Bucket List #36 | The Pink Door

The last stop of my birthday tour was at a funky, fun Italian restaurant on Post Alley in Downtown Seattle. It's called "The Pink Door" and literally has no sign, just a pink door. You walk in and go down into the "underground" part of Seattle to an impeccably decorated bistro/hipster joint. It had live music and fantastic food.

The whole experience felt very Seattle-esque. It was a little funky, lots of hipsters hanging out, good music and lots of fun.

I LOVE going to fancy places where you need a reservation. I don't know why, it just makes me feel so cool. Like I'm in the "know."

We had a great time and I'm glad we were finally able to sneak away for a grownup meal downtown. We'll definitely have to do it again!

Bucket List #68 | The Great Wheel

The second thing Landon took me to do for my brithday was to ride The Great Wheel downtown. This is definitely a cheesy tourist thing - but it's one of those cheesy tourist things that you'd feel lame if you'd lived in a place and never done. It's not crazy expensive, but enough that I never really wanted to pay for all four of us to go - especially factoring in parking and a whole day downtown, all that fun stuff. So I was really glad when Landon planned it as part of my birthday extravaganza!

While it IS cheesy - this was seriously fun! We went right at dusk so we could still see the view over the water, but the city was all lit up as well. 

The scenery was amazing and it was kind of romantic and quiet and just us. Literally, because on a Wednesday night we were the only two people there! Which meant we got to go around a few extra times. :)

I probably wouldn't call this a "must do" in Seattle - but if you're looking for a fun date night we thought it was a blast! And we're really glad we went. We'll rate it:

Bucket List #56 | Seattle Art Museum

For my 30th birthday, Landon wanted to make sure I knew that our adventures aren't going to stop just because we're getting older and more responsible. :) To that end, unbeknownst to me, he asked some good friends to watch our kids for almost the entire day so we could cross some things off the ol' bucket list. It was amazingly thoughtful and a great day!

The first place we stopped at was the Seattle Art Museum.

There are two main reasons it took us so long to go here. The first is that two young kids + priceless art = not the most relaxing time ever. The second is that we just always assumed that it was way out of our price range! Little known fact, if there are no special exhibits showing, the SAM is operated based on donations, and you get to choose the amount. So conceivably we could have got in for $1/each! Good to know for the future.

I should have taken more pictures...but I was too busy having a great time! The top floor has a great collection of African art, antiquities from Greece and Rome, and an Arabian/Mediterranean display. Plus some other cool stuff. :)

We also loved this cool "Italian room", which is an actual room moved from a house in Chiavenna, Italy, built around 1550:

And now I must have these windows in my library someday. :)
My favorite part was the glass display on the middle floor (which I didn't take a single photo of because I guess I was too amazed). Now I'm psyched for the Glass Museum. They also had some modern art, some of which we liked more than others.

I also must have a cool dictionary page hanging somewhere in my house.

All in all, we had a super fun time at the Art Museum, and will hopefully find our way back someday! We rate it:

Bucket List #88 | The American Girl Store

Confession again...I have been to the American Girl Store. Dozens of times, in fact. I can't help it, the 9-year-old girl in me just squees inside whenever I see those pretty dolls. I was lucky enough to have my own Samantha doll and a "Girl of Today" growing up, and they were some of my most-prized possessions.

Anyway, when my sister came we decided it was time to splurge and take the girls to lunch at the American Girl Cafe! So I guess it's finally time to blog about it, also. :)

It was honestly so much fun. I loved taking my daughter into what I'm pretty sure Heaven looked like in my mind when I was a child. The food was actually pretty good and not that expensive, either!

This was the first time I let Zuzu walk around the store also, and she definitely showed some interest. :)

I kind of can't wait to get her a doll of her own. :)

Bucket List #42 | Market Theater Gum Wall

It's no secret that we love Pike Place Market. It's the first place we take anyone who comes to visit us, and probably our top recommendation in the city. In the summer, you'll definitely fight crowds, but the doughnuts (and the Beecher's mac and cheese!) are well worth it.

