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Dan and I have just returned from a 7-day cruise across Alaska’s Inside Passage with Dan’s parents, a stunning adventure which I will detail over the next few posts.
Our cruise embarked from Seattle, Washington, and Dan and I flew out a few days early to poke around. We had only spent time in Seattle together once before: 8 years ago, when we took a nearly identical Alaskan cruise. We have been itching to go back — both to Alaska and to Seattle — ever since.
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Touristy as it may be, I will never visit Seattle without at least one visit to Pike Place Market, with its stalls of crab legs and fresh pastas and lush flowers.
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I was not the only person smitten with the market’s flower selection. On our third (yes, third) visit, we stumbled upon a bride and groom snapping their wedding photos among the peonies.
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Dan and my favorite discovery from this trip to Pike Place Market: Marnin Saylor and their “Pastry Pets” booth.
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Marnin and Saylor are a married team of creators with an impeccable sense of design — their Pastry Pets experience extends right through the packaging, the stationery and business cards, even the little tongs that Marnin used to wrap up our new Maple Bear.
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After the market, we also took a side trip to the adorable neighborhood of Ballard. I was on the hunt for a local Art-o-mat, and Ballard hosts the only one in the Seattle area. (See Art-o-mats in Winston-Salem and Santa Fe.)
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We found our Art-o-mat within Venue, a quirky gallery-shop comprised of work by Seattle-based artists. Dan brought home a toiletries bag repurposed from an old sail.
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Ballard is also home to Hot Cakes, a bakery specializing in molten chocolate cakes. Because of course.
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Back in Seattle proper, Dan and I made a last-minute decision to take a spin on the Seattle Great Wheel, a 175-foot Ferris wheel hovering over the bay.
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The Seattle Great Wheel would have been tremendous fun… except that I was recovering from a sinus infection, and apparently the combination of inflammation in my ear canal and the motion of the Wheel triggered a bout of vertigo that would last through the entire cruise and eventually send me to the ship’s Med Bay for drugs. Joy!
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Coming soon: Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and more!
Dan bought a bag. I am shocked I tell you. Shocked. (ignore my garage wall of bags)