Pacific NorthWest Trip Part II – Washington State
After spending about a week in Oregon we said good bye to that beautiful state and headed to Washington. It was amazing how quickly the scenery has changed from evergreens to almost desert-like landscape.
Our first stop in Washington was a tiny town of Toppenish – and when I say tiny, I mean TINY! It’s known for its giant historical murals that you can find all over the place. Walking around empty streets of Toppenish and checking out the murals I felt like I was walking on a set of an old time western movie – was expecting a cowboy on a horse show up at any minute – this place definitely had a very frontier feel to it.
Our next stop in Washington was Leavenworth – a super cute Bovarian town. I’ve heard great things about it and saw photos but even all of that did not prepare me for how adorable this place was. With people sporting lederhosen and dirndl, accordion music, giant pretzels and sausages and charming beautifully decorated buildings it was hard to believe we were still in Washington State! We spent a couple of nights and were so glad that we did – it was definitely worth a little detour.
We went on a few hikes – one to Peshastin Pinnacles State Park – it was not easy and some parts of it were pretty steep and challenging for a person with a fear of heights like me, but the view were worth it and we had the whole place to ourselves!
Our next hike was on the Sauer Mountain Trail – the views of the valley were pretty spectacular. I rebelled about doing another steep hike so we did not make it up to the top of the mountain, which was fine by me:)
Our last stop in Washington was Seattle. The drive from Leavenworth to Seattle took us through some amazing scenery including Stevens pass which was absolutely stunning – if you are ever in the area I definitely recommend checking it out.
In true Seattle fashion we were greeted with a drizzle – it did not dampen our spirits through:). I’ve been to Seattle once years ago for an interview at Microsoft and did not remember much of it. So we decided to explore the whole city – we started at Pike Place Market and walked all over the place checking out parks and cool murals till we ended up at the Space Needle. The views from Space Needle were pretty cool but was completely blew us away was Chihuly Gardens – glass works in this place were absolutely amazing and I cannot recommend this place highly enough.
After spending a couple of nights in Seattle we said good by to Pacific NorthWest, promised to be back and flew home to New Jersey where we hugged our girls and dog!
PRACTICAL INFO
Leaventhworth
Hotel
We stayed at Pension Anna, which was wonderful. It was literally a block from the main street, which was great because it was nice and quite in the room. But the town is tiny so it was really next door to all the attractions.
Restaurants
Andreas Keller – went there on our first time and it was wonderful – delish food and great music – a must visit!
Leavenworth Sausage Garten – when in Leavenworth you gotta have german sausage and have sausage we did! This no frills place had a line around the corner but was definitely worth it.
Sulla Vita – on our last night Victor said he was sausaged out so as disappointed as I was, we had to find a non-german restaurant. TripAdvisor to the reschedule and we settled on Sulla Vita on the main street. This place was great – one of the best Italians we’ve ever had!
Seattle
Hotel
I did a lot of research on where to stay and decided on Thompson Seattle, which was right across from the Pike Place Market. We’ve stayed at Thompsons hotels in the past and I’ve always liked them – modern with cool amenities. This hotel did not disappoint – it was not super luxurious but it was nicely done and the location could not be beat.
Restaurants
On our first night in Seattle we went to 2021 – it was the best meal of the trip! The decor was very cool – clean and modern, service was great and the food was absolutely amazing! We got a whole lot of things (I wanted to eat everything on the menu) and every single dish was better than the prior one. If you are ever in Seattle definitely do yourself a favor and reserve a table there.
On our last night we went to How to Cook a Wolf (with a name like that, I knew we had to give his place a try). It was a bit of a drive to get there from downtown and I am not sure if would go out of my way to go there. There was nothing wrong with the meal – it was pretty good but we could not even compare it with a dinner at 2021.
We also tried out Pike Street Chowder (a must), and Piroshky, Piroshky (just OK)
