Top 5 things to do in Seattle

Seattle has been on my bucket list for a long time, and I finally was able to go this summer on a solo trip. So here in my top five things of what you should do when you go to Seattle. 

1. Space Needle

The first thing you should do while in Seattle is go to the space needle. Now I have been atop a lot of towers. I've been to one world in New York City. I've also been to the top of the CNN Tower in Toronto.  I was a little hesitant about going on a space needle because I felt like once you've done one, you've done them all. But I was so wrong. The space needle is a must do when you go to Seattle. It is very different from the other towers that I mentioned previously. What I like about the space needle was they had a see-through elevator, just like the CNN Tower but it was less scary.  The guys were so nice and friendly, talking to you and telling you funny stories, that you didn't recognize that you were going up so high. Also, when you got up to the top of the space needle it was very calm because they do timed admissions, so it's not overcrowded.  They had several restaurants serving various food and the food was actually affordable.  I mean, it was just a pleasant atmosphere. When you look outside, you notice that you can actually go outside and walk on the outside of the space needle. Now I was freaking out about this because I have a severe fear of heights and I have an anxiety disorder. So, I was like, there is no way I'm going out there. 

But it looked so interesting that finally I found myself inching towards the door, going out the door, holding on to the door, and then finally being outside. Whew! Now I did have a little panic attack while I was standing outside but I did some breathing techniques to get through it. It was amazing. It probably would've looked better on a sunny day. It was very cloudy and rainy when I went. That also prevented me from walking around outside because I was just so nervous that I was going on to slip, and then I was going to fall off the space needle and die. 😂 Of course that is not going to happen because they have protective barriers around. But when you have an anxiety disorder, you always think the worst. 😢 So I just stood there and looked out. Also, you can go down to the bottom floor, which not only is glass, but it also moves. I kept looking at the sign and thinking I am not going to do that but once I went outside, I felt more courageous. So I went downstairs. It wasn't that bad at all. I have motion sickness so the whole moving ground just didn't work for me. But it wasn't that bad.  I highly suggest that you go to the space needle. 

2. Chihuly Garden and Glass

The second thing that I suggest you go to is the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. It is amazing. Now, I can admit that initially I did not want to go to this because I thought it was going to be boring. However, I had a visitor city pass for Seattle and it was one of the things that you could do on the pass. So, I figured why not? I'm glad that I went. It was beautiful!!!!! It was astonishing!!!!! It was breathtaking!!!!!  I want to go back here when I have someone to take my pictures because baby, it was very nice. The pictures that I took were nice, but they weren't giving what it was supposed to have gave. The place was truly mesmerizing, and I could have just stared at the pieces forever. 

3. Museum of Pop Culture

Number three on the list is the Museum of Pop Culture. Now I will say when I first went to this museum, I was excited because it was the museum that I was really looking forward to. However, when I got in there, it was just a lot of pictures and stuff. I'm not the type of person that likes just pictures. I like interactive museums. However, the museum of pop did redeem itself because they had a section that was dedicated to horror films. I'm a scary person but when I tell you I loved that part. That part was very interactive and just very creative overall. I could've spent a long time just in the horror section, but I arrived late and had limited time in the museum. But I really liked this part. They had a hip hop room that consisted of just pictures (BORING!!!!!) but the music was a vibe. So, if you're a hip hop fan, check that room out. They had a Jimi Hendrix room because the creator of the museum, Paul Allen, was a huge Hendrix fan. Fun fact: Jimi Hendrix is actually from Seattle. He has a small park located by the Black History Museum and is buried in Renton which is not far.  The museum also had a technology part that was dedicated to video games. By the time I got to that part, I was super tired and just ready to go back to my hotel. I also knew that I was coming back to Seattle with my daughter and that she would probably really like this room. So, I didn't really spend a lot of time in the video game room. The museum is very big. I believe it is 3 floors. It is included in the ticket for the Seattle City pass. So why not go? Also, when I checked in to get my ticket, the guy gave me a comeback tomorrow for free tickets. So yeah, definitely go there. 

