Seattle Adventures

And I’m back (again) this time returning from beautiful Seattle, Washington!

LOVE Seattle. I had the pleasure of spending an extended layover in Seattle last year and fell in love with the city. I’m so happy I had the chance to return for work this past weekend. I made sure I took advantage of any free time I had to explore this beautiful city.

The first morning we were here, I had a chance to complete a 6 mile run along the water.

The weather was perfect for running – low humidity and a nice cool breeze. I always forget how wonderful it is to run in that type of weather, my body was enjoying it so much that I easily kept a sub-9:00 min pace and barely felt like I broke a sweat. If I didn’t have to be at work, I could have easily gone on for a few more miles past the turn around point (I was just having too much fun).

For breakfast, my co-workers took me to their favorite doughnut spot in the city: Top Pot Doughnuts.

They’ve basically been raving about Top Pot Doughnuts since they knew I was going to Seattle with them. The Top Pot Old Fashioned doughnuts are actually the same doughnuts you’ll find in Starbucks all around the country.

There were a zillion options to choose from and each one looked delicious. I loved the unique flavor choices and the fact that none of them looked perfect. They all looked slightly misshapen, as if they were made by hand with love.

I ended up going with the salted caramel old fashioned. It basically melted in my mouth. The salted caramel glaze was light and didn’t over power the cakey doughnut smothered underneath. It was a delicious doughnut.

Yum. Yum. Yum.

Skipping ahead to Sunday…. once we were all done with work, we decided to do something fun and touristy. What’s more fun and touristy than a Ride the Duck tour?!

I’ve seen the duck tours in almost every major city I’ve visited, but I’ve never actually been on one before. Since we were limited on time, we thought it would be the best way to explore the city in a short amount of time (the tours are only 90 minutes long).

It was definitely entertaining. The captain of our duck had a goofy, fun personality and filled us in on fun Seattle facts while showing us around town. (p.s. I now have an urgent need to re-watch Sleepless in Seattle, totally should have watched it before this trip.)

We started on land, then headed to water for my favorite views of the city, the famous floating houses, and the mountains in the shore. We were on the 7:00pm duck and it was the perfect time of day to be on the water. Everything was stunning.

After a quick float around the water, we headed back on land and into downtown.

All-in-all, it was a fun tour. I would definitely do another one.

We ended the night with a famous seafeast at Crab Pot.

I <3 seafood!

Monday morning I took spin class at FlyWheel.

More than a few followers suggested I take a class and there just happened to be one down the street from my hotel.

The class was incredible. Definitely my favorite spin class I’ve ever taken. Everything about the studio was really well done and the instructor was extra motivating and just plain fantastic. If I’m ever in Seattle again, I will definitely be returning for another class.

Per the suggestion of my friend Katy Widrick, I ended up here for breakfast.

I ordered an orange peel cinnamon braid and it was pretty epic. Nice and gooey and chewy.

The rest of my day was spent exploring Seattle with the super amazing Emily.

My very pregnant friend was an awesome tour guide. She brought me out of downtown and introduced me to some of Seattle’s neighborhood charm. We got chocolate from Theo, saw the locks, visited GasWorks park (such a cool place!), and I got to spend some time falling in love with this little guy.

Cullen is the coolest kid ever. Enough said.

I had so much fun in Seattle and can’t wait to return in the future. I took the red eye home last night and am still feeling a little off. I’m hoping a good night of sleep will fix that. I have a tough week of training ahead of me and I’m ready to dive back in!