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[AAshleySEG]

Wow...what a great start. I am so booking that tour...now I just have to plan a trip! May I ask what it cost and what the contact info is for the tour?

Thanks!

Jill in CO

Sure thing!!
Savor Seattle Tours

The Gourmet Indulgence Tour we did was $69pp, it was a 3 hour walking tour and well worth the price for everything we got for us!
We also did the Pike Place Market Tour which was $39pp it is another awesome tour which I will talk more about later on in the TR! Both done by Savor Seattle! Thanks for reading along!!

 

[jedijill]

Sure thing!!
Savor Seattle Tours

The Gourmet Indulgence Tour we did was $69pp, it was a 3 hour walking tour and well worth the price for everything we got for us!
We also did the Pike Place Market Tour which was $39pp it is another awesome tour which I will talk more about later on in the TR! Both done by Savor Seattle! Thanks for reading along!!

Wow...those prices are great for everything that you got to see and eat!

Thanks for sharing.

Jill in CO

 

[AAshleySEG]

As we walked along on our way toward the hotel which eventually would lead us to the Light Rail station, Jeremy looked over and noticed a Comic Book shop. So of course we had to stop! How else could we fuel his habit. It is also pretty interesting to note how different comic shops can be all over the country. Luckily we got out of there with all the money we went in with...whew! We took the LINK from Westlake Station to Stadium Station which is only 4 stops away! We utilized the public transportation of this city a whole lot and it is all very convenient and easy to use! All you need is an Orca Card and you should be all set! We arrived at the stadium for Batting Practice again, I got some better photos today because I remembered to bring my 50-250mm lens which helps for these types of things!

I got a really cool picture of Chad Billingsley who is a starting pitcher for the Dodgers who would be pitching on Sunday

We got comfortable, today we were in the outfield 2nd row hoping to catch some home run balls...well that never happened, oh well maybe next time. Jeremy was a little on the hungry side after a few innings so he went in search of food. He came back with a disclaimer...all of the lines were really long so he just went to one place. He looked at the menu and wondered what the "Mariner Dog" was, so he ordered it, turns out it was just a plain hot dog with nothing on it...he also got some nachos. We are in the baseball stadium with some of the best food choices around and I get a hot dog and nachos...classic! I can't complain though because I could have gotten up to get whatever I wanted but instead, I was too busy watching the game, like a good baseball fan...HAHA I did manage to take a photo of the side of the seats, I don't recall, but I think this is the first seat art I have ever seen? There probably is more, but I never noticed it!

It was pretty cool how close we were to the outfielders I managed to get really great shots of Lots of things. I am not going to overload you all with baseball photos but I will show you a few. If you are interested in seeing the rest, at the end of the TR I will put ALL of my photos online so you can check them out. I have TONS...I mean TONS of photos. For now, here is Jeremy's favorite Dodger Andre Ethier

The most famous current Mariner Ichiro Suzuki

and a photo I am not quite sure how I managed to get, but thought it was cool once I saw what I had captured! The pitcher Todd Coffey who is a reliever for the Dodgers was closing out the game and he was pitching and I caught the ball in mid air before it reached the batter!

It was a great game!! Dodgers WIN! I think they were mad that they were no hit yesterday so they decided to rough up the Mariners a bit. As we were walking out of the stadium there was a street performer playing the saxophone, at the moment we left the stadium he happened to be playing the Mickey Mouse Club theme, which capped off a great day! It made my night to hear that song when we were going on a Disney Cruise in less than 2 days! We made our way back to the hotel for an early night in, it is difficult changing time zones...I imagine it will be even more so when we go home.

 

[Skylarr29]

From the looks of it, we didn't plan nearly enough time in Seattle. We are only coming in the day before since we are leaving the kids with my mom. We won't even have time to take the gourmet tour since it would be pushing it if our flight was late. Boo... oh well, next time.

 

[AAshleySEG]

From the looks of it, we didn't plan nearly enough time in Seattle. We are only coming in the day before since we are leaving the kids with my mom. We won't even have time to take the gourmet tour since it would be pushing it if our flight was late. Boo... oh well, next time.

We had 4 days there total and I don't even think that is enough time... We really want to plan a trip to go back just to Seattle and the surrounding area, there is so much to do there and it being a stopover isn't really enough. So I wouldn't worry too much about not being there this time, it will just give you another chance to plan to go back...hehe!

