Seattle Shortlist

I've been back from Seattle for almost two weeks now, but I still have one last post from that lovely city in the upper left corner of the USA. It's taken me quite a while to compile this post, maybe because I loved it a fair amount more than I thought I would and I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye. Here's my Seattle shortlist on where to eat, what to do and what to most definitely avoid.

First things first, the most important bit (to me at least):
Where to eat...

Oddfellows Cafe in Capitol Hill for a solid lunch and a whole lot of atmosphere. Make sure you get an order of fries while you're at it.

Afterwards you can pop by Molly Moon's for a serious ice cream feast (I'm still obsessed with their Lavender Honey Flavor). 
For coffee, I highly recommend Storyville (they have several locations, but I loved the one at Pike Market) or Stumptown, as always.

For dinner, I'd suggest heading back to Occidental Square to Bar Sajor, a lovely space with an open kitchen.

And my absolute favorite: The London Plane (you can read the full post here) for incredibly delcious, flavorful food and a beautiful concept store space near Occidental Square.

What to Do...
Personally, I think you should start your visit to Seattle off with a hike instead of exploring the city. Chances are you're coming from a city and have spent the last day in a car or at the airport so fresh air is exactly what the doctor ordered. Luckily, there are some great short hikes and sights just outside of Seattle, like Rattlesnake Ridge and Snowqualmie Falls.

You can easily do both of those in half a day. Now, you're ready to experience Downtown Seattle. Start out at Pike Market and walk your way through Downtown to the Public Library and Capitol Hill.

One of my highlights was taking the ferry from Downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island, giving you stunning views of Downtown and Mt Rainier in the distance. You don't really need to explore the island, but it's definitely worth the 8 dollar ferry ride.

While you should avoid going up the Space Needle itself, you should definitely head to Kerry Park for sunset and watch the lights turn on in the city below you, it'll give you a much better view and you'll be able to make some friends up there while you're at it!

Find the other posts on my Seattle roadtrips here and here. 

Roadtrip: Washington Coast

I had heard from multiple people what a magical place La Push was. It kept popping up in my instagram feed, followed by in the inevitable "it-took-us-5-hours-to-get-here-caption", so I put it on my secret wish list, assuming I'd never make it there. But, as always, Vincent was the one person that is always willing to go the extra mile for an adventure (you can read the first instalment of our adventures here) and suggested going there before I could even muster the courage to suggest the long trip to the coast, especially given the harsh sunlight would make taking great pictures virtually impossible. 

Armed with coffee and an array of wildly random snacks we started driving up the coast in the morning, stopping at Lake Crescent and other random spots along the way. Essentially, it took as much longer than the advertised 5 hours to finally get to La Push, because we're photographers and we waste way too much time stopping to take pictures everywhere. We hiked through the woods for about 15 minutes until we reached second beach. I grew up on an island, so I have a sentimental attachment to the ocean, but nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of La Push. It was one of those surreal moments where you couldn't even believe that you were going to get to the beach, after hours of driving and walking through the thickest forest. We stayed for hours waiting for sunset, but were surprised by fog just as the light turned golden. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day and better encouragement to always go the extra mile.

Shop the Post below:

Roadtrip: Seattle to Portland

On my second day in Seattle, we did the unthinkable. We skipped Seattle entirely and started our roadtrip through Oregon. If you ever head out to see the Pacific Northwest I highly recommend renting a car and trying to see as much of the surrounding nature as possible. Start out in either Seattle or Portland, but make sure you see the other city too! They're only 2.5 hours apart! I've driven in the states before, but this time it hit me again how vast this country really is.

We got up bright and early at 6 so we could make use of the whole day properly. This strategy of course included massive cups of coffee and keeping ourselves awake and alert by continuously eating.  Our first stop were the infamous Multnomah Falls. I'd seen this waterfall so many times in pictures, but I was so impressed by the scale of it, not to mention how great it was to be able to walk across it on a bridge.

Our next stop on the agenda was Trillium Lake with views of Mt Hood. We were hoping to capture the reflection of the mountains across the lake, but the weather was against us. It was extremely sunny and windy so we decided to just rest and take in the scenery instead of walking around the lake to get good shots of every angle.

After Trillium Lake we were hit with a sever case of hunger after over four hours of driving so we decided to head into Portland. The first stop on our list was Stumptown Coffee at the Ace Hotel. It was so interesting to be in the city were Stumptown began!

Stumptown left us recaffeinated and ready to continue exploring Downtown Portland. I was amazed at how many oldtimers we saw during my time there and I think I started annoying Vincent with my fangirling every time I saw one. If you're ever in Portland I would also highly recommend Heart Coffee, Blue Star Donuts (they're made of brioche dough!!) and make sure you check out Nob Hill for a stoll in an adorable neighborhood.

Last, but certainly not least, Salt and Straw ice cream. Over the past two years I had increasingly heard about Salt and Straw, so naturally I needed to see what all the fuss was about. When we arrived on location there was a line that wrapped around the block and while I don't usually participate in queues I patiently got in line. However, my patience soon wore thin so I figured out an alternative to waiting for another hour: you can skip the line if you buy a pint! With a pint of Sea Salt ice cream and caramel ribbons in hand, the world immediately looked much rosier and it was the perfect end to our time in Portland before we headed back to Seattle

As always you can follow along in real time over Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat (sophiesvob).

The London Plane

I just got back from my trip to Seattle at 1 am today, but even after a long day back at work I feel incredibly inspired and refreshed. Before I share the pictures from our crazy road trips around Oregon and Washington State (and of course a Seattle Shortlist), I wanted to devote one post entirely to The London Plane. Half restaurant, a quarter flower shop and a quarter concept store, but 100% beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. Not to mention the food was amazing (any restaurant that serves home made hazelnut butter with salt on toast earns a solid place in my heart). Before we had our main courses, we all had a round of warm biscuits with seasonal preserve and creme fraiche. I immediately knew we were in for a treat, the kind of treat I wouldn't be mad about having every day. We also shared the chicken salad, focaccia, avocado toast and snap pea salad. I was so happy to hang out with Cory and Bethany again and meet Daniel for the first time to chat about our passions, photography and travel!

Find them right off of leafy green Occidental Square in Downtown Seattle: