The photos above were some of the best parts of the road. In one area, they had received 22 inches of snow in a day and had a lack of proper freeway clearing equipment. The freeway was a sheet of ice with piled up snow in between the lanes. There were record low temperatures in the area and with the regular high amounts of moisture this side of Washington usually receives, this made for a lot of snow and a lot of people who didn't know what to do with it. There were all sorts of vehicles in the ditch, including trucks. We were glad to have the 4x4 on the Ranger. We had to make the decision to cut our day of driving short and aim for the Seattle area instead of going all the way to Oregon. Sorry Phone Guy and Princess, we really would have like to come for a visit, maybe next time we'll make it the whole way!
We decided to drive to downtown Seattle and get a hotel close to to the Space Needle. We have always wanted to stay in this area and were excited to finally have plans to do so. We booked a night at the Warwick Hotel. When we reached our 17th floor hotel room, we opened the door to be met by such a beautiful view!
You can see a sliver of the Puget Sound in this photo to the left of the building. It was so cool to be able to see bodies of water to both sides as well as the Space Needle.
The hotel gave us a great map of downtown. It showed us how to walk to the Space Needle, Seattle Center, Pacific Place mall, Nordstrom, Westlake Center and even Pike Place Market. When you are walking in the area around the malls, there are tons of cool places to shop including Anthropologie, which is one of my favorite stops. If you have never been there, browse their website, it is so inspirational for style and home.
This is a waterfall at the REI Seattle store. I have photos of The Mr. in front of this waterfall when we were dating so it brings back fun memories. The REI Seattle store is such a fun stop and actually a tourist attraction as well as a fun place to shop. The only thing we bought was Chukar Cherries as they have a fun set up where you fill your own bags with the flavors you want.
From the ski department, you could look out the window across the freeway and see an accident that had happened earlier. Busses transporting teens to the Seattle bus station found themselves slipping down a steep street and almost careening onto the I-5 freeway below! Thankfully there were only minor injuries. The bus drivers were unfamiliar with the area I guess. Maybe street maps should have road grade percentages on them as well! Here is some info and a video.
It was the last weekend before Christmas and down town Seattle was a ZOO!
The Warwick hotel was within walking distance to so many of our favorite places to see.
Nordstrom has a neat light display near their escalators, the lights hang the entire height of the building and they are just a little different each year. They are always so pretty!
Pacific Place Mall. While we were there it "snowed." They play fun Christmas music and real snow came down from above!
When we got back to our Hotel it was fun to see Seattle all lit up at night.
The next morning.... beautiful blue skies!
this was seriously a cool post. (bus crash aside)... I felt like I'd been there. and wow, you got some truly lovely shots!
ReplyDeleteWow what an awesome trip even though it was not the one intended!! Ü
ReplyDeleteCORALEE!! WHY HAVE YOU NOT TAKEN ME TO ANTHROPOLGIE???? That looks like a seriously awesome store! I've never been there. Take me there! Thats a great pic of you and Thaddy wack, too bad he isn't looking at the camera.... :)
ReplyDeleteKimberley- we should definitely schedule a downtown Seattle shopping trip next time you come solo for a visit. You would love Anthropologie, it's so inspiring. The cool thing is, that if you map out where you are going there is a lot of fun shopping lining the streets. There is even a Ross somewhere down there.
ReplyDeleteAh Anthropologie...one of the greatest stores ever!!! Fun post reminding me of some of the great reasons for living in the Pac NW (bus crashes and untreated roads aside).
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a fun weekend, you got some amazing pictures. It would have been fun to have you guys but there wouldn't have been a whole lot to do other then play in the snow as the majority of places were closed down here from the snow.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photo essay of a Seattle experience. When you do visit Oregon, keep in mind that you pass within 4 miles of our house before you hit the Columbia, and my coffee maker can brew a full pot in 3 minutes!
ReplyDeleteLovely REI shot. I heard that there were "tourists" taking pictures of the bus accident from REI--now I know who they are :) My sis-in-law Heather and I once spent almost 2 hours in the Seattle Anthropologie. You might want to tell your sister to work A LOT of overtime before you take her there...the shoes are pretty cute : )
ReplyDeleteThank you ladies!
ReplyDeletegourmet girl- do you know of any other good shops in the area? I wish there were more shops of that style around.
Sjo- we still want to come some time... maybe when there is a little less ice on the streets! :) I miss you guys.
kdk- we'll keep that in mind.. thanks! I would love to come see your new place and visit.
Brooke- thanks for the warning, I'll make sure to let her know. Everyone knows how much she likes shoes... it will be a costly trip!! I'm more likely to get sucked in by the kitchen stuff as it's a lot cheaper than shoes!