Enjoy Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the Spring

I recently got back from a brief trip to Seattle (to visit Microsoft and to learn more about Windows 8 and Office — I’ll write about these soon at GeekMom). I had never been to Seattle before. The closest I had ever gotten was to nearbyMt. Ranier while on a big trip to the northwest when I was… wait for it… six. So, yeah, it was a great deal of fun to get back to the northwest after a 34 year hiatus. A trip was long overdue. One of the activities that the Microsoft team had us do was to just walk around Pike Place Market, taking photos on our new Windows Phones.

To those not in the know (as I wasn’t), Pike Place Market is a very good place to go for fresh produce, flowers, and, especially, seafood. This is the location of the famous fish throwing. I’m not a fan of seafood, but I survived until we got to the produce and fresh flower section.

Contrasting the seafood areas, which were pretty gray in nature due to the fact that fish are generally gray on the outside, the produce and flower sections were bursting with color. A lot of the time, the vendors would even do things such as cut open a grapefruit or orange so people could get a good look at the quality. There were many kinds of fruits and vegetables, many of which I had never seen before. As for the flowers, those could be bought by the stem, by the dozen, or in any number of gorgeous arrangements. There were mostly tulips, being tulip season, but the arrangements had also quite a variety of other flowers. Whoever put them together had a real eye for interesting combinations, creating gorgeous results. Unfortunately, while there were options for bringing seafood home, even on the plane, there were no such options for the produce and the flowers. I just had to take photos.

To help entertain you while you shopped, many vendors placed interesting signs with their seafood or produce. One of my favorites sat with some Brussels sprouts. It was labeled, “Little Green Balls of Death.” Musicians played for tips around the market. One was playing “Puff the Magic Dragon.” And a woman walked around looking for people who weren’t strong readers. She was a part of group passing out free books to people who don’t read much. One of the women in our group apparently wasn’t a frequent reader, and so ended up with a David Sedaris book.

If you find yourself in Seattle, don’t miss an hour or so in the Pike Place Market, even if, like me, you aren’t able to take anything home with you. They have a few vendors selling non-food and flower items, but the fresh things are the main attraction. Be dazzled by the colors, visit the metal pig, and watch a fish be tossed. You won’t regret the time spent. If you are able to take some of the food home with you, or you buy similar food at home, there exist several cookbooks to help you make the most of your findings.

I admit, I did buy one thing. A vendor sold these fruit sticks that were made of fruit juice mixed with gelatin and rolled in coconut. $2 for five sticks. Nom. I enjoyed them as I drooled over the tulips, my favorite flower.