My Favorite Things to do in Seattle — Paulo and Josh's Great Adventure

With Memorial Day around the corner, I started to panic. Our friend Jared will be visiting and I hadn't booked our sea-plane tour, or made dinner reservations, or researched day hikes. I don't even know where gays eat brunch. So I sat down with a notebook and some coffee and opened up a tab to The Stranger. It made me giggle. Last week, we tried to find things to do on a Friday night and it was all poetry slams and performance art and sci-fi fan boy events. All I was looking for was a mellow indie concert where I could drink lavender-infused gin. So instead we made dinner and watched episodes of Silicon Valley. I sent Jared the link to The Stranger's Things to Do - there were lots of fun things for sure - but I also made a surprisingly long list of things that we had actually done. I thought I'd share it, especially if you're one of our friends and want to visit us, and partially to remind me of how many happy things we have in Seattle. Truth be told, I get homesick, and thinking of all the fun things we do here cheers me up.

THE BEST THINGS

View of Seattle and Mt. Rainier from Kerry Park in Queen Anne

The best thing about Seattle is really the landscape. In 15 minutes from anywhere, you can be at a park overlooking the Puget Sound, Lake Washington, or Lake Union.

Bike the Burke Gilman Trail to Ballard Farmer's Market. This is my favorite thing to do. It's open year-round, so in the middle of winter, I can get swiss chard and pancetta for pot pies, eat a smoked salmon hash on the sidewalk for breakfast, and watch all the perfect couples in their Patagonia down jackets walk their dogs.
Run (or walk) through Discovery Park. Whatever you do, stop here to take in the view of Queen Anne and Bainbridge Island, and if you're up to it, run down (and back up) the steps to go to the lighthouse beach.
Drive to Seattle's best vistas and have a picnic at the best one: Kerry Park overlooking downtown, Olympic Sculpture Garden overlooking Puget Sound, and Gasworks Park overlooking Lake Union. And if you want to punish yourself, hop on Zillow and look at the nearby home prices when you're in Kerry Park.
Kayak at Golden Gardens. Watch all the happy people playing volleyball on the beach. Avoid speedboats and fishing tours.
Get a bird's eye view of Seattle from the Kenmore Air seaplane tour ($100/person for 30 minute tour). Not for the claustrophobic or acrophobic.

HIKING

Everyone here is dressed to go hiking, so that whenever you ask, they can just throw their backpack stuffed with their camelback and granola bars into your car. Below are the hikes we've done. Josh wrote more about these. Or he owes you/me some blog posts.

Wallace Falls
Deception Pass
Ross and Diablo Dam
Rialto Beach
Mt. Rainier
Ancient Lakes
Boulder River
Quinault River

SEATTLE'S SETTLERS

Flury & Company Native American Gallery in Pioneer Square

The landscape has drawn pioneers of all kinds, and they have brought traditions and relics that inspired many of today's must-see Seattle landmarks. The original settlers were, of course, the many Indian tribes who planted themselves on the Puget Sound's coasts for the abundant salmon runs, including those on the Shilshole and Salmon Bays. Likewise, in the late 1800s, Scandinavians settled in Seattle as loggers, farmers, engineers, entrepreneurs, boat builders, and fishermen. And around the same time, prospectors flocked to Seattle in the Gold Rush, bound for Alaska, and Chinese and Japanese pioneers migrated here to work as laborers for railroads, mines, canneries and sawmills, followed much later by Koreans, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, Southeast Asians, and South Asians.

ONLY IN SEATTLE

Josh's mom Jean in front of the Fremont Troll under Aurora Bridge in Fremont

Eat donuts and buy flowers at Pike Place Market and the new Marketfront.
Visit the original Starbucks (sorta) and Starbucks Roastery (like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory for coffee).
Take the ferry to Bainbridge on bike. Ride 20 miles around the island. Or ride 5 miles, eat gourmet pizza, and buy bamboo toothbrushes.
See Orca whales chase after salmon on the whale watching tour.
Watch ships come in at Ballard Locks.
Take a selfie with the Fremont Troll.
Buy actual books made of paper at Elliott Bay Book Company and sit in on Wednesday book club or watch hipsters in their natural habitat read books through thick-rimmed acrylic glasses and drink coffee at Little Oddfellows.
Visit the Space Needle and Pacific Science Center (I'm partial to the butterfly room)

