The 2nd day of our Father’s Day weekend trip to Seattle started with a delicious breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe. The restaurant’s food is organic and locally sourced and DELICIOUS! My crab cake eggs benny was unbelievable. The kids’ menu was terrific; the standard french toast/pancakes/porridge were all present. However, the best part was the breakfast bar loaded with fresh fruit that accompanied the kids’ meals. Oh, the pancakes are made to look like a certain very famous mouse…most entertaining!
After breakfast we drove to the Woodland Park Zoo. Wow! One thousand animals, representing 300 species, call the 92 luscious green acres homes. The physical geography is spectacular. The habitats created for the animals are equally wonderful. Us humans are provided terrific viewing opportunities; however there is also great privacy afforded to the animals through the clever design of the habitats. We spent a fantastic three hours at the zoo and felt we barely scratched the surface. We saw: grizzly bears, elk, gorillas, orang-utans, giraffe, elephants, zebras, komodo dragons, wallabies, lions, warthogs, and many many more animals. The grizzlies were my and our boys’ favourite.
Admission to the Woodland Park Zoo is incredibly reasonable, especially considering the fantastic venue and unforgettable experiences awaiting you on the other side of the gates. Adults are $18.75; kids 3-12 are $11.75 and kids 2 & under are FREE. Be sure to check out their special discounts to see if you qualify! The park’s design encourages you to spend the day. I was most appreciative of the strollers for rent. For a mere $6 you can rent a single stroller for the day; $8 gets you a double stroller. If you are so inclined you can also rent a wagon, for $9, to haul your kid-stuff around. There are benches and picnic tables scattered throughout the park; beautiful grassy areas cry out for a picnic blanket and potato salad. A beautiful carousel, for $2 per ride, is another great entertainment for the kids. Make sure to visit the Woodland Park Zoo when you are next in Seattle; be sure to give yourself ample time to enjoy this fantastic facility.
After nap time at our wonderful Hotel Monaco, we wandered down to Pike Place Market. We saw the fish-throwing, wandered around the many stalls, stopped for a smoothie and enjoyed endless people-watching. For dinner we went to Bizzarro Italian Cafe. Many moons ago Bizzarro’s was featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. When we arrived there was a 45 minute wait…the death knell for any parent with hungry kids! However, I was determined to eat there, so we took the kids for a walk. I’m so glad we did as we stumbled upon a wonderful new/used children’s bookstore called Alphabet Soup. It was FANTASTIC: jammed to the (very low) ceilings with books, kid chairs and couches, and stuffies everywhere. Many happy hours could be spent here.
Dinner at Bizzarro’s was definitely worth the wait! So delicious! Funky, quirky place with phenomenal food. The staff were most accommodating of the kid-related requests. The apple juice in little circle bottles were especially fun for our boys.
It was time to get back to Hotel Monaco. Day 1 and 2 of our trip had been packed and we knew Day 3 was going to be equally busy!
