A Weekend in Seattle

I got to spend the first weekend of September up in Seattle thanks to Jen & Gary who flew me up for their engagement session. It was a quick but full trip. Despite meeting a crazy thunderstorm and the first rains of the season, I was armed with my new rain shell that I had just bought in Alaska and happily headed out on foot and by bus to explore the city.

First up, I stayed in the Moore Hotel just a couple blocks from Pike Place Market, so I volunteered to put together a little bouquet for the engagement session!

Step one to playing florist: purchase a super affordable $10 bouquet of dahlias from the market. Step two: find ribbon and pins at a cute consignment craft shop downstairs (getting horribly lost along the way).

Step three: borrow scissors from the hotel lobby. Separate out the dahlias of the desired color palette and rearrange. Step four: ribbon and pin it, et voila!

You can see the final result in the engagement session here! But here’s our post-shoot dinner at Dough Zone along with their Millie who helped out as dog wrangler for the day.

Day two: waking up to a mix of rain and sunshine at the Moore Hotel.

Went and got myself an Orca Card and unlimited bus pass for the day and then headed over to the Olympic Sculpture Park for a lovely, quiet stroll.

Then I headed to the Fremont neighborhood to check out the Sunday Market. Loved all the cute shops!

 

Other wonderful stops in Fremont: Theo Chocolates and this Taiwanese restaurant, 19 Gold, I randomly found on Yelp for a lovely lunch.

Then a quick visit to Green Lake Park.

And on down to the International District to visit the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience.

An exhibit about Asian Americans and sci fi.

Included with museum admission is a tour of the historic spaces that are a part of the museum building– it’s housed in a former Chinatown hotel and includes a shop front and residential spaces adjacent to the museum.

Fascinating spaces upstairs.

Love seeing creative architecture that brings history into the modern realm.

Next, a visit to Kinokuniya and the giant Uwajimaya Japanese market attached.

I picked up a quick and easy dinner and brought it back to Pike Place to enjoy with a view.

And to top off the night, drinks at Adana.

A final day in the city! I went downstairs to the coffee shop attached to the Moore Hotel– the Moore Coffee Shop, which has tasty lattes with the cutest latte art.

Then, lining up right at opening time for Il Corvo! My favorite pasta in Seattle, open only for lunch on weekdays. There’s always a line up the block, but it’s so worth it. And my friend Debo came out to meet me too.

Then, wandering around Pioneer Square and seeing all the cutest shops. This would totally be my hangout if I lived here! A craft shop with a giant workspace where they teach all sorts of classes.

London Plane, the cutest flower shop / cafe.

Another plant-filled coffeeshop down the street, Callus.

Beautiful artwork as seen at the Globe Bookstore.

Then, another quick bus ride took me over to Capitol Hill for more cute plant-filled shops. Glasswing Greenhouse.

And the other Glasswing shop.

Starbucks Reserve.

Standard Goods.

The Elliott Bay Book Company (love this place).

A cafe inside the bookstore and a tea shop, Atulea.

And as my Seattle finale, I headed to the Seattle Public Library – Central Library. I love libraries! And this one is so fun to explore.

Right as I was about to leave, I saw a shelf of popular books that were available to check out, and I fell in love with this yellow gem, Seattle Walk report. I have been collecting illustrated books from a few places along my travels and I suddenly thought this would be perfect to take home… except this was a library and you can’t purchase books from the library. :P

Not to worry, I visited a couple more shops near Pike Place on my way back to my hotel. Here’s Paper Hammer.

And a map store, for which I had pretty low expectations… but I loved so many things in the shop and also found the book I was hoping to purchase! Perfect.

All in all, such a wonderful trip to Seattle!

Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.