Five Things I Learned in Seattle

Well, for starters, I didn't know how pleasant the weather would be. Granted, escaping 105 degree temperatures, standing in a freezer would seem pleasant. But for real, it was a balmy 75 degrees, sunny and I got to wear a coat at night. It was heaven.

I spent four days in Seattle for a travel conference with my clients and here are the top things I didn't know about Seattle. Country girl in the big city, woohoo!

1. Recycling has been one-upped by Composting

Taking pictures of the trash, er, compost..

Composting is something I'm very familiar with as a gardener, but I've never seen it put to use as a consumer behavior in restaurants, airports and many other locations around Seattle. I wonder who gets all the awesome compost, it's gotta be one, big garden wherever it goes. Word to the wise, don't sit by the compost bins in the restaruants. There, um, ripe.

2. For the first time in many years, I could not wear heels

No matter how good you are at walking in high heels, flip flops are king in  downtown Seattle. Most of my co-workers don't realize how short I am, so I'd say I'm a pretty seasoned heel-wearing veteran. Not here. From my hotel, the harbor was about 5 blocks. Not so bad? It's like a 30% downhill grade and I feared for my life several times. I bought a pair of flippers on the second day, suffered my short stature and called it good.

Top of the Space Needle

3. The view from the Space Needle is WAY cooler than the Space Needle itself

I'm so glad we went up there at night, the sun was just setting and Seattle was lit up like a Christmas tree. Puget Sound had a wonderful variety of tug boats and ships that adorned our view. I'm so thankful that I was invited to be part of the conference, but this was definitely the cherry on top.

4. Don't expect to have a full meal of food at any event

Now this one could have been specific to the conference, but still! I enjoy new experiences and new foods, and from the little selection these parties had, it was great. But I would say there were probably enough crab cakes for 1 out of 20 attendees and we couldn't find the food tables anywhere. The good news? I was treated to an exquisite meal by my client at a great restaurant...at 11 pm. I was a bit pale and famished by then, but nonetheless, the duck was amazing. I'm mad I didn't take a picture of it.

5. The Bag Law

In addition to recycling our food, Seattle recently implemented a bag law for most retailers. If you make a purchase at one of the many shops - be prepared to fork over five cents for a bag. At first, we thought we were paying for a nice promotional bag, but it was actually just the plain, old plastic bags, and Seattle requires almost all its retailers to sell to customers. You can choose to forgo the bag, which is probably what the Emerald City is trying to do to be even greener. Otherwise, each retailer gets to pocket the nickel. I think it's a brilliant idea.

Had a great time, only regret is that I didn't eat more seafood. Next time!