Seattle Part Two: Soccer and Barbecue

Since Pike Place is a bit of a tourist trap, I decided to show the boys what a more local farmer’s market is like. We went to the Saturday market in Edmonds, which is not far from my home and is a favorite weekly visit for my Mom and I. Sean and I split a bag of rainier cherries which are a local favorite.

I showed them around downtown Edmonds and stopped by the single screen movie theater I used to work at which was built in the 20’s. Then we walked down to the beach at Brackett’s Landing where the ferry terminal is and made our way over to the public fishing pier. We were able to touch starfish and anemone in the little marine center and see jellyfish in the water off the pier.

We walked back up main street and went to a cute little British-inspired bar called the Churchkey Pub. Once we got back to the house we started getting ready for the Sounders game that night. We drove to the Seattle waterfront and found cheap parking by Pioneer Square. Then to kill some time we went on the Great Wheel. We thought about doing Wings Over Washington as well, which is a connected attraction, but doing both was a bit out of our price range. The Great Wheel was nice, the line moved surprisingly fast, and we went around four times before being let off.

After that we stopped in a couple tourist shops like Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe before grabbing dinner at Red Robin. They have my favorite fries and the Long Island Iced Teas are delicious. The service was fast enough that Sean, James, and I were able to run out and catch the march to the match before they got too far.

The march to the match is a Sounders tradition where the fans and the Sounders’ own marching band take over the streets and walk from Pioneer Square to Centurylink Stadium shouting Sounders chants. The Sounders have been doing terribly this season so the crowd wasn’t as dense as normal but it was still fun.

Inside the stadium everything was decked out in rainbows because it was the Pride match against Chicago Fire. Vendors were selling tallboys (beers in an extra tall can) throughout the stadium, which was something Sean and James weren’t used to, since the sale of alcohol at football games has been banned in Scotland for years. They were even shocked that we had cupholders in our seats.

The game itself was a bit boring and ended one to one, but at least the Sounders didn’t lose for once. The fans kept up their chanting the whole time though, which brought back some energy. After the game we headed to an Irish bar in Pioneer Square called Fado. Their beer of the day was Goose IPA, one of Sean’s favorites, and since it was only five bucks we ordered that for a few rounds. Our waitress came straight out of Ireland and there was live music which made for a fun atmosphere.

The next day was my father’s 50th birthday. We went to Costco in the morning to get supplies for his party and tried out their pizza while we were there. The party was a lot of fun. My Mom did a wonderful job planning it and my Dad certainly seemed to enjoy it. The boys broke out their kilts for the party and we played cornhole outside (a popular American lawn game where you toss bean bags on to a board with a hole in it).

As fun as the party was, American parties don’t tend to go as late as the boys are used to in Scotland, so we decided to go out that night. We took an uber (it was a Tesla 3, the boys were really excited) to Capitol Hill in Seattle, which is one of the main hotspots for Seattle nightlife. It’s also the mainstay for Seattle’s LGBTQ+ crowd, and since there was the annual pride march that morning there were quite a few people out and about. Unsurprisingly, the boys drew far more attention in their kilts from the male crowd than I did.

We stopped at a few different places, including Rhein Haus, a nice German bar which happened to be a bit empty while we were there, and Unicorn, which had a cool trippy vibe. We weren’t able to stay there for long though since the double-shots in America are measured very loosely and Sean had a few too many.

Want more? Read about our next set of adventures in Mahar Park!