Seattle getaway with the girls

Once in a while it's just a blast to get out of town for some girl time. And that's what happened this week.  Four friends took off for Seattle for two nights in a VRBO, flying in a float plane from Victoria's inner harbour to Seattle's Lake Union. Here are some highlights of our trip

View of the Olympic Peninsula from the float plane. The weather was like this the whole three days.



The four of us waiting for lunch in a lovely Parisian style bistro called Le Pichet, once we took the bus into downtown Seattle. It almost felt as though we were in France.















From left to right, me, my sister Jan, and friends Laura and Liz.



The first afternoon we took a gourmet Seattle walking tour and visited six different restaurants serving fabulous food and drink. My favourite was (I think) the clam chowder at the Steelhead Cafe, made from Alaska razor clams with truffle oil. Or maybe it was the sourdough pasta. Or maybe Orfeo's polenta with steak and wine reduction sauce. Hard to say. It was all fabulous. Plus we got some recommendations for other go-to eating spots. This is our guide holding forth at the Steelhead cafe.

After an afternoon of eating we took a walk around the Pike Place market and then retreated to our condo for some rest and relaxation. Here are the girls hanging out in Belltown looking out onto leafy oak trees. It was a great location, halfway between the Space Needle and the Pike Place Market.


There were several highlights the next day, including shopping at Macy's, Saks 5th Avenue discount store, and Nordstrom's Rack. Everyone purchased a little something.  For me the Chihuly Glass Museum and Garden was stellar. I've seen some of his glass art in other gardens but this purpose-built museum showed every aspect of his astounding creativity with glass from chandeliers, to installations in colour coordinated gardens, to amazingly large colourful bowls.

Here are my friends looking ready for the next adventure after our visit to the museum. I kind of like the black and white image.

We were walking back towards our condo when about 25 police cards with sirens screamed by followed by fire trucks and emergency vehicles.

This continued through our dinner at a Thai restaurant so when we passed a fire hall with the door open and some firemen hanging out, Liz and Laura decided to ask them what had been going on. They told us it had been a domestic dispute involving guns. But then we continued chatting and Liz jokingly asked if they'd give us a ride home on the fire truck. To our immense surprise they agreed to do so.


And so the next thing we knew we were in the big truck with four firemen to take us a few blocks to our VRBO.  It was a first for all of us.



They even let us take photos so we could revisit the moment.

On our last day three of us took a 90 minute Segway tour of Seattle. I'd never been on one of these before and was somewhat hesitant but it was so much fun. After a half hour orientation we took off along the waterfront and up and down the hills and through Seattle Centre. The Segway is really  intuitive to operate and it's super fun. I had a smile on my face for the whole trip. The next time Harry and I go traveling we are for sure going to do this, as well as find a walking food tasting tour. 

Our flight home left Lake Union at 4:00 pm and we were landed before 5:00. What a fantastic getaway!