4. City Tour

Number 4 on my list of things that you should do is do a city tour. I was in Seattle for Juneteenth and wanted to support a black-owned business. Therefore, I booked my tour with Earl Alexander who is the owner of Puget Sounds Tour. He was amazing! So down to earth, funny and knowledgeable. I didn't want the tour to end, and he took you all over Seattle. With this tour you're able to go out to the floating house, you're able to go to Kerry Park where you see a viewpoint of the entire downtown Seattle, you're able to go to Fremont and see the notorious Fremont troll, and you're able to go out to Ballard and see the salmon if they are currently in season. They were not in season when I was there, and I was very pissed about it. 😂 But I did see some seals and some type of special bird, so all was not lost. Earl's tour can be booked by going to Earl Alexander. You won't regret it. 

5. Pike Place Market 

The 5th place that I suggest that you go and I'm saving the best for last is .......Pike Place market. Now this was right up my alley!!! Initially I thought the market would be like the famous reading market from Pennsylvania. It was not that...at all!!! It was more! Half of the market is inside, and half of the market is outside. And when I told you it's just vendors and vendors and yumminess on top of yumminess! It can be a little overwhelming. I did it after my tour and I was a little tired and hungry. It was just too much for me but you can easily spend an entire day there.  There's so much to do down there. There's the original Starbucks that you can go through. The line is insane so be warned! There's Beechers who claims to have the best macaroni and cheese in the world. Once again the line is insane so I did not get to see if they were telling the truth.  There's the famous gum wall which was nasty and amazing at the same time. You can chew a piece of gum and put it on the infamous wall. I mean, there's just so much to do down there and let me not even talk about the food. The food was delicious. They had all kinds of like special concoctions that I've never seen like frozen apple cider .... what?!?!? Like I said you can easily spend your entire day down there. The aquarium is located behind it and it's included in the City Pass making Pike Place an ideal spot to spend the day. 

The original Starbucks

                

Have you ever been to Seattle? What would you add to the list? 

Let's go to Vinales, Cuba

 

On day three in Cuba, I decided to do a day trip to Vinales. Now you can either go to Vinales or you can go to Varadero, which is a beach town. I'm not much of a beach person, so I decided to go to Vinales which consists of mountains. I love mountains! It's located three hours away from Havana and it ended up being my best day in Cuba. 

Let's get into it. The driver picked me up early. He was supposed to be there at 7:00 o'clock. This is an all-day trip because of the distance so be prepared to get up early and arrive late. He picked me up at 6:45 and we rode in an old-fashioned car. Now, these old-fashioned cars were very cute. I've taken pictures of them, and I rode in them the day before. But baby, for three hours..... No, it was too much of a ride. My butt was hurting and the road to Vinales is full of bumps .... so the ride was not pleasant. I was very happy to arrive in Vinales.

Vinales views

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by our guide for the day. He told us about Vinales; their way of life, customs and what we would be doing for the day. We looked out at the view which was breathtaking.   A lot of the things that they do is old-fashioned, which we saw driving in.  They do their farms with ox instead of machines. The food here is fresher and the atmosphere is calmer. Honestly Vinales reminded me a lot of my hometown ... small, country, welcoming and relaxing. Lots of trees and crops. I stayed reminiscing all day. It was a great get away from the business of Havana. 

After we went out the viewpoint, we took a ride to the mural. What I thought was truly interested about the mural is Diego Riviera involvement. If you know Diego, he was the husband of Frida Kahlo. I thought that was interesting since I am a huge Frida Kahlo fan.  The mountain is huge, and I do not know how they did the mural on it before technology came along. On the mural, there is a black line, and the black line represents a hurricane that hit Cuba. The water came up to that level. If you are standing in front of the mural and you look at that line, it's like, oh my God, how did anybody survive? We discussed hurricanes a lot since this is the region that suffers from them the most and I'm from Florida. Another interesting thing about the mural is that as soon as we arrived this dog runs up to me and I'm normally afraid of dogs. But this day I don't know what was going on, but this dog followed me, and only me, around the whole time. This would be like the theme of my day. Dogs just came up to me and stayed by my side. 

