If I thought I got a lot of steps in yesterday… actually I did think that (over 13,432 to be exact)… I was not expecting what I got today: 17,956. How? You ask? Vell, I’ll tell ya. While the two beauties slept, I ate hotel breakfast (oatmeal with raisins, honey, and walnuts) and dropped in at Industrious CrossFit. It was a nice 12-minute walk from our hotel, through downtown (the nicer part). They had a different setup from most CrossFit gyms. The owner, Molly Hitt, developed an idea borne of pandemic lockdown. The concept: Halos. Basically, each person working out has their own garage gym space with cardio equipment, a bench, rig, and plates. The layout ensures that every person has 6 feet between themselves and other athletes at all times. Pretty ingenious.
I got in a good workout and met some nice people. I bought the shirt (because that’s the traveling CrossFitter’s favorite memento) and walked back to the hotel for a shower. I tried to get a cup of local brew on my way, but the coffee shop I wanted to try had a line out the door. Apparently, between people cruising to Alaska, the Mariner’s game, and the T-Swizzle concert, there are more humans than on a usual weekend in this city.
Once showered, we headed out (more walking) to Pike Place Market to explore and have a light lunch at Etta’s Big Mountain BBQ. Light. Ha. Hubs and I had BBQ oysters & carmelized onion mac ‘n’ cheese (there was caramelized onion something or other everywhere we went – Seattle thing?). TG got a pretzel the size of a human head. I decided since my workout went so well, I’d enjoy a hard seltzer: Squeeze White Peach. It tasted just like a grownup Bartles & James – just less sugary than what we guzzled back in the day. Still, at the first sip, I was instantly transported back to the Bradley Phi Tau chapter/bar room where I played my first game of quarters while still in high school (a visiting prospective BU student). Oh, so many memories!
After lunch we wandered the market some more, bought an ornament (which is MIA because we cannot remember where we put it) for our travel tree, and I got another coffee (natch). I did NOT get Sbux. But holy smokes, the line for the original Starbucks store was about a block long! We continued on our trek quite a way (it was half a mile, but felt like longer thanks to hills) to meet family for linner at Anthony’s on pier 66. What a treat it was to visit with my cousin Taz. And bonus: Auntie Barbells and Uncle Mike were in town too! We caught up on our lives, chatted about all the Swifties clogging the city, and waved to the Norwegian cruise ship as it departed while we sat there. We even sang happy birthday to someone on their balcony along with a bunch of the other cruisers.
By the time we Ubered back to the hotel, my parents had arrived and were nearly ready for dinner – yes, our fourth meal of the day. I think we were just priming ourselves for the marathon of eating to come on the ship.
Even before we finished eating, we were all exhausted; my parents from a day of travel from FL to WA, and us from all those steps. Once the bill was paid, we went back to the hotel, watched an episode of Suits, and conked out until morning.