Now that I have been reminded that Seattle is the Emerald City, all I can think of is the song “One Short Day” from Wicked. One short day is also all that we had, but I think we made the most of it.

We started our day with Hampton Inn breakfast supplemented by baked goods from blackbird bakery the day before. The Gluten-free Morning Glory Muffin was delicious. I had been told that it was like carrot cake (it was) so I used hotel-provided cream cheese to make it even more decadent.

We decided not to take the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle because the only available times were 8:30 and 11:10 a.m., neither of which fit our plans. The drive around was only slightly longer. We navigated to the 5th Avenue North parking garage and were delighted to find we could park all day for $20—in downtown Seattle.

Our main plan for the day was to visit Chihuly Garden and Glass near the Space Needle at Seattle Center. We walked the short distance there, admiring the Frank Gehry architecture of the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) on our way.

We purchased tickets at the kiosk outside Chihuly Garden and Glass. This was no problem is March, but I wouldn’t recommend it in summer—buy online in advance. We walked right in and were immediately wowed by beautiful glass sculptures.

There is a free audio tour to accompany the exhibits. Luckily I had two sets of earphones in my backpack and we were both able to enjoy the extra explanations and commentary. The blankets below are from Chihuly’s personal collection and served as inspiration for some of his glass work. For me, they connected to our Pendleton visit just a couple of days earlier.

We took our time wandering through the indoor exhibits, taking in the audio information and the visual experience. Fortunately, the crowds were not overwhelming on a Wednesday in March.

The area between the indoor exhibits and the garden is a “greenhouse” that allows for the juxtaposition of glass, sky, and the Space Needle. There are also old photos displayed of grand “glass houses” from the past, including the Crystal Palace, which I really wish I could have seen while it existed.

Maureen got the better Space Needle shot, so I’m sharing her pic here:

It was not raining (!), just a little cold, so we were able to enjoy a nice saunter in the garden. The glass amongst the spring greenery and blooming flowers was magical.

I noticed an Airstream in the garden, which looked cool with the glass sculptures but seemed odd. I thought perhaps it was a seasonal café. It was actually a hot shop! The glassblowers were not doing a formal demonstration, but talking as they were “making stuff,” which we found just as interesting.

By this point (after some time in the excellent museum shop) we were quite hungry. The on-site options at the Seattle Center were either overpriced or not interesting, so I used the Google to find other nearby options. We settled on Meekong Bar, because pho sounded good after our time in the garden. I went with the vegetarian pho as it was the only option with a non-beef base and Maureen chose the traditional beef pho, though she wished she had gone vegetarian. Both were very tasty and the atmosphere was calm and welcoming.

After lunch we went in search of cold medicine for Maureen and passed an historic (and now remodeled) fire station along the way.

We did not have a plan for the time between lunch and dinner, so we wandered toward the Pike Place Market, as one does.

We eventually were drawn into Hellenika Cultured Creamery by the Greek colors and the promise of interesting frozen dessert. They serve “cultured gelato” in unique flavors. We shared a small serving of Girl Scout cookie thin mint (no cookie in the gelato and Maureen ate the side cookie) while we walked around. It is a little more tart than regular gelato—I liked it.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, though it is sad to see that Seattle has suffered like many other downtown areas in the wake of the pandemic. We scoped out the monorail in case we wanted to ride it back to the car after dinner, window shopped at the adjacent mall, then headed to dinner to meet a good friend from Denver who now lives and works in Seattle.

Dinner was at Lola, a Mediterranean restaurant by chef Tom Douglas. The company was great and so was the food. I had a Greek salad (duh) and chicken skewers. Our friend had the salmon skewers, while Maureen chose the lamb chop (no surprise there, either). It was busy, but not overly noisy—great restaurant ambience. After a nice catch-up, we said goodbye and headed for the van. We opted to walk back, since it was still just getting dark. We had chosen to stay on the outskirts of the city to get a head start on tomorrow’s drive north and to avoid the downtown hotel prices (!) so we had about a half-hour drive. We arrived without incident and finished our “one short day” chilling at the Hilton Garden Inn.