After the mural, we walked over to this pina colada place, and their claim is that they have the best Pina coladas in the world. 👀The world Craig!  Now I was a little skeptical because I will always say the best pina coladas in the world come from Puerto Rico. Period!  I have never even thought to mention Pina Colada and Cuba in the same sentence. 🤷 But they make the Pina Coladas and I'm not going to lie .... the Pina Coladas were really, really good. I murdered that Pina Colada. It went down so fast. I had a virgin Pina Colada because the heat in Cuba is insane.  I really don't understand how you mix heat and alcohol, but they do it all the time in Cuba.  I'm not that type of person but if you are an alcohol person, they allow you to pour your own alcohol, which is pretty cool. The guys definitely took advantage of this and became LIT-lit!  If it wasn't so hot or if I was going to be in an air-conditioned place, then I would have loaded that bad boy up as well. 

After that, we went to an underground cave. Um, so walking into the cave, you have to be very careful. It's really wet and slippery. I almost fell and that was so funny because I slipped but didn't fall. However, my Apple watch came on immediately and was like, "it looks like you have fallen". Thank you, Apple watch for always having my back. 😆 When we get down to the bottom of the cave, we're waiting with another small group to get on the boat to take us through the cave. All of a sudden, all the lights go off. I'm thinking, is this a part of the tour? It was not! So, we are in the dark.... underground in a cave, right? This guy next to me starts freaking out and all I can think is thank God for anxiety medicines because I was cool the entire time. We get on the boat, and we go through the whole cave..... with NO lights. When we get to the end of the tour, the lights come back on. So, they're like, let's do the tour again?!?! OK!!!! Why not? We go back through the cave again with the lights on and when we exit the cave, when I tell you it was the most beautiful sight..... you have to see it for yourself. I'm going to post a video, but the video will not do it justice. It was so beautiful coming out the cave. 

After the cave, we went to this tobacco plantation.  We had lunch, which was really, really delicious. It was served family style, and consisted of chicken, rice and beans, and mango and vegetables. It was farm to table, which was a little sad because all of the animals were behind us while we were eating the chickens. 😟Once again, a dog sat by my leg the entire time. Never leaving my side until I got in the car to leave. I probably should look this up because I promise the universe was sending me some type of sign. 

Afterwards we went over and had a lesson on rolling cigars. You cannot come to Cuba and not do something cigar related. Not only was this a tobacco farm, but they also had coffee and some other things. The interesting thing about the tobacco is that they spray it with alcohol and honey. The honey was super delicious. I personally did not smoke the cigar. I am not a smoker in any way, shape or form. However, everyone else in my tour who did smoke the cigar said it was the best they ever had. Some of them are not even smokers and they still said like it was amazing. We experienced tobacco, honey and had rum shots. I ended up getting bit by a Cuban ant and having a major reaction. Thank God I had Claritin on me. The pain was immense, but my guide talked me through it. As long as I didn't touch the affected site, it would go away in 20 minutes. Those were the longest 20 minutes, but he was right. The pain went away and never returned. My guide was not only a guide but a doctor too. No for real ... he is a doctor in the community. I'm glad he was with me.

Not a smoker but definitely am a poser lol

To get to the plantation we rode horses up the trail and I thought I was confident with the horses. I rode a horse ONCE when I was a little girl and thought it was nothing. I have not ridden a horse  as an adult but how hard can it be to ride a horse? I rode a camel in Egypt. Ya'll once I got up on the horse, I started panicking just a little bit because it wasn't riding horses on a flat terrain. It was riding horses UP a mountain and down through water. So, no that was NOT for me. Luckily my guide Guiermo was so nice, and he guided HIS horse and MY horse at the same time. So, all I had to do was just sit there, move up and move back when the horse was going other up the mountain or down the mountain, but nothing else. I passed two kids riding their own horse without assistance. They looked at me crazy but guess what ... I didn't care at all. 😂

Me and Carmelo!

Once we finished with the tobacco plantation and everything else, it was time to ride the horse back. I'm like, oh my God, I do not want to ride this horse back. However, instead of going up the mountain, we went a shortcut due to a thunderstorm heading our way. Now I'm thinking to myself, why didn't we do the shortcut on the way to the farm? We started our journey back to Havana, which was a three-hour ride. There was a car accident which made our 3-hour ride turn into more like a five-hour ride. I didn't appreciate that because when I tell yall my butt was hurting. It was HURTING!!! But overall. it was a really good trip, and it was something that I highly recommend. 

Would you go to Vinales?