 

[Momma2Jax]

Okay so I'm sorry if you already said this.... But what camera And lenses are you using? I saw you said the 50-250 for the game, but what about the others?

 

[AAshleySEG]

Okay so I'm sorry if you already said this.... But what camera are you using?

I have a Canon Rebel T2i DSLR I used the kit lens that came with it and the 50-250mm lens for some other things when I needed to get closer!

 

[Momma2Jax]

OMG that is exactly what I was thinking of buying, with the same lenses! Awesome! Glad to know it does so well!

 

[AAshleySEG]

OMG that is exactly what I was thinking of buying, with the same lenses! Awesome! Glad to know it does so well!

I'm glad you are liking the photos, a good thing to know also about the Rebel T2i is that I used it a LOT for video, I can film 1080p HD with it, so later on in the TR you will be able to see that part of it in action as well! I love that camera, I can really do anything I want with it, I am not a professional photographer by any means, but sometimes it makes me feel like I am...LOL

 

[Skylarr29]

I'm glad you are liking the photos, a good thing to know also about the Rebel T2i is that I used it a LOT for video, I can film 1080p HD with it, so later on in the TR you will be able to see that part of it in action as well! I love that camera, I can really do anything I want with it, I am not a professional photographer by any means, but sometimes it makes me feel like I am...LOL

I have the same camera! I can't wait, I'm going to take tons of photos!

 

[AAshleySEG]

I totally should have closed the curtains when I went to bed last night because the sun was coming in when I woke up at 4:47am! I am most definitely not used to that happening. I tried to go back to sleep with all my might and kept waking up. I finally just got up at 6am and shut myself in the bathroom so Jeremy could sleep and did Facetime with my mother on my iPhone. It was nice getting to see my little doggies back at home when I am 2,823 miles away from home! I love technology! When I got off the phone Jeremy was awake, so we both got up and ready and headed out. We loved Dahlia Bakery so much yesterday that we decided to go back today as well! We didn't have to meet up for our Pike Place Market Tour until 9:40 or so so we had a nice leisurely walk to the Starbucks we were supposed to meet at. Jeremy ran inside and grabbed us some lattes and I got us some seats outside looking straight at the Market Sign

Jeremy had a mocha latte from Starbucks and a Ham & Cheese Croissant from Dahlia Bakery

I had a Vanilla Latte and also had a Ham & Cheese Croissant. We also got an OJ and a plain croissant to split for later, those darn things are just so good!!I am salivating right now just thinking about those croissants!

We still had about 40 minutes until we had to meet back at that Starbucks so we decided to walk around the market a bit to waste a little bit of time! I did manage to take some photos today! There are tons of flowers as I said before

I wanted to buy some fruit so badly, but there was no way we would have been able to eat all of that without it spoiling so I gave up on that idea rather quickly.

If you love seafood and shellfish, this market is as close to heaven as you can get. They had the biggest shrimp I think I have ever seen in my entire life!

They also had rows and rows of Dungeness Crabs, tons of mussels, clams, giant lobster tails, more copper river salmon than an army could eat, I really wish we had this much fresh seafood where I lived! My Omega 3's would be through the roof...

Pretty much whatever you wanted, they had it! I am not a huge fan of spicy food, well I like a little spice, but too much I can't handle, but even the way the hung up the peppers made me want to buy them!

As you walk down Pike Place you hear lots of people asking where the first Starbucks is, and they all get pointed in the direction of this store

But...are they being pointed in the correct direction?? We will save that answer for later on! Being that we are from a small town in North Carolina, we are used to seeing pretty odd things when we travel that we do not have at home. As we were making our way down to the end of the Market I saw something I had never seen before in. A gentleman pushing a pink stroller with two dogs inside!

