Seattle Date Weekend

This past weekend, Shawn and I were lucky enough to spend a date weekend in Seattle. He flew out Wednesday for work and I followed Thursday late afternoon.

When it’s just the two of us, even a couple days feels like a lot of quality time together. 

Thursday

I arrived around 6:30pm and we headed right out to enjoy the city. Our first stop was the old wall mounted seats on Stewart. Shawn has a photo there from when he was a kid, so we had to take one too.

We then continued on to Old Stove Brewing for dinner, drinks and the incredible view of Elliott Bay at sunset. 

After dinner, we wandered along the harbor and up the stairs through Olympic Sculpture Park before scootering back to the hotel and calling it a night.

Friday

Friday was a full day of work for both of us. But after work, we made the most of the daylight by hopping on the water taxi over to Alki Beach. We cozied up in the adirondacks in the sand at Future Primitive with a couple beers before scootering to Salty’s for dinner on their outdoor deck overlooking the Seattle skyline. 

After dinner, we caught the water taxi back. The taxi itself is one of the best parts of visiting Alki Beach - especially when you return to see the city illuminated in the dark!

Saturday 

On Saturday afternoon, we started our date day with a visit to REI. We didn’t need anything, but the location is so cool that it’s always fun to visit. I said a couple times while we were there that it feels like a national park property - complete with a waterfall, bridges and a mountain bike trail!

Then we continued on for a late lunch at The Lookout. This place was in a neighborhood up on the hill, overlooking Lake Union. Perfect spot for a beer, a snack and a backyard garden vibe. 

Next up was another favorite - kayaking on Lake Union. There was a bit of a wind, but with the counter-clockwise route, we were able to paddle pretty easily. We just had to watch out for a few big boats (which I did not get photos of since during those times, I was paddling for my life! Lol!) The lake is such a cool mix of paddlers, recreational boats, sailboats, floating homes, yachts, ships and seaplanes! Literally every type of watercraft. It was a happening time to be on the water, so there was so much to see. We made it the full 3 mile loop around the lake, with the furthest point being Gas Works Park.

With a little time to kill before our dinner reservation, we wandered around the Center for Wooden Boats. Maybe one day we’ll be back in our camper van to try sailing one of their boats :)

The last stop for the evening was dinner at Duke’s. We had a perfect spot on the outdoor deck with a view of the sunset and all the activity on the water and some delicious fish tacos. 

Sunday

We tried to sleep in but still woke up around 8am, so we were able to pack up and get a jump on the day. After breakfast at the hotel, we started the day with a visit to Pike Place Market. We grabbed coffee from Pike Street Coffee, saw the gum wall, heard acoustic guitarists, saw the fish being thrown, smelled all the flowers and just generally enjoyed wandering around for a bit. 

Next on our list was a tour around Lake Union by scooter and bike! We started up the west side, across the adorable Freemont lift bridge and made stops at Freemont Brewing (so many beautiful flowers), Evo (surf, skate, snow, MTB) and the Freemont Troll.

We then continued by bike over to the Ballard Lock & Dam and then Discovery Park. 

The Discovery Park area was very wooded and so beautiful! We pedaled out to the beach with a view of the lighthouse. This would be a great spot to hike with more time, but since you can’t park Lime bikes / scooters here, we just rode through the park. 

On our bike ride back toward the east side of Lake Union (to complete the loop), we stopped at Gas Works Park and the Gas Works Brewery. Such a perfect spot to wrap up our date weekend with perfect weather, good food, a lovely view and of course, great company :)

Already excited for the next date weekend! 

Washington DC | Date Trip

In early May, Shawn had to travel to DC for a work convention. As we had a few times in the past, we decided to take the downside of working a weekend and turn it into something positive by turning it into a date weekend!

Shawn flew out Wednesday morning and I flew out Thursday late afternoon. While I didn't have much time in the airport lounge to grab dinner, I was treated to a first class upgrade - complete with champagne and dinner!

It was nice arriving at our hotel at 7:30pm and having it still be light out. DC is notably clean and full of beautiful architecture.

Within walking distance from our hotel was one of my favorite taco spots - Bar Taco. We jumped right into vacation mode with margaritas and tacos on the outdoor patio.

We both worked Friday. I worked at the Life Time Work Arlington location - just a short Uber across the river from where I was staying. I had full day of calls and work, but I did take a barre class over lunch and took advantage of the cafe for coffee and a smoothie for lunch. Love finding these locations while I travel.

After work, we sought out a couple locations Shawn had researched - starting with Zaytinya. This was an amazing Greek restaurant where we had kabobs, hummus and their version of a pisco sour. So good.

We had another stop in mind, but on the way, we went and toured through the monuments surrounding the National Mall in the dark. Zipping around on a shared Lime scooter, we were able to see everything illuminated at night. 

Our last stop for the evening was at the City Tap House for an app and drinks. 

Saturday started off with breakfast in the lobby and then Shawn having to head off to the convention. I had a couple stops in mind for the morning while he was busy. First was A Baked Joint coffee house and bakery. This place definitely had a following and had line to the door after I was settled in. I had an amazing banana maple oatmilk latte. Spendy ($10!) but worth it for a one time treat.

