Tuesday - May 29, 2012 11:00AM - well after a mega sleep (for me at least) we woke up at 11:00am on our first full day in Seattle. We quickly dressed and headed to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast. Needless to say breakfast was long over but they honoured our $18 pp breakfast credit vouchers which were included in our Visa Platinum package. So we had a cup of soup each and shared a BLT with lashings of excellent coffee - Dieter kicked started the day with a Bloody Mary - all up it was free after applying our credit. We also got a late check-out until 3pm.
We went out for a 1+ hour walk along the waterfront which has many restaurants (sort of like Fisherman's Wharf in SFO), ending up at Sculpture Park. Along way was a 500m boardwalk with patrons names engraved on the railing. Just after I told Dieter to look out for "names of people we knew" I spotted "Bill and Melinda's" names. Upon returning to our hotel, we checked out and took a taxi to our new hotel, the Inn at the Market. Our new hotel, booked on a Luxury Link package, was great - perfect location, right at Pike's Market and we had the best room, a suite overlooking the waterfront. After checking in, we took a walk around Pike's Market and bought a load of fresh berries for brekkie - our suite has a minibar which is essentially a kitchenette so we self-catered for brekkie. Dieter headed off to Avis to book a car for the following day while I hit the shops where I snagged a half-priced top at Nordstom's. Upon returning, we got stuck into our complimentary bottle of French Champagne before showering for dinner.
Our hotel, which does not have it's own restaurant, has an arrangement with a couple a restaurants literally next door where we had a $100 credit. So after showers etc we went to Marche Bistro where we had an excellent dinner - salads for entrees, for mains, I had mussels and Dieter had a Waygu steak. then off to bed with an early jump the next AM.
Wednesday, May 30. We got up early, had a quick breakfast of berries and yoghurt which we had bought at Pike's Market the previous day then headed out at 8:30am to pick up our hire car from Avis. It was again cool (10-20C) and overcast. We drove to the Olympic Peninsula some 3 hours drive south and past the the city of Olympia, the capital of the Washington and home of my old school friend, Cali. We stopped at the Quinault National Recreation area - at the picturesque Lake Quinault Lodge where we had an early light lunch . While the lodge is historic it's food left a lot to be desired. After lunch we did a bush walk - almost 2 hours along the lake and through the scenic forest with it's huge cedar trees - one of which boasted to be the largest in the world and some 1000 years old. We then drove (2 hours) back to Cali & Frank's place in Olympia. We had a great time catching up the past 50 years and had a nice dinner - they have a great location right on Puget Sound. Frank has an amazing collection of antique cars - mostly "Jags" so he and Dieter had a bit of fun checking them all out. We left around 9pm for the 1h20m drive back to our hotel arriving home very tired.
Thursday, May 31. We both had a restless night - ah jet lag!!! we had leisurely shower and breakfast - eggs benedict for Dieter; berries and yoghurt for me. It was raining and cool (high teens) - it stopped late AM so we set off in our hire car and visited a number of sites in and around the city - mainly scenic outlooks and a park/lighthouse. We had lunch at a waterside restaurant, recommended by out hotel, Ray's Boathouse. It was hopping and we had a pretty good light meal. We then dropped the car back to Avis and did a bit of shopping (I snagged some Ralph Lauren gear at half-price) - we then walked the 5+ blocks to the Bank of American building where they have a viewing area on the 73rd floor; except that it was still very overcast, the view around Seattle is spectacular - it's 3 times higher than the famous Needle. We walked back to Pike's Market for a happy hour drink at one of the bars then back to hotel to start packed before dinner and an early departure the following day. Dinner at Matt's in the Market was excellent - wild caught salmon for Dieter and sea scallops for me; we also shared an appetiser of morel mushrooms.
Friday, June 1. Up early for our flight to Ketchikan ….