My time in Havana Cuba

Why go to Cuba? That is the question that I was asked so many times. 🙄 Well I am from Florida, and I grew up learning so much about Cuba, Fidel Castro and the entire Cuban missiles ordeal. As I've gotten older, I've wanted to know more about it, so I decided to do a trip to Cuba. 🤷 I didn't want to go by myself because I have heard so many horrible stories but no one wanted to go with me. I never let that stand in my way so I booked the flight anyway. In the end, I'm glad that I did go by myself because I learned so much and was able to truly enjoy the country.

When I arrived at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, there was a 2 hour wait. There was paperwork that I had to fill out in order to go and I was the only black person in line. So, I was a little nervous.  While in line, everyone was telling me all of these horrible things about Cuba. I was beginning to think that I had made a mistake.  As soon as I got off the plane, I noticed that everything that they said, was not necessarily true. First and foremost, the people were so nice They greeted me and were warm and welcoming.  That's the first thing I noticed. The second thing that I noticed is many of the Cubans looked just like me and embraced me. 

My driver was already at the airport, so we got in the car and drove to Havana. It was about a 30-minute drive. As I was looking out the window, which I always do when I'm on a drive in a new country, I noticed that Cuba kind of looked like any other country that I've been to. 🤷 It looked like it could have been Egypt or Guatemala. I really want you all to understand that I had been told horrible things, so I was expecting the worst in every way imaginable. 

I pulled up to my Airbnb and it was very nice. I stayed at the White House which overlooked the water. I met my host, Anita, who was amazing.  I got dressed for my photo shoot and caught a taxi. We proceeded to walk around Havana and take pictures. While everyone was super friendly to me, they were not always friendly with my photographer. My photography session was fun and a great introduction to the island.

After the pictures we went to drinks for Mojitos and talk. This was my first introduction to Obama. Well I'm lying. Anita also spoke about Obama when I arrived, but this was my first in depth talk.  It would NOT be my last. The people love him. My mojito was just okay which was a little disappointing because I had heard that the drinks in Cuba were amazing. 

I went back to my Airbnb and there is a new restaurant right next door to my Airbnb. So, I decided to have dinner there. The tacos were amazing. The pina colada was pretty good. At this time, I'm kind of realizing that everything that people have told me about Cuba so far is not the truth because the food was flavorful. They made me bring salt and pepper with me, filling my head up with lies, and I didn't need it at all. 

On day two, I did a tour of Havana. We did it in the car. It was the best tour. I really enjoyed it. We went to the Jesus statue that I didn't even know that they had. Then we went to Revolution Square, which I was very interested in because I wanted a picture with the infamous Che Guevara building.  I really enjoyed my time there. We went through this forest where they sometimes do Santeria rituals and the smell...... Oh my God...... Because they do animal sacrifices out there the smell was good and terrible, which was kind of sad because the forest itself was so nice. However it was really beautiful and inside the forest there is the oldest tree in Cuba, which was breathtaking. 

Afterwards we went to this part of Cuba created by Jose Fuster. It is called Fusterlandia and he basically recreated this entire community from an art perspective and made his house into a museum. It was very beautiful. If you love art, this was the place for you. At the end he rode by in his wheelchair.

Another thing that's going on in Cuba is there's a huge movement, kind of like the Black Lives Matter movement. It's called 2 + 2 = 5. You will see this all-around Havana.  

Afterwards we went to another Airbnb that is also a bar. I love this Airbnb because they have the cutest little chairs that were made out of bicycles. They were so cute. I really want one from my house and we had some drinks. I had a limonade, which was amazing. Cuba really has the limonade game on lock.  

Next, we to a Rumba.  We were warned before we got there to not take any big items with us, to stay close to our guide and etc. So, I was a little nervous because why do we need to be warned???? 🤔 But when we got there, the party was not happening because the host of the party was in Mexico. Whew! Instead we ended up just walking through the hosting site. They are very, very much into African religions that were brought on to the island when the slaves arrived. As we walked, our tour guide pointed out different things that went with the different religions like the goddess Oshun or like this chair that was representing good luck.

After lunch we walked through old Havana.  I didn't really like this part of the tour because when you travel you always have the option to go into a slum, favela or shanty town.  I never go because I don't feel like their life and/or their lifestyle is something for me to look at as if they are an exhibit at the zoo.

