated around, it would periodically snow outside the window.

1 comment:

  1. The first thing I did when I got my own job was to take Mom and Dad to the Space Needle for dinner. I also remember loving that I could buy everyone wonderful gifts. I had a hard year not being able to do that- yet I need to accept this. Thanks for the card and the newsletter, I always love to read those. They are so creative and not a bore like so many of them can be.

    I am wondering if the restaurant has always been called the Sky City.

    Thanks for another joyful blog to read, they really help the slump.

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