Having lived in Seattle for almost a year-and-a-half, and being right around the corner from the Westlake Center (where the Monorail picks up and drops off passengers), you would think we'd have ridden it at least once by now. We hadn't.
That all changed when, along with our friend Simon, we decided to go Ice Skating at the Seattle Center. Apparently this was part of Winterfest 2007.
We picked up the Monorail at the Westlake Center. The fare was $4 for a round-trip ticket to the Seattle Center.
The ice skating rink was somewhat underwhelming. The rink was much smaller than we'd anticipated. Generally that's not a problem, but it was also very busy. We watched as fast-skating adults briskly weaved their way through little children just learning to skate. The ice also didn't seem to have been resurfaced in at least a day, leading to choppy conditions that (for a beginner like me) would be tricky to skate on after having not tried for at least a decade. In the end, we all decided to pass in favor of a future planned event to Highland Ice Arena in Shoreline just north of downtown.
We rode the monorail back downtown and rode up to Capitol Hill. We were in search of good Indian food, for which we decided to start at Chutney's Grille on the Hill at 606 15th Avenue. After parking on one of the side streets we walked up to the doors only to find that the place was almost empty (at 7pm on a Saturday) and the patrons who were there didn't seem to be the culinary enthusiasts you'd hope for (think Florida Early Bird Special restaurant go-ers). We again decided to pass (note that hours later when we returned the restaurant was still empty. If anyone knows why post a comment -- we'd love to know).
We walked over to the Coastal Kitchen at 429 15th Avenue, just a couple blocks down the street. While there was room for us, the menu wouldn't work for Simon (who is a Vegan) but they recommended a Thai restaurant just a few doors down called Jamjuree at 509 15th Avenue. Jamjuree was well worth all the false-starts -- the food was outstanding. Di, Simon and I all had something different (I had the Kow Soy Noodle Soup and it was amazing). We ended with an outstanding desert (one of the specials -- a Friend Banana with Ice Cream). In the end, the bill for 3 of us (with a beer each and desert) was $40. Amazing.
To finish the evening we headed over for a chill night at the Stumbling Monk, a bar off Olive just before Broadway that specializes in Belgian Beers. While sampling some great beers (Di had a Cider) we played Uno and topped off the evening with a rowdy game of Scrabble. Apparently group meet-ups and board games is not uncommon for the Stumbling Monk, one table was playing cards while another was into a heated game of Trivial Pursuit.
So if you're looking for ice skating in Seattle, go for Highland Ice Arena in Shoreline. If you're looking for terrific Thai food in Capitol Hill, check out Jamjuree and if you just want to chill with a small group and take-in a card/board game, go for the Stumbling Monk off Olive.
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