Hello dear readers! How are things!? Look at me sharing yet another blog-post, I’m really getting back in to the groove of posting regularly! Last time out on the blog I was writing about a little weekend away in the North of England – a few weeks later, I was off on my travels again!
Long time readers will know I’ve spent much of recent years back-and-forth between London and Washington due to a long-distance relationship with my, now wife, Haleigh. This (2022) was the year we’d got married and then within a matter of weeks it was back to the ol’ long-distance whilst we figured out the next steps of actually living in the same place.
I don’t buy in to the idea that things drastically change from one day to the next so that age-old question of “how’s married life?” for any newlyweds feels a little silly to me. Some couples might well argue otherwise but surely it shouldn’t be that different to how it was before you got married?
Anyway, my point being that I don’t really think being married changed anything in terms of a relationship but with some contradiction, it felt a little strange to get married and then go back to being apart again. I kind of have that image in my head from the TV show Friends where Ross is joking with Rachel about the unknown whereabouts of his wife Emily and there’s definitely an element of that ridiculousness in a long-distance relationship.
“How’s married life then Jason?”
“Why are you asking me? I don’t see my wife..”
I was probably more conscious about it in those early weeks of separated marital life. I’d seen Haleigh as recently as May but with her visa application forcing her to hand over her passport, I wasn’t sure when I’d next see Haleigh and didn’t want to have to wait until Thanksgiving in November.
2022 was an expensive year, with a lot of plans, but I still pondered if I could go over to Washington sooner and maybe visit her in the summer sometime. The idea was planted, the more I thought it over the more I was determined to visit even if only for a short amount of time and then the idea popped in to my head that maybe I could go and surprise Haleigh for her birthday – wouldn’t that be nice?
I was committed and booked myself a short trip to go and see Haleigh and then kept quiet. I told Haleigh’s mum and brother that I’d be visiting but that it was to be a secret as far as Haleigh was concerned. It’s then that things started to unravel.
The obvious problem with a surprise is that the person you’re planning to surprise is none-the-wiser. People are free to do their own thing and make their own plans. It turned out that Haleigh was thinking about going out of town for the birthday weekend which was leading to a scenario where I’d fly all the way from England to Haleigh’s hometown and her not even be in town! Ridiculous!
Haleigh’s mum tried to keep the ruse alive, insisting that she’d need to borrow Haleigh’s car that weekend, scuppering any birthday plans, but the jig was up. I didn’t want to be the cause of unnecessary family friction. I came clean and told Haleigh that I was coming to Washington for her birthday.
She went out of town anyway.
Ha, only joking. Haleigh wouldn’t have done that to me (Right?).
Jokes aside, the nice thing abiut planning a last minute surprise was that we then didn’t have long to wait to be reunited. I’d only booked the trip a couple of weeks in advance which meant soon enough I was making my way back to Heathrow and flying in to Seattle.
I’ve inevitably flown to Seattle a lot in recent years. I’d flown in to Seattle as recently as March so I was a bit surprised to find a new international arrivals hall just three months later. I think this was partially in mind of country-wide changes to the arrival process in the USA where you pick up your luggage before going through immigration but it was a nice surprise. It has literally just occured to me that that makes me the only one that was surprised on this surprise trip.
Swanky is the word I’d best use to describe Seattle’s new arrival hall. In a somewhat ironic sense, welcoming is the other word that springs to mind and feels most appropriate for Seattle’s arrival hall. It’s light, spacious and has some beautiful artwork from the famos Dale Chihuly of Washington. It’s an impressive space to arrive in to and much nicer than the space you’d previously first encounter on arrival.
As it was quite a short trip I had no usual luggage and just a carry-on which meant I was through quite quickly and on my way for an afternoon flight over to Walla Walla. The schedule of the flight times doesn’t usually allow me this luxury so I was able to sit back and actually enjoy some daytime views over the mountains for a change.
After six weeks of married life apart, me and Haleigh were reunited. It’s definitely the shortest between trips we’ve gone without seeing eachother but it was still nice to see my wife (that’s right, I said wife!). The first night I don’t think I did much beyond adjust to the new timezone – to be fair this wasn’t as long a travel day as it usually is but it’s still a killer heading West with the eight hour time difference between Washington and the UK.
The next day we went to see some of Haleigh’s family whilst I was temporarily in town. In the evening a few of us rode out across the border for an evenng trip to the Wildhorse Resort & Casino in nearby Oregon.
Quick sidenote but to my recollection this is only the second casino I’ve been to and both have been in nearby towns in neighbouring states to the one I’ve actually gone to visit. Whilst in Texas me and some friends drove up to Oklahoma to visit the Choctaw casino in Southern Oklahoma and now in Washington I was visiting a casino in Northern Oregon. Strange!
We had some family younger members with us anyway so we weren’t there to gamble, we were here to bowl! We could have just gone and bowled somewhere in Walla Walla I suppose but it was a fun little drive out and an impressive resort to boot.
Out of curiosity I’ve had a quick look on Google to see what other amenities they have on site and they apparently have a casino (obviously), a golf course, a cinema, a children’s entertainment centre, seven restaurants, hotel rooms and a nearby Native American museum / facility.
There’s not much else nearby, it’s very much out of the way of bigger cities but it was a fun little outing for the evening and rather bizarrely I think the third different place I’ve bowled in Oregon – of all the things to see and do in Oregon, bowling is seemingly number one.
The next day we drove out to nearby Dayton (Washington) to check out their annual car show. I’ll be honest and say my car knowledge is pretty non-existent. That said it was still pretty cool to see Dayton’s main street shut down so they could line it up with a big display of classic cars on show.
It’s so easy to fall in to the trap of “back in my day..” but cars were just better in the olden days, aesthetically at least.