Despite having visited dozens of times, we had avoided one random curiosity of the market for far too long. The Market Theater Gum Wall is super nasty. Finally one day this summer, with one of Landon's mission companions in tow, we braved it, solely out of a need to fulfill our bucket list. And good thing we did, too, because they recently cleaned all of the gum off and started over!!

There's not a whole lot to say about it - it's a landmark, so you have to do it once, and it's in a few movies if you're into that sort of thing.

However, while it is interesting in its own way -- I don't really think we'll be back.

Bucket List #55 | Underground Tour

(Ok, I'm still behind. Better late than never, right? Right???)

While my mom was in town, we did tons of fun crazy things - but this was probably the craziest. :) Sadly, Landon didn't make it on this adventure but, you can't win them all.

There are 2 underground tours in Seattle. We went on the newer/cheaper one, "Beneath the Streets," mostly because the time worked out better for us.

Seattle was a gold rush town. It was built along a main street leading down to the water, and they initially had a lot of problems with sewage because the city was right at sea level. Then there was a huge fire and the city was mostly destroyed, so they decided to take that opportunity to regrade the whole thing, but the business owners didn't wait. They rebuilt businesses while the road was being raised an entire story. So when the road eventually got filled in, there were a lot of storefronts left underground.

Now you can walk beneath the streets and see them!

It was fun to learn about history and see the unique way that Seattle is laid out. Our tour guide was great and knew what he was talking about.

He showed us sections that were restored, sections that hadn't been touched since they were buried, and a section of the underground that has now been turned into a comedy club. Pretty interesting stuff!

Overall, we had a really fun afternoon and I'd definitely recommend it.

Bucket List #13 | Alki Beach

A couple of weeks ago, the weather was straight up GORGEOUS. It was like 70 degrees outside. Landon had to work so I worked on some projects and played with the kids, but I started to get restless. I went in where Landon was working and said: can you be done in about an hour and go to the beach with us? He's a good sport, so we packed up and left!

We ran into some pretty bad traffic, which was annoying, but once we got to Alki we found an amazing parking spot, loaded up our stuff and staked out a spot on Alki Beach. Alki (way on the South end of Seattle) is famous for it's actual sand and it's view of the Seattle skyline. It's also the only beach in the area where you're allowed a fire. Because of these factors, it's also extremely crowded and very touristy. There are a ton of little shops and restaurants around.

We only stayed for a few hours, but it was a beautiful afternoon. Something that is good to know: there are a very limited number of fire pits, so honestly if you want to do a fire you need to get there pretty early in the day. We lucked out and a nice woman who was holding a spot for our group let us start our fire and cook our hot dogs while she waited for them to come.

Overall, Alki was a pretty fun trip and I'd be happy to do it again, especially if we had a bit longer and got there earlier. That said, Discovery Park is still my favorite beach in Seattle. 

Frye Art Museum

We were so fortunate to have Landon's Dad in town for an afternoon last week. I love living in a city where people often travel for work. We see a lot of extended family and friends that way. :) While he was here, we went on a few adventures. (Obviously!)

The Frye Art Museum was actually Grandpa's suggestion. It's a fun, classical and modern art museum with rotating exhibits right near downtown. And admission is 100% FREE! Not only that, but they offer free parking in a decent sized lot right across the street. That was music to our ears.

We loved exploring the paintings and artifacts on display, and learning a bit about Dutch art and it's history. We spent probably an hour roaming around and enjoying. The museum isn't big, but it was definitely fun!

The best part was definitely watching this guy impart his love of art to our children. Although Walt was pretty insistent that every painting had something to do with Zelda....

 This wasn't on our bucket list, but if you're wondering:

I love that the museum is free and doable with limited time! Not super kid-friendly, but with enough adults to keep them out of trouble it worked for us.