June 13th, 2009:
Sea Star Tour & Brunch at 35th Street Bistro
Sea Star Tour & Brunch at 35th Street Bistro
She said:
I took Brett on a surprise Day Date yesterday morning... One of his favorite shows ever is The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. Most of the boats from the show are actually from Seattle -- Ballard to be exact -- and since it's the off-season, they are currently docked. So i thought to myself, how fun would it be to get a tour of one of the boats? Brett would just DIE!
After a thorough Google Search, i discovered that the Sea Star had tours open to the public. I chatted with the gentleman there and he mentioned that Saturday mornings were the best time to come by for a tour, as it's the least crowded, and you get the most time with the tour guide.
We showed up around 10am (not as early as we had hoped, thanks to a rousing night of karaoke at Hula Hula the previous night) ready for our tour. The boat is located at the Fisherman's Terminal on Dock #9 (3919 18th Ave W Seattle, WA 98119), which was fun, because it was a REAL fisherman's terminal -- we got to see several of them at work, cutting rope and riding their bikes around, was really cool! And a bit sketchy, i definitely wouldn't go walking around those docks alone at night naked, but whatever.
You can't miss the Sea Star, it's huge.
We headed on board, not entirely sure what to expect, but straight away were loving it... I'm not as familiar with the show as Brett, but he was really 'wowed' by a lot of it. "This is much bigger in real life than it looks on TV!" (he was talking about the crab pots... get your minds out of the gutter!)
[Brett and the crab pot]
So we pay for our tickets ($10 adults) and head onto the deck to await our tour guide. He walks up and i swear, this guy is straight out of pirates of the Caribbean. He's this adorable old man with white as white hair, tanned and gangly. So cute. Exactly what I'd picture when i think of an old fisherman.
He and Brett get on like a house on fire.
He never really gave us a 'tour', but sat and talked our ears off about the boat, about his past life as a fisherman, and about the real dangers of being out at sea (he's lost MANY friends in his line of work... averages about one a year, which blew my mind!). Brett was loving his stories, so while he listened to Capt'n Jack, i poked around the boat a bit.
We pretended to throw the line...
[Brett and me hooking]
Toured the kitchen and bedrooms (TINY!)
[kitchen table]
[Bunk Beds -- they were so small!]
Eventually we made our way up to the Captain's room, which was really neat.
[i should NOT have been driving...]
Was fun to see everything, and to see how those crabbers live for a couple weeks out of the year. I could never do it. I get so seasick, i was actually feeling a bit nauseous in the kitchen and we weren't even moving.
We spent probably a good hour on the boat, saw as much as we could see, and built up a good bit of appetite. So, we headed over to Fremont for a little bit of brunch at 35th Street Bistro. You guys, this place is ADORABLE!
A cute little Fremont building, it's simply decorated, in a way that I'd want our home to be decorated. The bar area is so cute, the main restaurant has a tree in the center of it, and each table has its own little potted plant.
Cute little touches help it to stand out in my mind: individual recycled glass bottles of water on each table (i noticed this a lot in Australia and loved it!), mismatched chairs at every table, cute chandeliers in the bar, rich tones on the walls, and varying colored water glasses -- it was kitchy and fun and i loved it! Very European. Plus, they pride themselves in using fresh and sustainably grown ingredients. So, gotta love it even more!
I was still feeling a bit hungover, but even so, everything on the menu looked appetizing. Brett ordered a bloody Mary ($9) and we shared a spinach and Gruyere scramble ($14) and a spring salad ($9) with dried cherries and cheese. Both were amazing! We definitely plan on going back for dinner, as the menu seems a bit more promising (and hopefully I'll be a little less hung over!). Also, we got complimentary muffins, pastries and home made jam with our meal! They were fresh and warm and so so good!
All in all, we had a great day-date! Highly recommend both the boat tour and 35th Street Bistro to anyone looking for a nice and relaxing Saturday morning!
Bon Voyage!
