They were simpler times in so many ways. Crossing the border into the USA wasn’t something that made my stomach churn like it did for a trip I just took to Washington. And while I’m debating with myself how frequently I’ll be back down to the USA for pleasure over the next little while, there was no such hesitation on my last two visits to Seattle. Seattle feels a lot like Vancouver and I’ve been there enough that I have a good sense of the city and a few favourite haunts by now.

The first trip, my wife made the journey there with me while I was attending a conference, and it was fun to both see the city through her eyes and to also experience some new things with her. A tradition we have on all of our trips is some form of Yahtzee championship. We spent a couple of hours at TeKu Tavern + Cafe and while I enjoyed a couple of delicious pints of Washington state beer, I demolished my wife in our Yahtzee matches. She was terribly disappointed at how the games went.

One afternoon while she was taking a nap before we headed out for dinner, I made a quick jaunt down to Cloudburst Brewing, one of my favourite breweries in Seattle. The brewery is known for their IPAs, but on this visit the winner for me was an Imperial red ale called “Say Hi to Your Dad for Me”. Malty and hiding the 7.8% alcohol this beer, it was one of the best beers of the trip.

My wife and I got up to some very touristy and very fun activities one day by visiting Pike Place Market and heading up the Space Needle. For November in Seattle, we had a perfect day of clear skies and views of the city and mountains beyond.

As we both get older, our tastes in city visits are moving from the “things to see” to finding a selection of great restaurants and bars to explore. We had an amazing Japanese meal at Umi Sake House – sushi, cocktails and snacks were all on point!

There was one attraction both my wife and I were looking forward to seeing, and that was the Museum of Pop Culture. I had visited this previously, but attending with my wife, a bone fide science fiction and pop culture nerd, was a treat to see her excitement for so many of the exhibits.

To wrap up the part of this trip that included my wife, on our last night together in Seattle we headed to Bathtub Gin & Co for a cocktail. It was a cozy subterranean bar just on the outskirts of downtown and we were welcomed inside a place were we instantly felt at home. Both of our cocktails were delicious and this was a great kickoff to our plans for the evening.

On account of an unseasonably warm November evening, we walked from there to Climate Pledge Arena for a Seattle Kraken and Calgary Flames hockey game.

The arena was beautiful, there was a great selection of food and drink, including some exceptional gluten free choices for my wife, and we enjoyed the game from our upper level seats.

My wife had to return home before my conference got underway, but that didn’t stop me from a bit more exploring. I ventured up to Ballard for some beer tasting at Reubens Brews and Urban Family Brewing and was greeted by a lot of very friendly dogs…. they always make beer tastings better!

A few months later, after a conference in Vancouver, I took the train down to Seattle to see a couple of early season baseball games.

The views out the window of the train, of the Pacific Ocean, and of the sunset, were stunning.

After arriving into Seattle late in the evening, I hit some craft breweries the next day. Project 9 Brewing and Stoup Brewing made for nice late morning and early afternoon tastings before I headed to Seapine Brewing for a pregame tasting within walking distance of the ballpark.

While I had toured T-Mobile Park many years back, this was my first opportunity to take in a ballgame at the beautiful stadium. For the first game, I elected for a seat in the upper deck behind home plate and loved the view from here.

On account of the mid-April early season game and the roof being open, it was a touch chilly up in the upper deck so I moved around the ballpark to watch a few innings from a couple of different vantage points where it was slightly warmer.

Maybe my favourite spot to watch the game was from a standing room rail in centre field where someone had placed a sticker of their dog. It was here that I had a great conversation with someone who grew up in upstate New York and used to attend Expos games in the 1990s. He saw my Expos hat and we launched into a discussion of Youppi! the Expos mascot.

I headed back for an afternoon ball game the next day and luckily for me a favourite craft brewery, Fast Fashion, opens early on game days. I grabbed a couple of their outstanding beers and loved a chat I had with someone working at the brewery of our mutual dislike of the Blue Jays, our mutual love of some Vancouver and Philadelphia breweries, and his hope my Expos would come back and my hope his Sonics would come back some day.

The second game was another nice but cool day meaning the roof was open.

I picked up a better seat for this game and loved the view from here of the action.

Like the first night, I needed to move around a bit to stay warm so I sat in the outfield bleachers for a few innings in the sun to warm up. The Mariners dominated the game with a 5-1 win and the only hit they game up was a solo home run.

Two different visits to what has become a favourite American city, and this second visit left me with 11 ballparks left to visit to have seen a game in every major league city.