I guess that might be more common as I would later find out, but it was definitely something I had never seen! It is getting about time to head back to Starbucks to meet our new Savor Seattle Guide for the 2 hour tour, and maybe a few other people too!! So I am now ready to go forth and "Meet The Producer"

 

[rogattdm]

PS - We learned from the Duck Tour that the hammering man sculpture gets one day a year off - Labor Day Non-interesting piece of information, but thought I would insert something. Now I am wondering if we should have done the Gourmet Tour instead.....that food looked awesome! Love seeing how your trip started, since we weren't part of that part

 

[AAshleySEG]

PS - We learned from the Duck Tour that the hammering man sculpture gets one day a year off - Labor Day Non-interesting piece of information, but thought I would insert something. Now I am wondering if we should have done the Gourmet Tour instead.....that food looked awesome! Love seeing how your trip started, since we weren't part of that part

I loved both the tours! I updated my TR with your info about the hammer man! I'm glad you are enjoying how our trip started...I feel like I am putting in too many photos...LOL...and we are about to meet for the first time too!!

 

[rogattdm]

So excited can't wait to read more! We're coming up soon - yikes!

 

[AAshleySEG]

We arrived at Starbucks just as the table we were supposed to meet at got empty! I noticed right away that two families sat down at the table, and I started looking a them and thinking, they have kids about the ages that are in our FE group...hmmm. Santino who was our guide for the Pike Place Tour came in and started getting everyones names and making sure they were on the list...then the names started sounding familiar as well. It was the craziest thing that two of the FE families on our cruise were going to be on the same tour with us! One of the families we would get to know quite well! Everyone finally arrived for the tour and the first thing we were able to taste, I am not sure this is 100% correct because I can't really read my writing so..someone please correct me if this sounds wrong. What I have written down that we tried at Starbucks was a White Chocolate Chai Mocha? I dunno, I thought it was good though because I finished the entire thing, Jeremy however, did not like it very much at all. The first stop on our tour was Daily Dozen doughnuts.

Santino informed everyone at the early stages of the tour that random people sometimes think we are at Costco and start grabbing for our food like the "Mine, Mine" Seagulls in Finding Nemo. So he gave us permission to elbow them out of the way! What better way to kick off the tour than with doughnuts!

This was going to be a good day, I'm glad we didn't eat very much before this tour like the other one! We learned from our mistake! Next up we walked over to Market Spice which is the longest continually running business in the Market!

We got to try their signature Market Spice Blend Tea.

It was definitely unique, I would say. I don't think I have ever tasted any tea like that before. I don't remember exactly but I know it had cinnamon, clove and something else in it...I think...ugh. I feel like I write so much down and then I still miss things! There is really an information overload on these tours, too bad I couldn't have a voice recorder with me! We made our way over to Pike Place Fish Co., home of the world famous fish throwers!

For us to try they had some plain smoked salmon, some garlic-pepper smoked salmon, and some salmon jerky! The garlic pepper one was fantastic!

I wish I would have bought some, darn it why can't I live there! Santino,seemed to be very happy with the Salmon Jerky! I think he was in love!

After eating the salmon Santino decided he wanted to take a ride on the back of Rachel, the unofficial mascot of Pike Place, a 550 pound bronzed piggy bank right in front of the Pike Place Fish Co.

He finally decided it was time to move on and off we went, Santino was walking and talking backwards to our next location and failed to realize there was a blind gentleman behind him, well you know what happens next. Santino ran into him and almost knocked him over, luckily he was alright and just merrily went along his way, no harm no foul. We did however, give him a hard time about it the rest of the trip Our next stop was over at Frank's Quality Produce where we got to try some fresh mango and peaches!

I thought they were both delicious!! I love fresh fruit, so luckily I finally got to try some without buying it! I was very happy about that! So happy my smile turned peachy!!

At least it wasn't cheesy...well not yet anyway!

 

[Momma2Jax]

I'm so glad you went on this tour...this is the one I want to do when my in laws come out here this summer!

Btw, my sister bought one of those pepper hangers, and just dried them to hang in her kitchen! It is beautiful!

 

[AAshleySEG]

I'm so glad you went on this tour...this is the one I want to do when my in laws come out here this summer!

Btw, my sister bought one of those pepper hangers, and just dried them to hang in her kitchen! It is beautiful!

What a great idea to dry them out! Man, I want one now, buthow could I have gotten it home...hmmm probably not. Darn it

 

[AAshleySEG]

Moving on up the street we walked up to Pike Place Chowder.

Now, something you should know about me...I LOVE LOVE LOVE chowder! All of the seafood towns I go to, I try it. I have sort of been on a quest to find the best chowder. Santino was telling us the story about how Pike Place Chowder came to be and then that they had entered it in the Chowder Cook-off and it had won multiple times in a row until they were disqualified from winning again. I am a skeptic so I was just nodding and thinking, I bet it will be good but not the best. So he brings out 2 different samples, one of their award-winning chowder and the other of their seafood bisque.

