By audrey
While DC has been loads of fun, with the excitement of inauguration and protest marches still lingering in the air, I decided to make use of my long weekend to travel to Seattle for the Lunar New Year.
This would be my fourth time here, and yet it never ceases to amaze. Seattle is a seaport city and is the largest city in Washington state. People often get confused between Washington DC and Washington state — the former, also the nation's capital, is on the east coast while the latter is in the west. Upon exiting SeaTac International Airport, I was greeted by a rush of crisp, fresh air and the omnipresent rainy weather. Definitely Seattle, alright.
It's unexpected, but my favourite part of Seattle has got to be food. I religiously go to Pike Place market, a public market that overlooks the Elliott Bay waterfront. It is one of the oldest farmers' markets in America and you can always expect to find ultra fresh groceries and handmade crafts. My favorite shops would have to be the Piroshky Bakery and Ellenos yoghurt - 2 homegrown brands that are simply phenomenal in taste and price. For the former, I usually go for the salmon one, and the Marionberry flavoured yoghurt for the latter. Oh, and the market is also home to the very first Starbucks! (Heads up though, there's always a long line, even during off-peak hours).
It was Chinese New Year's Eve the day after I arrived. On this day, families get together to have a reunion dinner. Being the typical Chinese and lazy college students that we are, my friends and I decided to have hotpot, which is basically a huge pot of soup with raw stuff like fish cakes and meat thrown in and cooked to a boil. The post dinner food coma was just magnificent.
On my last day, we drove 3 hours to Mount Baker. Alas, the picturesque view was short-lived as a snow storm hit soon after we started hiking. Thus, we didn't have a good picture of the summit. We were, however, lucky to be able to rent snow shoes on short notice as it was a popular weekend destination for the residents of Seattle, with its dual identity as a popular ski and hiking resort in the region. I honestly thought my ears/nose would fall off due to the biting wind, but thankfully, they were still intact when we trekked back to the car. Note to self: DEFINITELY BRING A BEANIE NEXT TIME.
Catching a flight back to DC tomorrow - in light of the recent immigration bans, I do hope my boarding process at SeaTac goes smoothly.
Adios!