OUTDOOR GEAR AND ACTIVEWEAR

REI Flagship in Downtown Seattle, complete with biking trails, climbing walls, and they even used to have a shower to test gear before you buy it.
Outdoor Research in SoDo
Filson Flagship in SoDo
Rapha on Capitol Hill
Metier on Capitol Hill
LIKELIHOOD sneaker store on Capitol Hill
MiiR in Fremont

REAL SHOPPING

Totokaelo's home section in Capitol Hill

Totokaelo for the high-fashion-lover. I bought most of my work clothes at Totokaelo, so I have lots of oversized pants, shirts, and jackets Editions M.R. and J.W. Anderson that billow in the Puget Sound salt-air breeze. It started here in Seattle and did so well online (selling 60% of its revenue through its website) that it also opened a 5-story store in SoHo, moved to an old bank in Nolita, and has plans to return to the Soho building.
University Village for the stores you know and love. I go to feel like I'm somewhere else or to buy cooking utensils from Williams Sonoma. Also they got a Juice Press so I'm there like every day now.
Glasswing Shop for the Kinfolk-reading maker/writer/artist.
Division Road for the urban lumberjack.
London Plane for the hostess/florist.
Moorea Seal for the girls who believe in the power of women, crystals, statement sunglasses, signature fragrances, and the art of stationary.
Watson Kennedy Fine Home for the host/hostess, gift-giver, cheerleader, tastemaker.
Peter Miller Books for the architecture/design/drafting tools-lover.

FOOD

After hiking, dining out is probably the second biggest - and probably my favorite - way we've really enjoyed Seattle. I particularly like it because of the ambience. Seattle has a real coastal town vibe, much like Cape Cod, which makes it feel closer to home. It's hard to pick which are my favorite restaurants, but as a package, I'd say that I really just enjoy being at Renee Erickson's restaurants, which all feel intimate, casual, elegant, and happy in a very East-Coast way. The food is inventive, fresh, and beautifully presented. My new favorite dish had fried fish skins, with salmon roe, watermelon radishes, and creme fraiche. There are several other restaurants that are equally amazing, and in no particular order, here are some things that we really liked:

Renee Erickson restaurants: The Walrus & the Carpenter, The Whale Wins, and Bar Melusine. We have yet to try the others. I want to buy her cookbook. And maybe a beer coozie.
Black Rice, Black Cod, and Tuscan Kale at Manolin in Fremont. But seriously, just bring 3 friends and get everything on the menu.
Octopus and short rib at Joule in Fremont.
Bolognese at San Fermo in Ballard.
Geoduck at Taylor Shellfish on Capitol Hill.
Ethan Stowell restaurants: There are so many. I've only been to Tavolata (Italian) and Frelard Pizza Company, but am on a mission to find someone to accompany me to How to Cook a Wolf.
Harry's Fine Foods in Capitol Hill: This place is straight out of West Village. It's so charming with its little chandelier/sun-lit garden patio and everyone there is painfully cute.
June Baby in Ravenna. Good luck getting in. Since it got the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant, it's been swarmed.
Momiji in Capitol Hill is just one of those places that everyone loves. My friends who recently moved happened to be sitting next to us at the bar without my knowledge until I looked up to pay the check. There was something on the menu that sounded like "king" or "crown" or something at that was all my favorite sashimis (salmon, tuna, white fish) in a tartar with avocado and a delicious sauce on top. If someone figures out what it is called, please tell me.
Tamales with mole sauce at Fonda la Catrina in Georgetown.
Shakshuka at The Fat Hen.

BREWERIES

I have to confess, I have only been to one brewery in Seattle because I'm confident that we have the best one in our neighborhood, Fremont Brewing. It's on the water, it has plenty of outdoor seating, you can get food delivered or bring it with you, and there are kids and dogs everywhere. But there are LOTS more breweries. Here is Seattle Eater's list of best breweries.

COFFEE

Seattle is known for its coffee, and here is a list of my favorite places.

ART

Last, but certainly not least, there are some great art museums and galleries in Seattle. We got a membership to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) when we arrived and saw Yayoi Kusama's exhibit after it left the Hirschorn. And my friend Jay introduced me to some cool galleries in Pioneer Square, several of which you can find here. Below are some of the big art museums: