I don’t tend to write blog posts that are about my personal
life. I write about my thoughts and feelings all the time, but they are all
focused around my horse. That being said, this weekend was really special to me,
and so I want to write about it. So, my apologies for the people who only want
horse content (there is some, I promise!).
This weekend was my and my husband’s first wedding
anniversary. Our first year of being married has been great. It sounds so
cliché, but he is the rock in my life. We have been together since high school,
so we’ve grown up together. We’ve been by each other’s sides through the
difficult process of becoming adults, and all of the struggles that accompany
that. He is so supportive and loving and is my best friend. I cannot imagine
life without him. Alright, I won’t get too gushy, I’ll get on with the real
story which is our anniversary trip!
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One year ago today |
We managed to have the foresight to get married the same
weekend as Veteran’s Day, so we’ll always have our anniversary on a three-day
weekend. We decided to celebrate by going on a short road-trip up to Seattle
(about a six hour drive for us). We both grew up living overseas and so one of
our favorite things to do is go to a new city together and just explore. We had
never gone to Seattle together and since it was close it was a logical choice.
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One Year Wedding Anniversary |
We drove up on Friday morning. Jin drove, since he loves to
drive, and I hate it. It was an easy drive up, we hit very little traffic and
we arrived at our AirBnB around noon. We dropped off our bags and then
immediately went to the Light Rail station to catch the train to downtown
Seattle.
I don’t know how we got so lucky, but the weather was
absolutely gorgeous. There was a chill breeze, but it wasn’t cold, and we had
solid blue skies. It ended up being perfect because we really just walked
around the city all day. We started off by going to the International District,
specifically, Chinatown. Both Jin and I have a real love of Chinatowns in major
cities. Jin is from South Korea and so misses Asian culture, but additionally
he lived in NYC’s Chinatown for a solid year while in undergrad. I lived in
China for two years and so think of it as one of my homes. Seattle’s Chinatown
was really fun to explore for an hour. It is smaller than other Chinatowns in
the US, but there was plenty to see.
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Chinatown in Seattle |
We started off by going to a little restaurant called Harbor
City Restaurant which was a dim sum place. When we walked in, I knew it would
be good. There were roasted ducks hanging by the window, the menus and signs
were almost entirely in Chinese, and pretty much everyone in the restaurant was
Chinese. We got seated and almost immediately a dim sum cart came around. Jin
had never been to a real dim sum restaurant and so I had to explain to him how
it worked. Yes, you can order food from
the cart. Yes, the cart will come around again. No, please don’t eat the leaf
that the sticky rice comes wrapped in. Yes, I know what I’m talking about,
don’t eat the leaf. It was a novel experience for him, which was fun to be
a part of. I have a limited diet (no mammals) and so I ate some things from the
dim sum cart, but I had my heart set on Peking duck and so we ordered a half of
a duck. If you’ve never eaten Peking duck, then you are missing out. It is by
far my favorite Chinese dish. Unfortunately, it is hard to get in the US, and
it’s even harder to get good Peking
duck. They roast a duck until the outer skin is crispy, then cut it into thin
slices. They bring out either steamed buns or little pancake-like wraps, the
duck, sliced green onions, and a brown savory/sweet sauce that is perhaps
hoisin sauce (I call it the “BBQ” sauce, but it’s not actually BBQ). It is
really easy to cook duck incorrectly and so this recipe is easily butchered,
but we lucked out. This was excellent duck and I was so excited!
After we were stuffed with delicious Chinese food, we knew
where we wanted to go next, a Japanese supermarket called Uwajimaya. You guys,
if you are anywhere near Seattle, go to this store. It was AMAZING. It was
filled to the brim with imported Asian foods and other goodies. Jin and I both
lived in Asia, and so it was like a taste of home to be there. We went a little
bit crazy and managed to spend a little over a hundred dollars on snacks and
small gifts for people, but no regrets! We bought ramen noodle snacks, mochi,
Tom Yum Pretz, Japanese sour candies, Jin got three different beverages,
adorable little keychains of animals dressed up as sushi, and really cool
little Lego-like toys called NanoBlocks. So worth it!
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The Gum Wall |
Once we had spent too much money at the Japanese market we
went took the Light Rail to Capitol Hill where we had the basic idea of walking
towards the Space Needle, but really didn’t have a true plan or destination. On
our walk we just took in the city and enjoyed the nice weather. Before we knew
it, we had stumbled onto Pike’s Place, so we checked out the market. I hadn’t
been in Seattle in literally years, so had totally forgotten how large Pike’s
Place was. It’s enormous! Some highlights were watching the fisherman perform
their “act” of throwing a dead fish & traumatizing tourists with a fake
rubber flounder that appeared to suddenly start moving on the ice, watching the
sunset over the water, and watching an artist paint a portrait of a couple. Jin
was especially excited when he discovered a model toy shop, so of course he
bought himself another model car.
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Pike's Place |
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Post Alley |
We were walking out of Pike’s Place when I spotted a booth
that had hand-made mugs with dogs on them. I was just sort of looking, not
planning on buying anything, when I saw a mug that had Eden on it! And by “had
Eden on it,” I mean there was a dog’s face on the mug that exactly matched that
of my dog.
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Sally Christopher Dog Mug from Pike Place Market |
The woman was packing up her booth, but I was able to hastily
purchase the mug and I’m so excited about it! It wasn’t until we got back to
the AirBnB that I checked out her business card and noticed that she is 100% a
fellow equestrian. So, if you are ever in Pike’s Place, go find her booth. Us
equestrians have to support each other!
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See the tiny horse photo on the bottom right corner? |
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Yep, it's a perfect match |
After Pike’s Place, Jin and I continued our walk to the
Space Needle. When we finally got close though I chickened out. I am terribly
afraid of heights and I saw that the elevator went up the outside of the tower,
presumably so that you can view the city as you go up. My fear of height also
applies to elevators, especially glass ones, and so I knew that it would freak
me out. Jin is the best and so he was ok with not going up. Thank goodness for
supportive husbands. On that note we turned around and started walking the
other way.
On our way to the nearest Light Rail station we found was
appeared to be the main shopping district. It was really similar to NY’s Soho, except
for, as Jin put it, “so much cleaner than Soho.” We checked out a ritzy mall,
but we weren’t really in the mood to shop, so we just walked through and saw
the sights before taking the train back to the AirBnB.
I broke this post into two to make it a bit more manageable of reading chunks.
To read part two click here.
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