I am going to tell you...it really is THE BEST chowder I have ever eaten in my entire life. Seattle is turning into a place that has some amazing food everywhere you turn. It is full of things that have turned into my favorite. I found a lot of new things on this trip that I didn't know that I wanted until now we are at home, and I find myself dreaming about it all! Back off of my cloud into reality, the tour must go on after all! I looked over at Jeremy and he had a giggly smile on his face, and I asked him "What is so funny." He sang, "At The Copa...Copacabana..." I gave him one of those looks like, you know those looks that wives give their husbands when they are trying to be funny. We really were at the Copacabana though, and I have the photo to prove it!

We walked down some stairs through an alleyway, crossed the street and went back to the other side of the market and came upon another place which would turn out to have something I would eventually be pouting that I didn't have here at home. We arrived at Chukar Cherries

It was another place that gave us lots of samples, we got to try Peach Cherry Salsa, Honey Pecans (which were covered in chocolate and rolled in powdered sugar), Cabernet Cherries (which were covered in dark chocolate), Raspberry Truffles (cranberry layered with white chocolate dusted in tangy raspberry), Cherry Bings (Bing Cherries layered with milk chocolate), and a plain dried cherry!

I don't even know where to begin with this place. I told Jeremy that we were definitely coming back by here on our last day to get some of these to take home with us...he agreed 100%, now just to decide which ones to get!

If you are even considering staying in Seattle for any length of time, I highly recommend the Savor Seattle Tours! At the end of them they give you a Card and a list of all of their partner stores and locations where you can get an extra 10-15% off of anything you buy there! All of the Tom Douglas Restaurant are on the list, so we used the card at Dahlia Bakery when we went there both mornings! Done with spiel, back to tour! We made our way across the "sidewalk that cars drive on" and over to Beechers Handmade Cheese!

The windows on the side of the building are completely open to the public so you can actually watch the process of their cheese being made right in front of you! We got to try their flagship cheese and cracker and their world famous macaroni & cheese!

In all seriousness, if I happened to live in Seattle, I would have to live in a 5 story walk up or something and only walk everywhere I go because I would eat so much food it would be ridiculous! Oh and btw, Santino really gets into his job! I think he has a blast with it! Which is what you always want in a tour guide! He was so fun and kept everyone laughing the entire time!

We had a very short walk to the next place Piroshky Piroshky and we really almost needed to use that elbow maneuver right about then because everyone wanted some of these!

We had the apple cinnamon, and the beef & cheese piroshky..piroshkies? Whatever the plural is of piroshky is. We got to try those two different kinds! Did I mention Santino was a Dramatic Arts Major...I think we can all tell!

We walked over to the First Starbucks...oh wait, I knew I forgot to tell you all something. Sadly enough it isn't really the first Starbucks after all. So if you go to Seattle and get pointed there...sorry to disappoint you . Santino began to tell us the whole story of where Starbucks got started and how they didn't even start out selling cups of coffee, they only started out selling the beans, and so on and so forth. So if you are ever in doubt, Santino made himself a shirt explaining everything!

If you can't read it all it says, "I went to Seattle and all I got was this lousy T-shirt from the fourth Starbucks (but technically the second location of the first) with a semi-adjusted image of a 16th century wood-carving of a siren.

There...now you all know!

We had one more stop on the tour and we got to sit down out front of this one! Etta's, another Tom Douglas Restaurant..sorry we just love him! This particular one is named after his daughter, I thought that was really sweet! We had his famous crab cakes and boy were they good!

Sadly our tour was now over, we said goodbye to our cruise mates..(for now ), and started our walk toward Safeco Field for the last time of the trip to a little "planned" pre-cruise meet-up!

 

[Deb in IA]

Have been enjoying your report, Ashley, but I want to hear about the CRUISE!!!

We leave tomorrow and will be on the ship next week!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Have been enjoying your report, Ashley, but I want to hear about the CRUISE!!!

We leave tomorrow and will be on the ship next week!!

I'm trying to get there as fast as I can...LOL, but I am glad that you have been enjoying it so far. I am on the 10th right now and we leave for the cruise on the 11th!