I just got back from a week long trip to Seattle with one of my friends. The main purpose of the trip was to go see Dave Matthews Band at The Gorge Amphitheatre. I had never been there before, but Angela had been there a couple of years ago and has been wanting to go back ever since. Instead of just going for the concert, we decided to extend the trip for a few more days and travel around Seattle a little bit. We got in late Wednesday night (after a delayed flight) and ended up going straight to the hotel to get some sleep. Thursday morning we were up early (darn time difference!) and headed into the city to do some sightseeing. First we went to the Seattle Aquarium and then walked around the waterfront area checking out some of the interesting shops and grabbing a bite to eat. We then hiked up the stairs to Pike Place Market where we checked out a number of different vendors and shops. We then walked around the city a bit before stopping off for a drink. We then took the Seattle Underground Tour which gave us some interesting history about the city and showed us the old what-used-to-be-street-level-but-is-now-underground area. Friday and Saturday nights were the DMB concert, so we didn’t do much as it was a two hour drive to the Gorge. We did check out the Archie McPhee store on Friday though. They had a number of interesting items, but I was still a bit disappointed in the store, especially after seeing the catalog. On Sunday we went to Snoqualmie Falls and hiked around a little bit before checking out the local microbrewery in town. We went to a number of breweries on this trip :) That night we hung out in Pioneer Square where we did a little bit of bar hopping. Monday we decided to check out West Seattle, but not before making a trip to REI. I of course had to make the trip to REI to walk through the store and see all of the items that are not available at the local store. Luckily I fought the urge to purchase anything during this trip. We walked around West Seattle for awhile and grabbed some dinner before calling it a night. With Tuesday being our last day in town, we still hadn’t been to the Space Needle. I had never been up the Space Needle and unfortunately I still haven’t because it was quite cloudy when we were there and I didn’t want to spend the overpriced admission to see clouds. We then decided to head back towards Pike Place and walk around the area a bit more. Instead of walking all the way there, we decided to check out the Seattle Monorail. The ride was less than exciting, but it did save us quite a bit of walking to get to our destination. We did walk around the area some more, checking out some different shops that we wanted to see, before stopping at another microbrewery for some good beer and rest. After dinner at a fine Irish pub, it was back to the hotel to get some rest before having to get up early to catch our flight back the next morning. We had a good time and surprisingly enough we didn’t kill each other on the trip and are still talking after being back! I’m looking forward to my next trip to the northwest when I plan to check out some of the National Parks in the area and maybe do a little island hopping if I’m lucky.