For Memorial Day Weekend 2009, I chose to visit Seattle, Washington. I was excited to take in the beautiful mountainous region and to try the vegan donut shop in town! My goal is to visit every region of The USA (in addition to every region of most continents). I had never been to the Northwestern part of our country. It was a great choice! After several plane malfunctions and delays, I finally arrived at my destination. It was an evening arrival which only gave me enough time to visit the Seattle Art Museum. This museum contained a vast array of northwest landscape paintings and indigenous artwork. Well worth the evening rushed visit. Then it was on to Chinatown to explore and to dine at one of the city’s good vegan restaurants. This city is known for being quite hospitable to vegans. There even exists a vegan travel guide for Seattle. The Chinatown neighborhood is fairly small, not very colorful at all all, with the exception of a decorative Chinese “gate” and drawings under the bridge. However, this neighborhood is not to be missed because of the exquisite vegan Chinese restaurant LovingHut, formerly “Vegan Garden”. They serve a wide variety of delectable, vegan Chinese rice, noodle, rice, and faux meat dishes. The smoothies and bubble teas are great also. It was still fairly early, so I walked over to The Space Needle and took the elevator to the top level with breathtaking views overlooking the entire city lit up at night. When I left the building I could hear music. It turns out there were local rock groups performing in the nearby park, so I stopped by to listen for a while. The Seattle area music scene has a great reputation and this performance surely did not disappoint either.
The next morning, I joined a group tour to Mount Rainier. This proud mountain is the backdrop from any angle in the Seattle skyline. Although it was late spring, we muddled through slippery, soft snow at its base. I must say, the air at that elevation is by far the freshest, cleanest air in which I have ever taken a breathe! VERY, VERY refreshing! We then drove down into the National Park. We saw various animals, flowers, and huckeleberries and gorgeous waterfalls. On the way, our tour group stopped at a local gift shop for huckleberry ice cream. As a vegan I had options too. I purchased huckleberry jam and candy. I also had my bag of trusty vegan trailmix to munch on during the bus ride home.
After a change of clothes, I headed to Pike Place for dinner at the Ethiopian restaurant “Pan African Market“. They had several amazing vegan options on the menu. I selected a pumpkin curry on injera bread. REALLY, REALLY good!
The next morning, I rushed to Pike Place Market when it opened and quickly rushed through all of the gift shops and specialty food shops. I purchased some Seattle souvenirs and some vegan spice combinations from a specialty shop. I then ran down to the waterfront to hop aboard the boat to my next destination: a tour of Tillicum Village. The village was basically an island attraction where local indigenous tribe members performed ritual dances and story-telling of their communities. I recommend this tour. If you ask the tour company boat staff in advance, they will provide some vegan options for dining. After the performance, we had some time to walk through the wooded area on the island.
Upon arrival back in Seattle, I literally had to run to catch my next tour which was the Seattle Underground tour. The city had been built up over the previous ground level after a fire demolished the city over 100 years ago. We walked through old passageways and storefronts and an entire underground city. Its well worth the tour. After the tour finished, I walked around the quaint, cobblestoned Pioneer Square neighborhood known for shops, antiques, restaurants, and music clubs.
During my third day in town, I woke up quite early to take a taxi to Mighty-O vegan donut shop. Wowee!!!!!!!!!!! I ordered a dozen donuts which they packaged so I could bring on the plane. I tried one of them immediately. Absolutely DEE-licious! I HIGHLY recommend do not leave Seattle without purchasing some Mighty-O donuts, http://www.mightyo.com/. I then went to Squid & Ink vegan cafe for breakfast, http://www.myspace.com/squid_and_ink. I ate a scruptious breafast of tofu scramble, toast, home fries & juice. Don’t miss this breakfast place!
OK. Now time for more sightseeing… I slowly paced around the waterfront basking in the scenery and browsed through more of the gift shops. Today was museum day. The Experience Music Project museum showcases memorabilia and audio/video representing popular Seattle area performers such as Nirvana. Its adjacent to another popular museum “The Science Fiction” Museum which displays sci fi memorabilia from popular movies and tv shows throughout the decades. I was super-excited to see the actual robot from the tv show “Lost in Space”!
Since I enjoy trying many ethnic cuisines during my travels I decided to have dinner at a vegan-friendly Italian restaurant in town where the chef prepared a vegan risotto for me. It really was wonderful.
Vistors to Seattle will not be disappointed with their vegan dining options. There are quite a few vegan restaurants, ethnic restaurants, and vegan bakeries. I really enjoyed the vegan dining, the incredible views of Mt. Rainier, and the amazing tours above the city at The Needle, underground in the old town, and across the Pudget Sound waterway to Tillicum Village island!
MightYo Donuts: 