Sea Star Tours
Fisherman's Terminal
Dock #9
3919 18th Ave W
Seattle, WA 98119
206.550.2623
35th Street Bistro
709 North 35th St
Seattle, WA 98103
206.547.9850
I took Brett on a surprise Day Date yesterday morning... One of his favorite shows ever is The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. Most of the boats from the show are actually from Seattle -- Ballard to be exact -- and since it's the off-season, they are currently docked. So i thought to myself, how fun would it be to get a tour of one of the boats? Brett would just DIE!
After a thorough Google Search, i discovered that the Sea Star had tours open to the public. I chatted with the gentleman there and he mentioned that Saturday mornings were the best time to come by for a tour, as it's the least crowded, and you get the most time with the tour guide.
We showed up around 10am (not as early as we had hoped, thanks to a rousing night of karaoke at Hula Hula the previous night) ready for our tour. The boat is located at the Fisherman's Terminal on Dock #9 (3919 18th Ave W Seattle, WA 98119), which was fun, because it was a REAL fisherman's terminal -- we got to see several of them at work, cutting rope and riding their bikes around, was really cool! And a bit sketchy, i definitely wouldn't go walking around those docks alone at night naked, but whatever.
You can't miss the Sea Star, it's huge.
We headed on board, not entirely sure what to expect, but straight away were loving it... I'm not as familiar with the show as Brett, but he was really 'wowed' by a lot of it. "This is much bigger in real life than it looks on TV!" (he was talking about the crab pots... get your minds out of the gutter!)
[Brett and the crab pot]
So we pay for our tickets ($10 adults) and head onto the deck to await our tour guide. He walks up and i swear, this guy is straight out of pirates of the Caribbean. He's this adorable old man with white as white hair, tanned and gangly. So cute. Exactly what I'd picture when i think of an old fisherman.
He and Brett get on like a house on fire.
He never really gave us a 'tour', but sat and talked our ears off about the boat, about his past life as a fisherman, and about the real dangers of being out at sea (he's lost MANY friends in his line of work... averages about one a year, which blew my mind!). Brett was loving his stories, so while he listened to Capt'n Jack, i poked around the boat a bit.
We pretended to throw the line...
[Brett and me hooking]
Toured the kitchen and bedrooms (TINY!)
[kitchen table]
[Bunk Beds -- they were so small!]
Eventually we made our way up to the Captain's room, which was really neat.
[i should NOT have been driving...]
Was fun to see everything, and to see how those crabbers live for a couple weeks out of the year. I could never do it. I get so seasick, i was actually feeling a bit nauseous in the kitchen and we weren't even moving.
We spent probably a good hour on the boat, saw as much as we could see, and built up a good bit of appetite. So, we headed over to Fremont for a little bit of brunch at 35th Street Bistro. You guys, this place is ADORABLE!
A cute little Fremont building, it's simply decorated, in a way that I'd want our home to be decorated. The bar area is so cute, the main restaurant has a tree in the center of it, and each table has its own little potted plant.
Cute little touches help it to stand out in my mind: individual recycled glass bottles of water on each table (i noticed this a lot in Australia and loved it!), mismatched chairs at every table, cute chandeliers in the bar, rich tones on the walls, and varying colored water glasses -- it was kitchy and fun and i loved it! Very European. Plus, they pride themselves in using fresh and sustainably grown ingredients. So, gotta love it even more!
I was still feeling a bit hungover, but even so, everything on the menu looked appetizing. Brett ordered a bloody Mary ($9) and we shared a spinach and Gruyere scramble ($14) and a spring salad ($9) with dried cherries and cheese. Both were amazing! We definitely plan on going back for dinner, as the menu seems a bit more promising (and hopefully I'll be a little less hung over!). Also, we got complimentary muffins, pastries and home made jam with our meal! They were fresh and warm and so so good!
All in all, we had a great day-date! Highly recommend both the boat tour and 35th Street Bistro to anyone looking for a nice and relaxing Saturday morning!
Bon Voyage!
Sea Star Tours
Fisherman's Terminal
Dock #9
3919 18th Ave W
Seattle, WA 98119
206.550.2623
35th Street Bistro
709 North 35th St
Seattle, WA 98103
206.547.9850
