2 Days in Seattle

Over the last few weekends, the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau (“Seattle CVB”) has been inviting specific individuals to enjoy their “2 Days in Seattle” campaign.

Using Klout, one of many systems that calculates a score for social media users, they sent out invitations throughout major cities in the Pacific Northwest. Klout offers a “Klout Perks” system where companies can offer deals, products, and services to select individuals based on their Klout score. You can claim perks for handbags, wine, books, coffee, and more.

According to Topsy, there have been over 1,420 mentions of #2DaysinSeattle over the last few weeks with the most mentions happening on the first weekend, February 4, 2012.

This perk was offered to those with a specific score (or higher) from Vancouver, Portland, San Francisco, and LA. Seattle CVB offered the following complimentary perks: 2 nights in a downtown Seattle hotel, spending money, gas money (if you drove) or a train/plane ticket, and gift cards for local shops and tours. In exchange, they hoped that participants would tag their photos, check-ins, and tweets with #2DaysinSeattle, sharing their adventures with their own friends and followers. Using that tag, Seattle CVB could also track where visitors were going and reply with suggestions via their incredibly helpful @SeattleMaven account.

While I was not obligated to provide any coverage of this trip, I thought I would try something new with the following collage and collection of places that John and I explored.

We didn’t bust out our large Nikon cameras for this trip, we wanted to keep things light. The following photos were all taken with our iPhones and posted to our Instagram accounts. Instagram is a simple social network just mobile photos.

1. The Tivoli radio in our room at the Hotel Andra. Being the radio nerd that he is, John now wants one for our house.
2. The bed in our suite at the Hotel Andra. Wicked-fast WIFI, great service, and modern amenities.
3. We walked to Westlake from our hotel and took the Monorail to Seattle Centre.
4. Brunch on the first day was at Pesos Kitchen in Queen Anne. I enjoyed chorizo and sweet potato hash with poached eggs.
5. The wind was howling as it blew away the rain clouds. We splashed our way back over to Seattle Centre.
6. Visiting the Experience Music Project (“EMP”) we enjoyed the Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix exhibits the most.
7. It was fun to see all the ephemeral artifacts from the early days Nirvana and see how grunge and punk formed in the Pacific Northwest. There were some great references to our local pioneers, DOA.
8. We took the monorail back to Westlake and walked back to our hotel for a pit stop. We re-charged with cranberry, white chocolate, and coconut cookies from Dahlia Bakery across the street.
9. We made our way to Capitol Hill and ordered the Seasonal and Standard samplers from Elysian Brewing.
10. John could drink the most hop-filled IPA on the planet but I enjoyed the mellower Avatar Jasmine IPA from Elysian. I then dubbed it the “IPA for Ladies” since it wasn’t as sharp as a regular IPA and was soft and aromatic.
11. We walked back down East Pike to the Taphouse Grill that has 160 beers on tap. It was pretty busy but we ended up being sat alone in a corner… right in front of the only television around that was showing CBC and the Canucks game. How serendipitous. We enjoyed their Northwest Beer sampler before dinner.
12. Pike Place Market at dusk.Leaving the Taphouse we decided to walk down to SODO and try out the Pyramid Alehouse, located across from Safeco.
13. During our brisk 25 minute walk we chased the sunset and caught reflections on the city buildings.
14. Walking along 1st Ave, we passed the Seattle Art Museum (“SAM”) and caught glimpses of the setting sun over the water.
15. We failed to take photos at the Pyramid Alehouse. Not one snap of our chorizo dip, meatloaf, or fish tacos. I did send out a tweet about how impressed I was with our server. I love going somewhere that can suggest the perfect beer pairing based on your meal (as is usually done with wine). We walked back toward downtown past Safeco and pined for baseball season.
16. On Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to West Seattle, somewhere neither of us had been before. We took the old Alaskan Highway viaduct past the docks.
17. Breakfast was served up at Endolyne Joe’s where I had a scramble with chicken sausage and sun-dried tomatoes.
18. After breakfast we went down to Lincoln Park and watched the Fauntleroy ferry dock. We took a stroll along the entire sea wall, passing dog-walkers, runners, cyclists, and families with little ones tossing rocks into the waves.
19. Ascending to the main park trails from the seaside path the canopy was a mix between evergreens and bright red arbutus trees.
20. Our last stop before leaving town was in The Junction, downtown West Seattle. My Pucker Up cupcake from Coffee to a Tea (Sugar Rush Bakery) was perfectly tart. We walked around a bit and stumbled upon the West Seattle Farmers Market. Before getting back into the car and heading for Interstate 5.

Other participants from Vancouver incuded @GusF, @loveyourcake (read her blog post), @DennisPang, @kathygko, @suitoflights, @maurice.