If you’ve never been to Seattle and wondered what it’s like, imagine beautiful art, mouthwatering food, overpriced coffee, and fish being flung through the air like it’s just another Tuesday. And somehow, that still doesn’t quite cover it.

I recently had the absolute joy of heading to Seattle, and one of the highlights (besides all the eating.. more on that later) was finally meeting Dr. Susan Baumgaertel in person. Dr. B and I have known each other online for quite a while, and getting to meet face-to-face felt like catching up with an old friend. She’s warm, witty, and a local pro, which means I got to experience the good stuff, and not just what Yelp tells tourists.

We walked around her neighborhood, had a lovely dinner, and she even introduced me to dumplings that quite literally changed my life (just a block from the original Starbucks, no less). Yes, I also got to pay respects at the coffee shrine, but let’s be honest: the dumplings were the real holy experience.

The rest of the trip was a blur of touristy perfection:

I rode the Ferris wheel like a big kid, eyes wide and hands gripping the railings a little tighter than I’d like to admit. My kid was casually laughing it up on our way up AND down.

We explored the Seattle Aquarium, which was full of sea creatures that seemed both majestic and slightly judgmental.

I bravely (okay, nervously) walked across the glass floor at the top of the Space Needle, where I learned two things: one, Seattle is very high up, and two, I might be more afraid of heights than I thought.

Then there was the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum, an explosion of color and light that made me want to toss out all my IKEA decor and start over with blown glass everything.

Oh, and the “gum wall”. OH, the gum wall!

Apparently, this wall o’nasty started in the 1990s, when theatergoers began sticking their gum here while waiting in line. Eventually, people just kept adding to it… and now? It’s a full-on art installation.

And it’s not just one wall. It goes on and on around this corner, up the bricks, into the crevices… It’s like the city couldn’t stop it even if it wanted to.

People get creative too. You’ll see names, hearts, and even full-on murals made of gum. Gross? Definitely. Impressive? Also yes.

I fell in love, while strolling along the booths at the market, with these incredibly vibrant and oddly shaped tins, filled with cookies. Apparently, they get tattoo artists to create the images on their fronts, and the cookies aren’t too bad either.

We got to sample a flavor before purchasing.. and then another.. and then another.

The company’s called Bite Society, and they apparently ship across the country, too!

We got ourselves a tin.

But let’s not forget the culinary moments:

I had some of the best Indian food of my life.. the “casual street food” kind that should come with a warning label because you’ll be thinking about it for weeks afterward. There was chaat. There was spice. There were happy tears.

Also, some amazing bao buns, purchased (and voraciously consumed) from Mee Sum Pastry, which is apparently a widely recommended joint for the best bao buns (or “hom bows” as they call them) in Pike Place Market.

My favorite? The beef curry. It had an interesting layer of baked sugar on the top, which I honestly tried to take off because was a bit too sweet. But it was also a new combination that went SO well together.

Highly recommend.

And Pike Place Market… oh, Pike Place. It was part fish market, part art show, part flower explosion. We watched fish being tossed like it was a sporting event, saw cookies sold in art-worthy tins (tattoo artists + sugar = yes, please), and bought flower bouquets so big and beautiful they’d cost four times as much back home.

To cap it all off, soccer playoffs were in full swing.. because of course they were. I spent part of the trip cheering on my kid from the sidelines (one of the main drivers of our trip there), surrounded by other parents, snacks, and at least three confused conversations about why a foul was called when clearly that was all ball. (We all pretend we understand the rules. We don’t.)

All in all, Seattle gave me everything:
✨ Food
✨ Friends
✨ Art
✨ Adrenaline (see: Ferris wheel + glass floors)
✨ And memories I’ll be replaying for a long time.

Thanks, Seattle. You’re weird and wonderful. I may be back.