What immediately struck me about Washington is how green it is. I could even notice the difference from the plane before we landed; I spent the last 20 minutes or so of the flight admiring the evergreens from the window. It was my first time on the west coast and I instantly had a good impression.
The lush landscape isn’t the only thing that struck me about the natural beauty of the Seattle area. Only about a half hour from the city sits the Snoqualmie Falls. The Falls, which are giant and surrounded by gardens and walking paths, are simply breathtaking. If you have some extra time and are staying in Seattle, I highly recommend taking a field trip out to Snoqualmie to enjoy seeing the Falls.
Snoqualmie Falls, 2017. c. Leah Putz
However, there is plenty to see in the city as well! Obviously, the first thing that typically comes to mind is the Space Needle, which I saw from the highway as I was coming in to downtown Seattle. It was a particularly cloudy day, and apparently the view isn’t really worth the cost when you can’t see the mountains due to the clouds, so I was content to admire the Seattle staple from afar.
Rather than seeing the city from above in the Seattle, I decided to see it from below, and did a tour of the Seattle Underground. The thing I loved most about the Underground tour was how much history I learned. Going in, I didn’t really know anything at all about Seattle’s history, but the tour taught me all about it’s origins, the fire, it’s time as the ‘gateway to the Eukon’ and much more. The origins of the Underground begin with the Great Seattle Fire that destroyed much of downtown Seattle in 1889. The city was going to have to be rebuilt, and the citizens decided to rebuild the city higher than before to avoid many of the flooding problems they had been having. During the rebuilding process, the Underground was created at the level of the original streets and left open as a sort of underground shopping district before it was condemned in the 1920s, only to reopen in 1965 as a tourist attraction.
View of a skylight from the Seattle Underground, 2017. c. Leah Putz
After coming up from Underground, my aunt, my cousin, and I began heading towards the famed Pike’s Place Market. The walk was only a few blocks, but we passed the Harbor Steps, the Seattle Art Museum, and many other amazing points of interest. The market was just as I’d imagined it- I got to see the workers throw fish, got the enjoy the fresh scent of the sea, and got to admire the beautiful yellow tulips that are planted all along the outside of the marketplace building.
Pike’s Place Market, 2017. c. Leah Putz
Right across the street from Pike’s Place Market the first ever Starbucks still stands! The door has ‘1912’ painted on it which is a bit surreal, as well as the logo being uncensored. Considering how long the line was, I didn’t purchase a drink at this particular store, but I did grab a coffee at the airport on the way home to enjoy a Starbucks coffee on Starbucks’ home turf.
My aunt and cousin outside of the first Starbucks, 2017. c. Leah Putz
Because Leah Flies 