Last Monday was the bf’s 30th birthday, so we decided to celebrate with a weekend in Seattle. I booked a room at the Paramount Hotel for Saturday and Sunday nights, and we spent the weekend enjoying one of our favorite cities.
Saturday, we got checked into our room (we had a corner room with a nice view of Pine Street) and went to dinner at Dragonfish, an Asian restaurant inside the Paramount. If you haven’t eaten there, you should…it’s delicious! We had planned on going to a different place after dinner to have drinks, but our usual spot was beyond crowded so we ended up back at Dragonfish. They have a fantastic happy hour and we had several drinks that we really enjoyed…my favorite was the Singapore Sling.
Sunday morning dawned sunny and beautiful. We got lattes at Starbucks (after all, we were in Seattle…we had to have coffee!) and then ventured down to Pike Place Market for a breakfast of freshly made mini donuts. After splitting a dozen between us (and vowing that next time we’d split a half dozen, as the donuts were delicious but VERY filling), we wandered around the market. I spotted a series of cat pictures done by artist Frank Coble, and bought one that made me think of my fat orange kitty, Oliver.
 

We continued to wander along the waterfront and ended up at the Seattle Aquarium. I’d been to the aquarium once before last year, and Paul had been as a kid on field trips and such. I really liked looking at all the colorful fishes, but my very favorite were the playful otters. They are so cute and lively! They seemed to be having the time of their lives and we watched them for quite awhile.
After a nice lunch at the Crab Pot, we wandered along the waterfront, up through the Sculpture Park, and over to Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is, for those not familiar). We had planned to take the monorail back to Westlake and walk the small distance to our hotel from there, but the line was uncharacteristically long so we decided to just walk back.
For dinner, I took Paul out to Ray’s Boathouse.  I knew it was on the water, but I wasn’t prepared for how stunning the view would be. We arrived right as the sun was setting, and it was breathtaking. The restaurant itself is fabulous and the food was delicious. Paul had scallops and I got a sampler with salmon, sablefish, and a crab cake. Everything was mouthwateringly good.
On Monday, we went to the Pacific Science Center to see the King Tut Exhibit. Paul had of course been to the Pacific Science Center many times, but I never had, so I enjoyed wandering around and looking at everything. We saw King Tut at noon, and that was amazing. If you live in the area or can get yourself here before January 6th, I highly recommend going to the exhibit (it’s leaving North America after that). The exhibit is wonderful and I enjoyed brushing up on my ancient Egyptian history (I had a history teacher in school who focused a lot of his curriculum on ancient Egypt….we even reconstructed Tut’s tomb as a class project and led tours through it) and seeing in person the things that were found in the Valley of the Kings was amazing.
We finished out our weekend with Paul’s delicious homemade steaks and a fire in the fire pit (may be our last one before the cold weather sets in). We sat in the backyard, warmed by our fire, toasting marshmallows for s’mores.
All in all, I think the 30th birthday celebration was a great success.