Day 1 New England Fall Colors Cruise

We decided to plan a cruise.  This was all new to us so we spent months researching options and talking with veteran cruisers.  We finally decided on Pricess Cruise Line’s Fall Color Cruise.  This cruise starts in Brooklyn, New Youk with stops in Providence RI, Boston MA, Bar Harbor ME, St. John NB, Halifax NS and then back to New York.

Today is day one but let me start with Day zero.  Yesterday I began my day with a relaxing pedicure followed by a fresh manicure.  I ran a couple last minute errands and then headed home.  It had been overcast and raining all morning.  Now it decided to rain like I’ve never seen before.  The 20 minute drive home was treacherous.  My rural road was almost impassable and my yard was now a river.  First thing I did when I walked in the house was check the basement - all dry.

The skies clear for about 30 minutes and then the rain started up again.  We had some of the most amazing lightening.  My son can home and we stood on the front porch and enjoyed the storm.  Then lightening struck the power lines by our house.  Sparks flew from the fuse on the pole - lights out.  With this second batch of rain and the water getting even closer to our foundation we checked the basement again.  The water had reached our tile around our foundation and was coming in on all sides of the house.  90% of the basement is finished and carpeted.  Water was splashing up as we walked.  My husband got home and powered up the generator.  We Shop-Vac’d the basement by generator power.  We carried what we could up to the living room.  We finally just had to pull up part of the carpet.  Four hours into it, Ameren’s amazing crew replaced the fuse on the pole along with one that blew in the transformer.  Great, now we can Shop-Vac to house power.  

We worked on the basement until 12:30.  I went to bed thoroughly exhausted. Two hours later we were up again to get ready for the airport.  We were hesitant about leaving the basement as it was but our son wanted us to go on this trip and already proved that he was more than capable of taking care of the mess.

The early morning storms were light and only delayed our flight by 15 minutes.  That time was made up on the second flight.  Once in New York the Princess representative was waiting near the baggage area to escort us to the cruise ship.  Our luggage went in a big box truck and we traveled in a comfortable tour bus.  The check-in process at the ship went so smooth.  With their new medallion, check-in is a breeze.  We were on the ship before 2:00.

We quickly found our room and started orienting ourselves this huge ship.  We happened across a wonderful salad and sandwich shop.  I had the shiitake mushroom and oyster sandwich with a Greek salad.  My husband had the chicken and tomato.  Both were so flavorful and just what we needed after a long day of travel.  

Now we started wondering about our luggage.  It had not been delivered to our room yet but we were assured that it was just minutes away.  Sounds good.  Time to head to the top decks and see the ship off.  This was so moving.  The views were amazing in all directions.  The New York skyline is an eclectic variety of new and old along with tall and widespread.  We stood on the starboard side and viewed The Statue of Liberty to the left in a haze with the One World Trade Center to the right in a beautiful glow of sunlight.  I am not from New York but I can’t help but to feel the souls of 9-11 speaking to me as I remembered that horrible morning.

But back to thinking about our luggage.  We checked one more time.  You just are not going to believe this one.  My luggage was delivered safe and sound.  My husband had a message on the phone asking him to come to Four Forward to identify his luggage.  What is the worst that could happen???  Keep in mind that we are operating on only 2 hours sleep so we had some crazy thoughts go through our heads.  Nope, not this crazy.  As the dock hands were transporting the cage that contained at least 13 pieces of luggage it slipped and cage and all ended up in the harbor.  They fished out what they could get to.  His luggage contained every bit of his clothes, shoes, jackets, etc.  

Princess handled it very well but this put quite a damper on our mood - pun intended.  Skipping ahead because this is just too unbelievable even for a B movie, we had the most delicious artisan pizza for dinner.  Mine was mussels, bay shrimp, roasted garlic, capers, basil and oregano.  My husband had the Pizza Hawaiiana.

We explored for a bit and found the Movie Under the Stars - Men in Black International and also the suspended walk path.  This ship is just amazing.

Good morning Seattle

Last day in Seattle. Woke up to the beautiful view of the Space Needle.

We started our day with a trip to a local donut shop, Mighty-O Donuts. We both had an apple fritter and watched the bustling commuters heading to work.

Perfect morning for a walk. 

Cool sculpture we saw on the way back to our hotel. 

Time to pack and head to the airport. Bye Seattle. 

Din Tai Fung

It is our last night in Seattle. So many people had recommended Din Tai Fung in Pacific Place for dinner, especially the dumplings so we just had to go there. The service was the best so far in Seattle. All the staff seemed to truly love their jobs. The food was wonderful.

We shared pork & crab xiaolongbao, shrimp and pork pot stickers and pork chop fried rice. The xiaolongbao was so delicious with the warm broth center. The pork chop on the fried rice was amazingly tender.

For dessert we had chocolate xiaolongbao, dumplings filled with a rich warm chocolate ganache like filling. Wonderful.

Seattle - Pioneer Square

So we did the touristy thing today and took a walking tour of the “underground” of Pioneer Square. It was quite interesting to hear the history of how the Pioneer Square area of Seattle was constructed after the fire of 1889. The underground is actually just a tunnel system under the sidewalks that was originally the ground level before the streets were added.

The area around Pioneer Square is very up and coming. We strolled the streets until we happened by BRGR Bar. Just a long narrow building with wood tables up front and a small bar and kitchen in the back. Our burgers were some of the best we have ever had, so juicy with an amazing pillowy bun from a local bakery. We added a stack of onion rings that were equally delicious.

Gorgeous day for a walk. We walked the 2 miles back to our hotel and then enjoyed the park area around the Space Needle.  Think we are going to have Tai for dinner.

Seattle means Seafood

We couldn’t come all the way to Seattle without eating seafood. Duke’s Seafood & Chowder is well known for their wonderful award winning clam chowder and Pacific coast seafood.

My husband loves fish & chips so his only question was to select either cod or halibut. Cod won.  It was served with pickled beat salad.

I chose the stuffed and puffed prawns. The prawns were stuffed with Dungeness crab, Harvarti, Parmesan and Asiago cheeses and accented with pesto.  And yes, I did start with a cup of clam chowder. All was fabulous!

Amazon Go - Seattle

Just a bit chilly today. We thoroughly explored Pike Market Place today. Note for visitors, Sunday is the busy day. We had fun browsing the shops and getting a bite for lunch. Being by the bay, it was a bit chilly this morning.

We grabbed a hot drink and headed to the city center streets. Call me super geeky but the highlight this afternoon was going to the Amazon Go store. So cool, just like it says, just scan the QR code on the app, browse the store, pick up your items and walk out.  Lots of salads, sandwiches and kitchen made desserts to choose from as well as prepackaged goods. Just down from the entrance are full height glass windows so you can see into the kitchens where the fresh food is made.

Seattle Dive Bar

Yelp listed Pacific Inn Pub as a Dive Bar and that it definitely was. It was pouring down rain so we took an Uber. That also meant that if we decided not to stay we would have to Uber to another restaurant. The pub was packed with people but after about 10 minutes a couple of stools opened up at the bar. It was worth going out in the rain and the wait. They boasted that they have the best fish & chips in Seattle. I had the seafood platter with Alaskan cod, shrimp and oysters and my husband had the fish & chips. The batter was a bit heavy but very good.  Atmosphere was definitely dive bar :-)

We are planning on spending tomorrow at Pikes Place. I’m looking forward to a fun day of shopping and food.