This is our annual trip to Seattle to see the city and also for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. We’ve gone every year from 2001-2019 and now again in 2023 and 2024. Also going this year was our granddaughter Jasmine, and we also met up with our friend Margaret from Portland.
I’ll post some pictures soon, but first, here’s what we did on our trip.
Monday August 26th
In the morning I dropped our dog (Shirah) at the Animal Keeper. Once Petra got out of school, we drove to nearby San Diego and checked into the Sheraton, where we spent most of the night before our early flight in the morning. We had a great dinner at Tacotarian, an all-vegan Mexican restaurant.
Tuesday August 27th
We got up super-early to take the hotel shuttle to the airport, where we flew to Sacramento. Once there, we met up with our granddaughter Jasmine. We all took a plane to Seattle. Next was a ride on the light rail to downtown and we checked into The Camlin, our home away from home for the week. Now that we had a place for the luggage, we walked to Whole Foods to get some supplies for the week. Then it was time for dinner at the nearby Dough Zone and some visiting in the room afterwards.
Wednesday August 28th
We headed out and grabbed a tasty lunch at Veggie Grill and then caught the monorail to the Seattle Center. Once there we (of course) had to check out Petra’s happy place, the International Fountain. I actually went down and touched the fountain without getting wet. Jasmine touched it too. Next up was a quick visit to Starbucks on the grounds to pick up a liquid libation. We wandered a bit around the Center grounds to see the preparations for the Bumbershoot Festival coming up in a few days. Then we took a look inside at the MoPop Museum gift shop. And then it was time to go up in the Space Needle. Up, way up, way way up. It was quite a view but people leaning outward on the glass freaked me out a little bit. Afterwards, we grabbed a pizza (each) and walked over to go to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. Chihuly is the most famous glass artist in the world and his glass art was awesome. By then it was dusk and we went back up into the Space Needle for the nighttime view. It was really nice seeing it in the day and night both. We made a quick stop at the nearby Metropolitan Market and then caught a Lyft back to the Camlin. Jasmine taught Peta how to use the Lyft app!
Thursday August 29th
Late morning, we walked to Pike Place Market, then took a break for a delicious lunch at El Borracho, another all-vegan Mexican restaurant. Next stop was the Seattle Aquarium, where Jasmine really wanted to go. Turns out we all had a great time there! We shopped briefly at a shirt shop and a Target but found nothing much of interest, so we headed back to the Camlin and had some food in the room.
Friday August 30th
First stop today, after a short walk, was The Purple Store, where everything in the store is purple. It’s not a small store either. Then we went just down the street to continue our exploration of the shops of Pike Place Market. We had (another) delicious lunch at El Borracho, then we walked down to the Ferry Terminal. A ferry boat took us over to Bainbridge Island where we looked around the stores a little, stopping for some tasty ice cream. And then we took a ferry (free this direction!) back to the Seattle mainland. Now that Petra is a Lyft expert, we had one take us over to the Seattle Center, where we shopped a bit in the gift shops and looked around the Festival setup for tomorrow’s (!) Bumbershoot Festival. The grounds were almost ready and I was beyond ready. Then there was a quick stop at the market and back to the Seattle Center (and the fountain), after which we caught the monorail back to the Camlin. We had some snacks in the room and began to prepare for Bumbershoot Day 1.
Saturday August 31st
Day 1 – The monorail got us to the Seattle Center and after a brief wait in the short “deluxe ticket” line, we went into the festival and did a bit of a group dance with the “Bumberbuddies”. Next, we bought a few souvenirs at the Merch Booth and headed to the Cat Circus. Jasmine loves animals, including cats, and these kittens were pretty darned cute. Nearby we ordered (and ate) some tasty vegan dumplings that we all really liked. As we were walking around the festival, we caught the last song from the band Chastity Belt, sounding pretty good. We headed into the festival Fashion District and looked around, then back to a stage to see a partial set by a band called Automatic. It was pretty good modern electro-pop. We got a drink at the festival Starbucks and watched part of a set by Hooray For The Riff Raff. Then we went to the Recess District and watched some female skateboarders on a half-pipe “track”. And a little bit of some dancers. Well, you gotta eat so we did, with a Dirty Dog (vegan mega-hot dog). Starbucks had provided some free beverages (pink drink and others) and that’s where we met up with our friend Margaret. Then it was time for music, an excellent set by Lauren Mayberry (lead singer from Chvrches). She even did a cover version of one of Jasmine’s favorite songs by Chappell Roan, making Jasmine very very happy. Then we watched a set by St Paul and the Broken Bones. They were pretty good, maybe it started to kind of sound alike a little bit but I did like them. It was time for another short visit to the International fountain and then we took the monorail back to the Camlin, to relax and prepare for Day 2.
Sunday September 1st
Day 2 – Once again, the monorail provided our transportation over to the festival, and once inside we had some handmade french fries to get us started. Next we went to the Vera Project stage and area where we caught a couple songs from Emi Pop. The place was one small very crowded room and we listened to some of the next band (Spoon Benders) from the safety of the couches in the lobby. There was also a silk screening demo nearby. After that we went to one of the “deluxe” ticket areas where we had some food: pesto pizza (extra pesto) for Jasmine and vegan Sambusas for us. At this stage, Angelica Garcia was singing and we watched a few of her songs. Next on the stage was Neal Francis and also we visited with Margaret for a little bit. She was “deluxe” too! After that we went to the large building with some very interesting art exhibits and as we were finishing up there a large dance group formed outside so we watched for a bit. Then it was back to the previous stage for a winning set by Courtney Barnett, one of the festival highlights for sure. See her if you get a chance. And then back to the dumpling booth for more of those tasty green treats. We all visited a bit and then went back to watch a few songs by Thee Sacred Souls. Not really my genre but they were talented nevertheless. And of course we took the monorail back to the Camlin.
Monday September 2nd
Sadly, the festival was over but luckily not the vacation! We had lunch at Veggie Grill and took the monorail over to the Seattle Center for a lengthy and fun visit to the MoPop Museum (Museum of Popular Culture, formerly known as the Experience Music Project). Then we shopped just a bit more at some gift shops and had another pizza at the Seattle Center. We hung out at the International Fountain for a while and then took the monorail back to the Camlin. Tomorrow we go home. Argghh!
Tuesday September 3rd
We took the light rail to the airport. This vacation was too short! We found some kinda-ok vegan sandwiches at the airport and then we flew to Sacramento. We said goodbye (for now) to Jasmine. We had a great time with her and she seemed to have a ton of fun too. So Petra and I had a snack and then we flew to San Diego. Once there, we took the shuttle to the parking lot where our car was parked and of course by then we needed a coffee beverage. That got us up to Encinitas where we had dinner at Plant Power Fast Food. Then we drove the rest of the way to our house. Is it too early to start planning for next year?
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