http://www.davidchristiannelson.com/music-zip-hoodies/
Christmas is a special time to enjoy Seattle Attractions
Winter Wonderland – not exactly. But Seattle is particularly festive during the Christmas holidays and a great destination to combine shopping with a special holiday.
From Seattle Center to Westlake Center to the Pike Place Market, the usual attractions are just a little more special on a chilly winter day. Crowds of enthusiastic, bundled up families and couples try the seasonal deals on Westlake as Quest carousel rides, or kettle corn and elephant ears in the vicinity. Vendors make balloon animals for children, while high Christmas music blares in the background and make sure no one will miss Seattle's holiday spirit.
Do it a trip, and it's even better. First you'll be sure to see the Christmas lights along the downtown streets, including the famous star at Macy's, Space Needle light and many other special seasonal touch. And by the night, you can create a shopping trip into a real vacation.
Our base of operations was a Seattle landmark, the Edgewater Hotel. Perhaps you may remember that Edgewater was famous in the sixties when the Beatles were there and fished right out of their window. Indeed, the obvious choice for many famous rock groups who came to the city during that period to play for one of Pat O'Dea spectacular rock concerts.
Day Edgewater has a classical elegance that combines the best location in Seattle with an updated interior design, gives the northwestern rich Native American heritage. The first thing we saw when you enter our waterfront room was a Washington State Ferry – just out the window and across the waters of Elliott Bay. Our opinion made us feel like we were traveling on a cruise ship with nothing but water between us and the ferry. This is obviously the biggest attraction of the aptly-named Edgewater – a place literally out on the water with incredible views of Puget Sound and nearby islands.
Our room featured many Northwest accents such as a log headboard in our comfortable king-size bed, bark trim and a wood panel above the corner fireplace, Native American design on carpets with knotty pine skirting boards, and Indian characters and patterns on the wood-frame entertainment center. In the bathroom, a large claw-style tub so terribly inviting, while the contemporary colors and furnishings made room look like something you would see in a magazine about interior decoration. Floors were amber quartz slate, while space is also a glass enclosed European spa bath.
With a room at Edgewater – which has a constant parade of both right outside your window – there is the temptation to just stay there and enjoy the endless attractions and sounds. But our primary goal of this trip was to check out the city's Christmas activities, so we walked over to Pike Place Market, just a few blocks away.
The market is one of Seattle's most recognizable symbols – right up there with Space Needle. It has probably something to do with the way TV sports commentators always make a point to prove recordings of the market, while TV Seattle Seahawks and Washington Huskies sports telecasts. Typical shot is one of the fish handlers throw King salmon – so we were happy that after our arrival, the fish was actually flying. Like the 50 or so other visitors standing around to see if we had seen for ourselves the famous Pike Place Market fish roll.
These fish act in their sweat suits, hooded sweatshirts and aprons are not the only reason to stop the market by Christmas. The market goes all out in its ornamental and otherwise have Christmas trees available – not that we wanted a cart back to Edgewater. Take a trip just north of the first fish market and you enter a beehive of activity where it seems like just about anything you want is for sale – fresh fruits and produce, honey, herbs, dried flower bouquets, jams and jellies, nuts, fruit, chocolate, tee-shirts, purses, you name it. There actually are several fish markets in the same building, and restaurants where you can dine on fresh fish before you even leave the market ..
Just across the street from the market was in front of Starbucks, a musical group called Slimpickens warms up the crowds with lively 1930's style music played in a four-man configuration: guitar, stand-up bass, fiddle and washboard. Dressed in 30's garb, the group also seemed to have a depression-era response to their music: lots of smiles and toe-tapping, but not many coins fall into their conspicuous located cup.
Along about here, we encountered Piroshky, Piroshky, a small take-out restaurant serves fresh Russian piroshkies for just under $ 5 It was just baked and if you're wondering, that piroshky is a bit like a flakey turnover filled with meat, cheese or other fillings. They are delicious, and for us if one quick and inexpensive lunch.
Some friends of our went instead to Von's Grand City Cafe, just a few blocks from the market on Pine Street, where a meal was fine, but they reported back that it was the first time they had encountered canned champagne. The ordered a split of champagne, and can, which was delivered to their table had a straw attached – as our friends said reminded them of the fruit drink boxes, they get for their children. Of course that's what visiting "Big City" is about – experiencing new things.
A few blocks from the market, Westlake Center, a modern multi-story shopping center with upscale shops and – because of its location near Macy's and Nordstrom – the epicenter of retail downtown. It is here that for just $ 2 each way, you can jump on board the Monorail – originally built for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair – and zip over to Seattle Center where their Winter Fest celebration has standing holiday entertainment and one of the coolest model trains and miniature Christmas towns your kids will ever see.
Soon it was time to head back to Edgewater, where we watched the fog rolls in and wondered of how the few sailboats that were out of this wintery day was able to escape the Washington State ferries. Thank goodness for foghorns and radar, we guess. Just a few minutes walk from Edgewater is Spaghetti Factory, where we enjoyed a delicious but inexpensive meal.
The night was calm, and when the sun came up the next day, the sky was blue and the view from our room was like a picture postcard. No need to lose this view while having breakfast – downstairs at Edgewater we stopped in a hearty meal with the best views in town on the hotel's award-winning Six Seven restaurant. We were pleasantly surprised at the affordability, since the restaurant's prime location and upscale reputation.
Several downtown investigations were together for our second day, with no shortage of merchandise available at exceptionally good prices. Soon it was time to go home, but it was not just a ride home from the mall where you are exhausted and swear never to shop with the crowds again. Yes, we made our Christmas shopping okay – but we also felt strengthened by an unforgettable vacation trip to Seattle's Winter Wonderland.
For more information on Seattle, go to www.visitseattle.org or telephone 206-461-5840. For more information about Edgewater Hotel, visit www.edgewaterhotel.com or telephone 1-800-624-0670.
About the Author
Cary Ordway is a syndicated travel writer and president of Getaway Media Corp, publisher of www.californiaweekend.com, a site focusing on California travel, and www.northwesttraveladvisor.com, which features Pacific Northwest travel
How to customize a zip-up hoodie
|
|
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood $28.95 Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is an epic action game for Xbox 360 set across a blend of present and historical time periods, that places the player in the role of the leader of a Renaissance-era guild of assassins out for vengeance against the remnants of the Knights Templar. Set primarily in Rome, this sequel to the critically acclaimed Assassin’s Creed II features returning characters from t… |
|
|
L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition $28.49 L. A. Noire is an interactive detective story set in the classic noir period in the late 1940’s blending action detection and complex storytelling and draws into an open ended challenge to solve a series of gruesome murders. Set in a perfectly recreated Los Angeles before freeways, with a post war backdrop of corruption, drugs and jazz, L. A. Noire will truly blend cinema and gaming…. |
|
|
Life on the Murder Scene $16.80 For My Chemical Romance’s ever-expanding list of fanatics, this double-disc set is better than an XBox 360, MySpace.com, and free internet combined. In terms of content, it handily laps the New Jersey screamo band’s only major label release, 2004’s Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. My Chemical Romance spreads its blood-soaked anguish and angst over a live album and DVD package that’s spilling over w… |
Searching for online music creator software programs can be difficult. The web is crowded with music making software packages that aresound303066_mixing_desk geared for a variety of ability levels. And there is a wide variety of price tags as well. In my quest to find the best music making software, I’ve researched many of these “make your own music” offerings. In reality I’ve found that most of them are simply not worth the money. However, I’ve recently found a music creator program that is certainly worth the investment cost. Click Here For A Sonic Producer Product Review