Road Trip 2019 Day 6: Whales, Pineapples, and Dinner OH MY!

Day 6 - 27 June 2019

This morning we actually had to get going on time. We had tickets for a whale watching tour that started at 9:30 and we needed to be there between 8:45 and 9am. Lucky for us, the Port of Edwards was a whopping 3 miles from our Air BnB. We were out the door at 8:17. When we arrived at the port, we had time to walk down the block to get a quick bite to eat. 

With breakfast in hand, we got checked for our tour and sat down to gobble up our food before getting on the boat. Our tour was with Puget Sound Express. They guarantee that you see whales, so we were hopeful. We got on the Saratoga with Captain Trevor at the helm of our vessel. There were nice inside seats and spots outside to stand. As soon as we got underway, people headed outside. I was hesitant because we weren’t going to see whales right away, so I wanted to stay in where it was warmer and much less windy. After seeing others get a laugh about how windy it was while the boat was going full speed (about 40mph), Ross wandered out there. When he came back he encouraged me to try it out. It was so windy!       And a little hard to walk too. I’m glad I tried it, but I was still happy to sit inside while we were traveling to our whale spot. While on our way, Ross grabbed the two pieces of Blueberry Buckle that we included with our tickets. It was like a crumbled or a coffee cake, but it was very good. We went south in the Puget sound into some little inlets where they had had reports of whales over the past few days. Once we got to that location, we slowed down and everyone headed outside to see if any whales would make an appearance today. They had pairs of binoculars to use too, which was helpful. And sure enough, after a few minutes, some Orcas showed themselves for us! There were about 7 or so whales, including a baby that was about a year old. We were told they were from the T99 and T36 pods. There were no adult males swimming with this group. We followed the group around for a while. Maybe 90 minutes? I lost track of time. We also saw a few harbor porpoises swimming around. It was fun to see the whales! We also sailed past Bremerton where my dad was stationed when he was in the Navy back in the 80’s and where my brother was born. Before making it back to port, our captain searched for a Humpback whale that was rumored to be in the area, but we didn’t find it. We arrived back to port about 2pm. Once that was done, we headed into Seattle.

On our drive into the city we were searching for places to go to dinner. Ross had found some spots while on our whale tour and I was helping narrow it down in the car. We found this place called Harvest Beats that hosted a 5 course meal at 7pm. Everyone shows up at the same time and you all eat the same thing. I checked to see if they still had any openings and luckily they did! We were locked in! I couldn’t wait. More on that experience in a little bit. 

Finallly we arrived at our hotel. This was one place I was super excited about. We were staying at the Maxwell Hotel: A Stay Pineapple Hotel. A pineapple themed hotel?!? How could we not be excited!? Sure enough, as soon as we showed up, there were pineapples everywhere. Was this pineapple heaven? I was eyeballing everything. Our room was equally filled with pineapples. The coffee mugs, the towels, the spare toilet paper, the phone chargers. How fun! We even had a view of the Space Needle from our window. A bonus reason we picked this hotel was because of how close it was to everything we wanted to to. It was only 2 blocks from the Space Needle. I knocked out some quick homework and then we headed over to the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens. Because we had dinner reservations at 7, we decided that it would be better to see the Chihuly Glass Gardens now and go up the Space Needle later. 

We bought our tickets for both and then headed to the gardens. For those who have been to the Milwaukee Art Museum, you’ve seen a Chihuly glass piece in the Calatrava. It’s that giant colorful squiggly glass sculpture. We got to see a whole bunch of this guy’s work. It’s so impressive and creative. He was born in Tacoma, WA and when to school at UW-Madison. We were wondering how these pieces stay together, if they ever break, who gets the job of dusting them, and how do they get moved. Really cool stuff. 

After we made it through the museum, we had a little time to kill before dinner. We tried to do an escape room, but no one was at the front desk nor did they answer the phone when we called, so we walked out. We ended up at a place called Some Random Bar. They had chalkboard signs with funny sayings on them including some Cup O Noodles available for purchase after the kitchen closes for $100. Ross ordered a Pina Colada and I had a Sangria called “It’s Fucking Summer.” Yep. That was the name on the menu. Both very tasty, but I think the Pina Colada was a little better. Once we were done with our drinks, we hailed an Uber to take us to the restaurant. 

With big city traffic, we were very happy to not have to drive. We arrived a little early, but that worked out to our benefit because we got to pick where we wanted to sit. We asked what was best, and were shown to the “Chef’s Table.” This was where 6 people sat facing the kitchen and watched the chef and his staff prepare and plate everyone’s meals. Once we claimed our seats we wandered down the street for about 10-15 minutes. When we came back a lot more people had filed in, including the two other couples at the Chef’s Table. The couple to our left had been here two other times and the couple to our right was from San Francisco and they were celebrating their 17th wedding anniversary. Both couples were very friendly and we chatted with both of them throughout the dinner. Once everyone arrived, dinner could start. The chef rang a big gong/bell to get everyone’s attention. He thanked everyone for coming and gave some gratitude to all the local farmers for providing the food for our meal. Then he spoke about each course that we were about to enjoy. It all sounded so incredible. We were very happy that we decided to try this place out. Each course was paired with a wine or non-alcoholic ‘elixir’ depending on your choice. We got one of each. The elixirs were better than the wines. 

I cannot say enough good things about this meal. First off, it was 100% vegan, but anyone would enjoy this meal. Everything was so full of flavor and creativity. We learned about a new bean called a sea bean. It looks like a tiny asparagus and has a salty flavor to it. I wish we had these in WI. They blew my mind. They were part of the first course that had a salad topped with the beans, smoked lentils, and a creamy dressing. Course two was served at the same time and was a chilled peach lemongrass bisque. Oh and the salad also had fried leeks on the top. Now I can’t decide if I like leeks or sea beans better.

Course 1 & 2

Course 3

But then there was course three. A zucchini corn pancake. YUM. We are going to try to make these at home. So tasty and versatile. Plus, there should be a bunch of zucchini growing in the garden and we’ll want to make more that bread with it. 

Course 4

If dinner hadn’t been great already, course four was just going to make it better. A mushroom tamale with morels and fried fiddlehead ferns and an heirloom tomato salsa. WHAT?! OMG. We’re eating things we’ve never tried or heard of and I’m having some serious moments with my food. There was still the final dessert course. It was a little rhubarb cake with strawberries and chocolate ice cream. The ice cream wasn’t very sweet, which Ross liked. It was good, but not my favorite part of the meal. The lavender caramel drizzle on the plate was phenomenal. 

Dessert

Overall, if I had a choice of a last meal before I die, this is currently it. It was my favorite part of Seattle, hands down. It was worth every penny and it was made even better to be chatting with the chef as he prepared our meals. Ross did a great job finding this place. I’m so happy we could enjoy this experience together! We realized we’ve done a fancy/unique meal on each of our three major vacations together (Hawaii, Paris, Seattle), so now we’ll be trying to make it a tradition. 

Our view from the Chef's Table

Once dinner was wrapped up, we hailed another Uber back to the Space Needle. We had tickets for 9:30. Just as we arrived, they were accepting 9:30 tickets. Great timing! It was late enough that there was no line, so we got in right away. It was neat to see the city at night. After enjoying some time with great views, back down we went. We wandered through the gift shop, and I got my third Christmas ornament of the trip. From there we walked back to our hotel and tucked in for a pineapple-y night’s sleep.

                    



Stats

Miles driven: 18.5

Steps taken: 9,912

Miles Walked: 4.5

Pineapples Encountered: 100s

Times I exclaimed how good dinner was: At least 1,000