Seattle two ways

March 9, 2025March 9, 2025 / Greg / Leave a comment

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.

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Public art in Washington

December 26, 2019December 24, 2019 / Greg / Leave a comment

Washington has historical monuments and museums that you could spend weeks exploring. And while I was game to pop by the White House, to visit the Lincoln Memorial and to wander around a few of the Smithsonian museums, I was most excited to take in some of the modern public art that lines the National Mall. Here are some of my favourites….

“Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore)” by Mark di Suervo – I love di Suervo’s art. In this piece, I enjoyed the simplistic contrast in the red of the beams against the green landscaping and white of so many of the buildings along the Mall.

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A whole lot of gose

December 14, 2019December 14, 2019 / Greg / Leave a comment

Baseball and beer. Pretty much a perfect pairing.

My annual baseball trip this year was to Washington thanks to already being in the city for some professional development. With five days to take in the sights of the American capital, I needed ample refreshment along the way to fend off the heat and humidity of the east coast in July.

On my first night in the city, I made it to Dacha Beer Garden under threat of a severe thunderstorm. Their outdoor garden is nicely covered and sheltered from the elements (thankfully!), and I couldn’t resist pairing a Joint Resolution hazy IPA from DC Brau with PEI mussels. Pretty good match and worth getting completely drenched on the walk back to the hotel when the storm hit with an amazing ferocity at the most inopportune time for me.

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Can I enjoy the faux Expos?

October 30, 2019October 29, 2019 / Greg / 2 Comments

While I’m always up for a baseball game, when I visited Washington this past summer, it was with some mixed emotions of heading to five Nationals games. You see, when my Expos were taken away from me, they were in essence handed to Washington to become their new team. And while time can erase a lot, I’m never sure of where I stand on this baseball team that now claims franchise records of the team I used to cheer for. Putting that all aside, I bought some tickets, and shortly after arriving in DC, I threw on my trusty Montreal Expos hat and headed for Nationals Park.

Just through the gate, I bumped into this guy, who gave me a presidential welcome for my first Nationals game.

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Six days of Seattle sampling

February 2, 2017February 2, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

Anytime I got out of Saskatoon in 2016, mission one was partaking in some craft beer sampling. My desire to try a new beer every time I crack one open had run into a small (but thankfully growing and delicious) craft beer scene in Saskatchewan. In Seattle I had the opposite problem – so many beers, and so little time – so I got started right away on my first afternoon. With a reservation just around the corner at a great Mexican restaurant, I stopped in at Optimism Brewing for a quick four sample tasting. Most memorable was the Afraid of the Dark lager, but the prize for best named went to “Don’t Boo, Vote” – particularly sad as I was sipping it just two days after the election.

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Touring Safeco Field

January 28, 2017January 28, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

Trips to American cities for me recently have come up roses for getting to see baseball games. Twins games in Minneapolis, an Astros game in Houston, a Cubs game and a White Sox game in Chicago, a long dream fulfilled to see a game at Fenway in Boston… but this trip to Seattle came a couple of weeks after the end of the thrilling 2016 season. Luckily for me, Safeco Field, home of the Mariners, offers year-round tours. It’s not quite the same as getting to spend a few hours with a beer in your hand watching a game, but the tour offered by the Mariners let me see their ballpark in much more depth.

And what a beautiful park it is. Even in late November, our tour was treated to a spectacular day to wander around the stadium. First stop after some introductory history of the team and its old stadium was the upper level seats behind home plate. From here, you get an outstanding overall perspective. It also would be a great place to watch a game if you wanted to save a few bucks on tickets.

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Chance encounters with art

January 23, 2017January 23, 2017 / Greg / 1 Comment

Wandering through the streets of downtown Seattle back in November, I came across a number of interesting pieces of public art. On a previous trip to Seattle, I ventured out to the Olympic Sculpture Park to take in an amazing collection of public art situated right on the water just north of downtown. This trip was much different. My public art exploring ended up being mostly accidental encounters on my way to or from something else. These small, pleasant interruptions on my journeys, added colour and context to this lovely Pacific coast city.

As I was heading to a tour of Safeco Field, the baseball stadium of the Seattle Mariners, and on my way for a coffee in Pioneer Square, I came across the Fallen Firefighters Memorial by Hai Wing Yu which pays tribute to four firefighters who lost their life fighting a blaze in this neighbourhood.

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A hankering for seafood

January 12, 2017January 12, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

Living in a landlocked city, I have been missing the previously under appreciated access I had to wonderful seafood back in Halifax. On my first grocery shopping trip in Saskatoon back in April, I looked at a frozen Atlantic lobster tail for sale and just shook my head in disbelief. Now, when I’m traveling to a coastal area, my food radar tunes into the seafood selections so I can make up for lost time. My trip to Seattle in November was all about the seafood.

After I dropped my bags at the hotel on arrival, I immediately walked to the Pike Place Market and to the counter of the Market Grill. I was on a mission… it was lunch time, and I had a hankering for their specialty – the grilled salmon sandwich. I closed my eyes for the first bite so I could savour the long overdue taste of the sea. Delicious!

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The greatest setting in college football

January 7, 2017January 7, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

It’s hard as a Canadian to wrap my head around American college football. Earlier this fall I went to a university football game in Saskatoon. It was charming – beautiful September night, about 7,000 fans, a down-home atmosphere in the pre-game festivities and an exciting game to boot. It was a quaint, perfectly lovely thing to attend, even if the hometown University of Saskatchewan Huskies couldn’t pull off the victory. Fast forward a few months, and with a stroke of scheduling luck, the University of Washington Huskies played the USC Trojans while I was in Seattle attending a conference in November. Walking into the stadium, it was clear this was nothing like the game I saw back in Saskatoon. All this experience would share with that September night is the name of the two home teams.