American cities and highways are now sprawled with ugly monster trucks (and don’t even get me started on the hideous Tesla’s) and I can only assume that the main purpose of this is to retain some admiration for the classics. In all fairness, Haleigh’s car is actually quite pleasing on the eye but I’d say that’s typically the exception to the rule as far as American roads go.
We wandered up and down Dayton’s main street, admiring the collection of cars on display and nabbing a few photos along the way. I’d passed through Dayton on a few occasions, primarily on the way to see friends over in Pullman, but this was the first time we’d actually stopped to look around. It’s a nice little town, typical of small-town America which a lot of international tourists don’t really ever see. I don’t know that I’d ever want to live somewhere that small but it does have its charm.
The rest of the trip was mostly spent celebrating Haleigh’s birthday, a rare birthday spent together, and then spending time with family. There were two other notable moments during my time in Walla Walla.
Firstly, I seemingly found myself with an evening to enjoy my own company. I can’t recall what the reason for this was, I guess Haleigh might have been working or had pre-arranged plans prior to my surprise visit but I ended up with a few hours to amuse myself.
I kicked off the evening by treating myself to dinner at a Greek restaurant (Yamas) downtown. I hadn’t been here previously so thought it’d be nice to give it a try. The reviews are pretty positive and I enjoyed my visit but for some reason it was pretty quiet when I popped in.
After some good food I wandered on over to Crossbuck Brewing. They share their building with the Walla Walla Steak Company, which is not cheap, so I’m glad I’d grabbed food already but it was nice to go and sample a few local beers in town. Unfortunately it looks like Crossbuck has since closed so I guess I won’t be returning but I had a nice evening and enjoyed a couple of beers before calling it a night.
The other moment of note was my final night in Walla Walla. The time always goes far too quickly, another short and sweet trip had passed but we did go and grab drinks and enjoy some live music on my last night at the Big House Brew Pub.
It was a really nice evening. It was mid-summer so perfect for sitting outside, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the music, beer and of course the company – the perfect way to round off the trip.
The Brew Pub has been a more frequent place to grab a drink and food over the years but sadly this also appears to have closed as the local college have seemingly acquired it and not only has a Walla Walla favourite potentially gone but I presume a favourite beer disappears with it – the “Walla Walla Foggy Foggy Hazy Hazy IPA” was a favourite of mine and I think independently brewed here which sadly means I’ve probably had my last such beer. Very sad!
Anyway, beyond mourning drinking establishments I can only reflect back on the trip positively. June is such a nice month to be in Washington anyway because the weather is good and the days are at their lightest but it was particularly special this time and nice to spend some more time with Haleigh.
Sadly things had to come to an end and early the next morning I was flying back to Seattle. I sometimes like catching the early flight to Seattle because I can have a little wander in to downtown Seattle for a few hours and take the opportunity to explore a little bit.
Strangely on this occasion I had a lunchtime flight home, every other time I’ve flown home from Seattle it has been an evening flight but for some reason I was leaving at 1:35pm on this occasion – very unusual.
I still ventured in to downtown Seattle because I figured it’d be more fun than sitting in the airport and I could go grab breakfast somewhere in Seattle. Being June was an extra perk because unlike previous situations such as this, I knew I wouldn’t be arriving in to a miserably dark Seattle. In late June, even at 7am it’s pretty light out and I knew it’d be the perfect opportunity to explore Pike Place in all its glory without the daytime crowds.
It was lovely having it all to myself and watching the market traders setting up. I had a little wander and of course checked out the infamous Gum Wall before deciding to go and grab breakfast somewhere.
The last couple of times I’d had breakfast in Seattle I’d eaten at the 5 point cafe and I thought I’d use this as an opportunity to try somewhere else on this occasion. With limited time in Seattle I’d wisely decided to do some research ahead of time and two places had rave reviews, both close to Pike Place so I figured I’d check ’em out.
I walked by, what I now believe to be, ‘Biscuit Bitch’ and before the doors had even opened there was a long line of people queuing with ridiculous waiting times for 7:30 in the morning. It may well live up to the hype but I’m not enough of a foodie to have the patience for the nonsense.
Across the road was “Bacco Cafe” which was the other place I’d mapped out and although they were busy too, they were able to seat me immediately so it was a no brainer. Admittedly, had I had company I probably would have had to wait for a table but this is one of the perks of solo dining I suppose.
Breakfast was good and I vaguely remember their juices being particularly good, I’d happily recommend it and I’d probably go back there on a future trip to Seattle.
On that note, it’s particularly interesting how we travel these days. I’m never going to be the person that stands and queues that long for the latest Instagram-fad of a restaurant but it’d be a lie to pretend that online recommendations and reviews don’t heavily influence the places we sometimes visit on our travels. Even as somewhat of a blogger I’m guilty of doing it too and reflecting on the places I’ve personally been.
“All the closed places you mean?”
Alright, touche but you get the point.
It’s strange thinking back to the “olden days”. I’m now imagining a bunch of a travelers in an internet-blackout starving themselves because they haven’t been able to Google the menu or the reviews in advance – “I guess we’ll just go hungry and hope we’re online again soon..”
As ever, I’ve allowed myself to get sidetracked and all that to say that breakfast in Seattle was good. Afterwards I had a little wander, popped my head in to a couple of shops and art galleries (I don’t know why because I had no intention of spending any money) and then made my way back in direction of the nearest Link station to head back to the airport.
The trip went far too quickly, unlike this post which I feel has been more of a ramble than anything. I returned to England for married life without a wife and began counting down the days until Thanksgiving.
Before that though, a few non-Washington adventures that’ll be next up on the blog!
Stay tuned!
Jason
Jason likes to travel 