My next stop was to hit one of the Smithsonian museums. I landed on the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery since it was pretty close to the hotel. My favorite exhibit was the one of all the presidents. Shawn met me there toward the end of my visit.

For lunch, we made our way to the Wharf (again by scooter). This area had a very SoCal vibe - filled with nice restaurants, high end condos, a nice boardwalk and an event in progress. No surprise, we sought out another taco joint - Mi Vida. This one was also so good, but very spicy! We loved the heat wave and being able to sit out on the patio again.

After lunch, we continued our tour of the monuments. We went to the US Botanic Gardens, the Capitol building, saw the Library of Congress (you need to schedule an appointment to go inside) and Union Station. By then, we were ready for our evening checklist. 

We started with drinks and apps at the Dabney Cellar. Had we not had a recommendation, we never would have found this place! Due to the perfect weather outside, they said it was quieter than usual. This led to excellent customer service and a nice long stay for us. Our dinner spot came out of a recommendation from the Zaytinya waiter as a spot for great Pisco Sours. I believe China Chilcano was a Peruvian restaurant. The food - and pisco - were amazing. Ended up being such a cool spot we were glad to have checked out.

Our last stop on our last night in DC was at dLena. Shawn had researched this spot as a nice spot for drinks at the bar. However, when we checked in with the hostess, she said if we just wanted drinks (they were busy), she had space for us downstairs. This was like a speakeasy parlor that we would have never known existed if she didn't mention it! She took us downstairs where we entered through the arched entry into a bustling bar area with cozy seating and live music! Cool way to end the night.

Our last day in the city started out rainy. We still had breakfast at the hotel and then went to Big Bear Cafe just north of our hotel. This place also seemed to have a cult following and we had to wait in a line out the door for my lavender latte and Shawn's black coffee. But, it was delicious and charming. One thing I loved was that this place seemed to be a hub of the neighborhood. Looking around the packed cafe, everyone was engaged in conversation - no one buried in their devices. I really loved that. And they had a farmer's market outside with live music. 

The rain stopped and we just had half a day to spend in the city before heading to the airport. We wandered the mall so I could see some of the monuments we had seen in the dark also in the daylight, we had one more delicious meal at Bar Taco and we stopped at Founding Farmer's for drinks on their patio.

We had a great stay, saw lots of sites, ate amazing food and most importantly, appreciated the chance to connect outside of our busy family schedule at home!

St. Pete Beach, Florida

 Last week we took a family vacation to St. Pete’s Beach, Florida. This area was hit hard by two hurricanes in the fall (Helene and Milton) but we decided to stick with our plans since the hotels and restaurants that are open surely need the business.

We have been to this area many times (usually Clearwater), but this was our first time visiting in January. I liked dedicating all of December to the holiday season, but it was cooler in January. Our temps were in the low 50’s and 60’s, but we still spent almost every minute outside and had a great time.

Our first day / night we spent at our hotel, having drinks at the beach bar, playing in the sand and wandering down the beach to Salty’s at the Tradwinds. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn - which has super cute boho beach vibes in the lobby and a perfect outdoor space. The boys used the turf all weekend for soccer and football.

Our second day was spent at Legoland. We slept in a bit and then spent the day at the park until closing time. While all the kids had been there before, Brecken was only 3 last time so he had been asking to go again. Ryder isn’t a big ride guy, but the other boys went on pretty much every ride. We had perfect weather for the event and almost no lines. Favorites from the park were the mini Lego city and the 4D couch ride. 

We ended the day with dinner and Mastry’s (kids had Culver’s on the 90 minute drive). That place had cool vibes and good food, so we actually went back as a date later in the trip, too :)

On Friday, we departed early for a fan boat tour in Tampa Bay. This was such a cool experience. We had a great guide - with headsets to hear him educate us on the area and local wild life. Throughout the two, we drove in and out of rivers and bays in both shallow and deep water and got out a few times to walk around islands looking at plants, crabs and animal tracks. One thing Shawn & I loved was the soundtrack we could hear through our headsets of the kids chatting and giggling through the entire ride! 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool, playing on the beach and having dinner and drinks at Coconut Charlie’s listening to live music. 

The rest of the weekend was spent playing on the beach, visiting more beach bars for live music, sneaking out for a few dates in the evening, playing mini golf and feeding gators, visiting the bird sanctuary, spending tons of time on the hotel turf watching the kids play games they made up, enjoying everyone go to bed so nicely each night all in one room, laying in hammocks, playing rounds of pool at Sea Dogs, eating alligator at Crabby Bills, having giant bowls of ice cream from Baskin Robbins across the street, lots of walks on the beach, Logan and Shawn running Logan’s first 10k (on the sand)…

Our last day was spent at Life Time Tampa Harbour Island. We played pickle ball, had lunch, had a couple beers and went swimming / sat by the outdoor pool. 

We also walked along the river downtown before catching our flight.

At the airport, the Delta pilots also let Logan announce our departure over the speaker system!! He had told them he plans to go to UND to be a pilot :)

Overall, there was much less sunshine than we expected for FL, but we loved the active trip and were truly able to slip into vacation mode right away.