362
Last week I was a tourist in my own city of Seattle. I was able to see my beautiful home with new eyes, through the eyes of a first time visitor, a tourist. Last week my mom and aunt came to visit from the great state of Oklahoma. My mom has never been to the pacific northwest and seeing that it was our first time to have any family visit us in Seattle, we had a pretty big mission ahead of us: Attempt to show my family all of the reasons why we love this place in a mere four days. Mission accepted... It's actually a pretty easy sell Seattle when the weather plays nice.
Before they came, Chris and I were frantically trying to pull together all of the minor home improvement projects that have been on our list for the past four months... putting up a new storm door (check) - replacing our ugly address numbers with sexy Nuetra house numbers (check) - installing some new lights around the house (check) & getting our massive yard cleaned up a bit (check). My husband is a pretty handy guy :)
The rain was coming down so hard that I even saw locals carrying umbrellas on the day that Mom and Aunt Sarah arrived... and if you are local, you know that that is saying a lot :) I was pretty bummed because Seattle gets a pretty bad rap for the rain and clouds, and the big secret is it really is sunny most of the time. And when the clouds dissipate and the mountains come out to play it is absolutely breathtaking. But I smiled when we woke up the next morning to the perfection of fall, with it's sunny brilliance. It even stuck around for a few days. We soaked it up.
I took them to one of my favorite places in the world, The Ballard Market on Sunday and we bought fresh apples, beans, squash and flowers. We went to The Fremont Troll and laughed at it's complete randomness. We did the unthinkable and road The Ducks around the city and it was surprisingly fun! We went up to Mount Rainier and had our breath taken away as fall just overtook us with it's brilliant reds, oranges and yellows, we spent the day hiking and telling stories. We went down to the Ballard Locks and watched the boats rise and fall. We showed them a Seattle beach at Golden Gardens... very different than your typical swim suit and sunscreen beach... instead, here we wear hoodies and drink lattes as we walk along the sandy oceanfront. We also went up to the tippity-top of the Seattle space needle and took them to visit the Seattle public library with all of it's awesome architecture.
My favorite part of having my family here was cooking together. Anyone who knows me, knows that I pretty much loathe cooking, mostly because I end up in utter disaray in the kitchen and my dish never seems to be worth all of the work. But the three of us spent the day cooking up a storm and put together a dinner for some of my best friends here. It was so much fun! They restored my hope in cooking! :)
Fall is all about togetherness. I feel so grateful to have shared these precious moments with my family last week.
Tech notes: Most of these images were taken with my point and shoot a Canon G-11
Thoughts
Add a Comment
View Comments (22)
Thanks for the lovely photos Sarah! I've never been to Seattle, but am wondering if I may end up there in the next year or so. Fun to see some pics!
I love Seattle and the shots you took. I feel like a tourist in my hometown too sometimes, I miss it there! Can't wait to be back!
love the autumnal photos! :)
I adore your fall images. And I love Seattle!
Hehe...I love how you, your mom and aunt all look so much alike.
Amazing Sarah. Just a few weeks ago I was in a tourist in my own city when my parents visited. It was so refreshing to see NYC with new eyes...
Fun! I visited Seattle for the first time a few weekends ago with my mom—I am in LOVE with your city! It looks like we explored several of the same places, including the Space Needle and the Ballard Market. You can see my pictures on my blog if you're interested.
Random side note: apparently your mother and my cousin (the wonderful Nancy B.) are old friends. How funny!
You've just pushed Seattle further up my list of places to visit! I'm coming in the fall! :) :) :)
wow - you got a LOT done in 4 days! being a tourist in my own city, toronto, is on my to-do list before i leave for india. seeing your pics and hearing about the amazing time you had in your own city is reminding me i need to get out and see mine! thank you for sharing.
Wow the first couple images blew my mind..I haven't seen color like that in a long time. What an amazing time you had with your family! So happy you got to make these memories with them! =)
i spy with my little eye some sweet shoes! ;)
miss you guys!
Love our city-love the way you see things
these are wonderful! your city looks amazing!
i love the donut shot! it gives me hope that your hope in cooking was restored because i can't stand cooking. and i want to like it!
Great city to get lost in. Definitely top of my list for U.S. cities to live!
wow, Mt. Rainier is exploding with color, it's incredible! It's so empowering to show family where one has planted roots. So happy you were able to have an awesome week with family. :)
I love this city! These pictures made me so happy!
sounds/looks like you took them on one awesome tour! very beautiful city!
weird! I was a tourist in your city last week too. and took some of those same pics, with the fremont troll! except for the hike with views of mt. ranier. next time!
LOVE the rainier photos. Great memories all around
Seattle is such a fun city to roam around in! You couldn't have a better place to be an at-home tourist.
So much fun. Love the pic with you and your mom.