Playing Tourist in Seattle and on the Eastside on a Beautiful Summer Weekend

I played tour guide and tourist in Seattle and on the eastside last weekend. I had family visiting me who had never been out to the Northwest. So I donned by tour guide guise and off we went. It was the perfect time to do this as the weather was just gorgeous and lots of fun “stuff’ was happening.

We started first at the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park. The park is a fabulous, dynamic place with interesting landscaping, views, and world-class sculpture. There are terrific views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. Plus, you get to see a lot of the harbor traffic. On Saturday, there were three huge cruise liners docked and ready to pick up passengers for a cruise to Alaska.

The Calder at Olympic Sculpture Park

Richard Serra at Seattle Olympic Sculpture Park

Next we paid a visit to Pike Place Market which, I’m willing to bet, was filled with people sightseeing around Seattle before they boarded one of those big ships to Alaska. It was mobbed, but still it was wonderful to be there. We ended up having a great lunch of gazpacho soup along with some take-out seafood appetizers. I had Alaskan King Crab, which was to die for! I also went to one of my favorite bakeries for dessert, 3 Girls Bakery, and had one of their rugula. We took home a whole wheat hazelnut-currant bread. All in all it was a pretty “tasty’ experience.

Saturday Crowds at Pike Place Market

Seattle's Pike Place Market

Gorgeous Berries

Check out these $400 truffles! Would you pay that much for imported French truffles? Amazing.

Expensive Truffles at Seattle's Pike Place Market

$400 Truffles!

After seeing all the salmon for sale at the market, we finished our day with a tour of the Ballard Locks, which were built 100 years ago to accommodate boats moving from Puget Sound to the Lake Washington Ship Canal. It’s fascinating to see the locks move the ships between the two areas. There’s also a fish ladder where you can view the salmon heading upstream to spawn and die. These fish are amazing to watch as they struggle against the tide, so to speak. The locks are one of my favorite places to visit in Seattle.

The Ballard Locks

On Sunday, we ventured out to the king of art fairs, The Bellevue Museum Art Fair, which is held in the parking garage of the mall. I know that sounds strange, but after 25 years of attending the fair, I’ve gotten used to the fact that it’s in a parking garage. (It’s so Bellevue!). There’s terrific art, crafts, clothing, jewelry, sculpture, you name it, at this fair. It’s hard to find a better art fair anywhere.

The fair also included some live performers.

Performance Art at the Bellevue Arts Museum Fair

There’s so much going on in the Seattle area and on the eastside in the summer. If the weather cooperates, as it did last weekend, it’s a fabulous place to visit. What are some of your favorite places to take visiting friends and family?

But most importantly, would you pay $400 to buy truffles?