Monthly Archives: September 2013

Grandma decided the leftover waffle batter should become blueberry pancakes, so here she is making them for us! We had thought we would try the Chiluly glass garden and maybe the Spaceneedle, since Linda had told us even with the big Bumbershoot music festival going on at Seattle Center, the south road into the garden was open and worth seeing. But Steven called during breakfast and had been to Bumbershoot on Sunday. He told Grandma there were “too many druggies” so we should avoid that area completely. I had mentioned trying to eat at the fancy place Canlis they keep talking about, so he recommended we go there. So as I was finishing my breakfast, I looked up Canlis on my phone, finding the number first for Grandma to call for a reservation, but as no one was answering, I finally found their page that shows the handful of days they are closed each year…and Labor Day was first on their list. Zero for two!

Linda had also mentioned the Argosy cruises were nice, so I was able to get a AAA discount and book our tickets online for the 3:45pm harbor cruise, so we headed for the Seattle Waterfront. We parked in a lot one block from the pier which was also one block over from the end of Pike’s Place Market. The one block was pretty long, so Grandma went very slowly but she made it! She thinks she needs more exercise like this to heal, and I agree, but we need to be careful she doesn’t overdo it either.

We got checked in for our cruise just fine and I left Grandma sitting at the gate while I strolled a bit more, including finding fried clams to go! I needed some protein since it was already 3:30pm, and boy were they tasty! Grandma even had a few. 😉

It was soooo hot in the sunshine…hotter than I have ever been in Seattle! I really needed the breeze but Grandma didn’t want to go up the stairs, so I went up two decks for the breeze and the view for awhile. I got a lot of great photos, and this is the closest we got to the Spaceneedle.

When we turned around to make our circle, I went downstairs to spend the rest of the cruise with Grandma, so I was able to get this photo when we were heading back to the pier.

Of course they take photos of you in hopes you’ll buy $10 prints, but I sneaked an iPhone shot of this one. Grandma isn’t looking at the camera but it’s pretty good of both of us! Glad she listened when I begged her to wear something with more color than her cream sweater! 😉

I remember Ye Olde Curiosity Shop from when I was little, especially the gruesome “mermaid” hanging from the ceiling and the mummies in the back. Since it was only the next pier over from our boat, I convinced Grandma to let me take another look. You could spend hours looking at all the weird stuff in the cases, even real shrunken heads, taxidermy of two headed creatures, turtle skeletons, almost anything… and you never know when or where I might get Halloween inspiration! 😉

We started slowly walking back along the waterfront, but Grandma was needing more rest breaks. We saw two bike rickshaw guys, and the first guy’s price was only $3 to the elevators up to the market, so that was worth it! He had to move the bike down to the street so the curb height helped Grandma get up into the seat, then we were set. Most of the market was closing already, no fish-throwing happening, but there was an excellent moving bronze statue lady!

Since Canlis was a bust, Grandma thought of a nice place on Elliott Bay but couldn’t remember the name so we didn’t make reservations and just gambled. We found it and only about a 10 minute wait so that was perfect! Very nice staff, excellent food, good cocktails, a waterfall and fishpond inside, a player piano on a platform above the bar, and a stunning view of the marina and the Seattle skyline! We split the crabcake appetizer, a different salad for each of us, one cocktail each, and shared the creme brûlée trio…and even with 20% tip (very difficult to convince Grandma to tip that much!) our total was only $85 with both of us pleasantly full. We had yet another night talking until almost midnight! I’m so glad I have a grandmother I can talk to.

Since my shuttle was picking me up at 4pm for the airport, all we did today was run errands like gas, groceries, picked up her new checks at the bank, and more computer lessons. I did finally take a chance to feed some carrots to the goats and the horse, so you can see some cute photos if you continue to see the whole gallery below. 😉

On the plane now for the flight home! I really enjoyed my trip but didn’t sleep well all week, so I am looking forward to my own bed tonight and hope my three kitties allow me some good sleep!

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Neither Grandma nor I felt very rested, even though we tried to sleep in after Jim & Linda quietly left early in the morning. Grandma wanted waffles again so got those ready while I did my T-Tapp exercises outside again, then I looked up the Theo Chocolate tours in case there were any left, since we knew they were closed on Monday for Labor Day. There was one slot left at 3:30 showing open, but I didn’t want to pay in advance since we weren’t sure if there were too many stairs or too much walking for Grandma, so we decided to gamble and ask when we arrived. We took Greenwood instead of any freeways, but the chocolate building was farther down where Phinney changes direction several times. Some of those hills with narrow residential streets reminded me of Astoria! We made it and the shop said there were openings in the 3:30 tour so just walk over to the tour door. By the time we got there, the person in front of us had taken the last spot! Argh! I said if I’d known that I would have run & let Grandma catch up! Since we were only 2 people, she was able to squeeze us in. That was at 3:10, and instead of walking back to the shop & back again, we stayed sitting there, taking a photo with our funny hair nets on for the tour. We heard several people come up after us and not get in, so we were very lucky to be the last ones to get on, since all the tours the rest of the day were booked solid. She said “this is the hot tour right now” so I guess that’s true? I only heard about them at all because my cousin Kathleen posted on Facebook that she went there a few weeks ago. I guess being the first organic & fair trade chocolate maker in the US everyone wants to visit them.

The beginning of the tour was seated in a small room with 5 different chocolates to taste as our guide described and showed us how cacao is grown and chocolate is made. I knew some of this already but it is still interesting, and our guide was a bubbly girl who was entertaining. Even the 85% dark chocolate was quite good and I don’t usually like darker than 70%. After that portion, we had to wear hairnets to enter the factory floor. Since they have to keep it at 98F, they have a room with windows on all sides with air conditioning so we could stand in comfort and listen as the guide explained all the machines.

We only walked through the actual factory floor for a short trip to the confectionary room, and it was even hot for Grandma, so I’m glad for that little room! In the confectionary room they make their truffles and fun creations. I saw they hang their silicone mats when not in use which would let them dry without sticking to things, so I might try that in the future! They gave us samples of truffles, so I made sure Grandma got to try one of the Scotch truffles. She liked it!

Our guide mentioned a Walla Walla Onion Truffle they have right now, so we got one for each of us to try…very tasty! Those onions are very sweet in the first place, and it tasted like they carmelized them before adding them into the chocolate. I kind of want to try making some onion chocolate myself now! 😉 I figured this could be my place to buy some birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, and thank you gifts, plus they have Partner Bars where portions of the proceeds go to good causes, so I spent awhile shopping…and when I thought I was done, the clerk pointed out that if I got this or that handpacked instead of pre-boxed, I could get the tour 10% discount, so I went back 3x before I actually paid…ending up still spending about $150! At least it didn’t take up as much physical space in my suitcase as the Mexican chocolate & mole sauce assortment I bought in Oaxaca that took up half of one side of my luggage!

We had thought we would go to the Chiluly Glass Garden and Spaceneedle since the weather was so nice, but after the tour Grandma was tired and asked to go home before dinner. We had a break, then we went to Anthony’s in Edmonds on the water, just in time for a nice sunset dinner of delicious seafood. Yum!

By the time we were finishing dinner, the return ferry was coming, all lit up, with just enough daylight left to see some mountains and clouds in the background. I almost got out my good camera for this, but it was moving so fast, by the time I dug my camera out of the bottom of my bag, I think the ferry would have been docked!

You can keep reading for a lot more photos of the chocolate tour…hopefully more downtown Seattle tomorrow!

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