Seattle Day 2 - 9/17/2025
- sridgway38
- Sep 17
- 4 min read
We got up early adn took advantage of the free buffet breakfast in the club lounge in our hotel. It had everything we needed, eggs, coffee, fruit oatmeal and pastry. We filled out water bottles and called an Uber to head for Discovery Park outside of Seattle where we had saved a hike in the AllTrails app to try. We asked them to drop us in the East Parking lot which was supposed to be a good place to start the hike, and it had trail maps and restrooms so it turned out to be a nice starting point.
Discovery Park is Seattle’s largest city park, about 534 acres, located in the Magnolia neighborhood, projecting into Puget Sound from Magnolia Bluff.
The park was originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples (including the Duwamish and other Coast Salish tribes), who used the area for gathering, fishing, and more. The park offers varied terrain: forest groves, open meadowlands, sea cliffs, sandy/rocky beaches, bluffs, tidal zones. It has many miles of trails that rage from easy to difficult and has permanent facilities like restrooms spread through the park, It also has the West Point Lighthouse which sits at the westernmost point of the park and is an active navigation light.
The Lighthouse loop trail that we chose winds through forested areas, open meadows, bluff tops with views of Puget Sound, and the Olympic Mountains & islands in the distance. We loved the tall pines and other huge trees that dominated the early and later parts of the trail away from the coast.
After we left the lighthouse area we walked back on the bluff sections of the trail and towards the end we passed an entrance to the park that seemed to be in a more populated section than the parking lot where we had the Uber drop us so we decided to call for an Uber from here thinking we'd have a shorter wait and we did.
We couldn’t resist making a stop at the Fremont Troll and added that as a top to the Uber ride. I mean, how often do you get the chance to visit a giant concrete creature hiding under a bridge? The troll feels like one of those quirky, only-in-Seattle things you just have to see for yourself.
Back in the late ’80s, this spot under the bridge was run-down and often attracted crime, so the neighborhood dreamed up a way to reclaim it. A group of artists decided, “Why not a troll?” — a nod to the Scandinavian folktales about trolls lurking under bridges. The idea stuck, the community loved it, and in 1990 the Fremont Troll was born.
Standing there, you get why he’s become a local legend. He’s a little creepy, and a little fun.
Next up we headed over to the Space Needle. We didn't intend to go up, but rather to visit the Chihuly Glass Museum and Garden located at it's base. Years ago we watched a show about a glass artist named Dale Chihuly who built a pool in his home with a glass bottom filled with glass flowers to look at while you swim. Since them we've seen several exhibits of his glass in Columbus, Las Vegas and other places. Shawn had visited on one of her trips to Seattle but Conrad had never been so we decided to make a visit.
The Museum has several inside rooms filled with his pieces, many in dark rooms where the glass is set against black mirrored stands with lights on the sculptures, it really makes the pieces stand out. There's also an outside area with glass blowing exhibits as well as a garden that winds below the Space needle with sculptures incorporated with the plants.
We had lunch at the Chihuly Gardens in a little cafe with a limited menu but some really nice sliders. We then headed over to the Monorail which terminates on the grounds of the space needle on one end and at Westlake Station on the other end which put us a few blocks from the hotel in the South Laek Union neighborhood. At 2.00 per person for the trip and a quick 5 minute ride it was much nicer and more economical than an Uber. We headed back to the hotel to drop a few things and then headed out again. We spent a bit more time at Pike Place market today, and then headed back down to the waterfront for a visit to the Seattle Aquarium. There are some interesting exhibits and tanks that we enjoyed, and we took loads of videos for our 2 year old grandson who loves to watch fish videos. It was a couple of hours well spent.
After the Aquarium we headed back to the hote for showers and to get ready for dinner. We decided to eat at the Purple Cafe and Wine bar. Shawn had eaten here before on a work visit and loved the multi story wine staircase that dominates the center of the restaurant. The food was great and we had a very nice bottle of wine from Burgundy France that we really enjoyed. .
Conrad finished off his meal with the Tiramisu which was impressively sized!
Tomorrow we head out to Whidbey Island by ferry. We will stay in a little town called Langley for a couple of days before heading to Olympic National Park.