We went to a flea market. I was very, very hot by this time. The heat in Cuba is not like anything else that you will experience and I'm from Florida! 😂 I decided to go to this ice cream market that ended up having the best ice cream. Oh my God... it was called wafer. But in the United States, especially amongst the black community, we call it bananas pudding. It was so good but ooh I don't know what they put in that ice cream but later on that night my stomach did not agree with me..... so be careful if you have it. 

We ended the tour by visiting the community that is the birth place of the movement the 2 + 2 equals 5. The first thing that I noticed is there were a lot of cops and the second thing that I noticed was the energy of the people. There were a lot of murals around in that area The people were dancing... poor but happy ... beat down but vibrant ... lied on but still smiling... resilient ... and that that is what stayed with me the most about my time in Havana, Cuba.

A first timer's guide to Quito

 

Quito is the capital city of Ecuador. For spring break I decided to go to Quito SOLO-dolo. I was a little nervous because Ecuador experienced an earthquake literally a week before I arrived and the altitude. I have visited Denver and Kenya without any problems and thought I would be fine.

Let me say this .... Quito is HIGH and the altitude is no joke. I started feeling the effects when I arrived that night but shrugged them off until that morning. By the morning I had full blown altitude sickness. While it was full blown it wasn't as bad as what some of the other tourists on my excursions experienced. I had a headache, difficulty breathing and nausea. I decided to modify my schedule and I am so glad that I did. By the time I did rigorous activities, I was prepared. Here is the first timer's guide to Quito

Must See Spots

Panecillo:

Brazil has the Chris the Redeemer which sits on a mountain and watches over the city. Quito has the virgin Mary which sits on a loaf shaped hill and does the same. No matter where you go in the city, the locals will always ask if you have visited Panecillo. She is their prize possession. It figures since she is the tallest aluminum statue in the world and is allegedly higher than Christ in Brazil. It's free to enter. If you're afraid of heights this may not be the best spot for you. You literally drive up a very high hill. It's so high that you can literally see the city of Quito when you look down. Once you're up there, you can see the city sprawled out before you. All I can say is thank god for anxiety meds. Instead of freaking out I just stared in awe.

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo

I am putting one equator at the must see list and the other at the must do list. Ciudad is the "fake" middle of the world but I feel that everyone should visit it because the grounds are beautiful. They poured a lot of money into this "fake" equator museum and it shows. It is very touristy, full of shops and restaurants. However for $5 it's a nice spot to visit and take pictures while shopping and eating.

Pailon del Diablo

Listen I may have had about 3 anxiety attacks before I got to the waterfall but it was totally worth it. I could've stared at it for days. I love water. This waterfall is 80 meters and just beautiful. There are numerous ways to get to the water fall but we went the short way .. which included crossing over a suspension bridge. I cannot lie. I stopped right there. It took a lot of coaching, encouragement AND my tour guide literally holding my hand while I cried for me to cross. I don't know how long it was but it seemed to go on forever. Til this day I am happy that I crossed because the waterfall truly was beautiful...and wet. DUH! I did not pack anything for that (my bad) and ended up soaked 🙆🏾 Thankfully the weather allowed me to quickly dry off

La Basilica

This is the most famous church in Ecuador. It is huge and around $5 to enter. There are various floors but on this day I did not feel like climbing stairs so I stayed on floor 1. The urban legend is that when this church is complete, the world will end. The first stone was placed in 1892 and yet they are still working on it. It is gorgeous. The pictures do not do it justice.

Church of the Society of Jesus

About a mile from La Basilica is the "gold" church. Funny story, I caught an Uber and the guy was like you can walk. Tell ya mammy to walk ... I'm going to catch this $1.12 Uber 😂 It is also $5 and comes with a guide. Although there wasn't an English guide available when I visited. That was for the best because you are not supposed to take pictures or videos while inside and I did both *Kanye shrug*. This church is completely covered in gold sheets and it flat out beautiful. I walked around in awe for about 15 minutes because that's really all you need.

Must Do So on day 1 I modified my schedule and decided to do the bus tour while my body acclimated to the altitude. Best decision ever. The tour took me all around Quito so I was able to navigate on foot later on without being lost. The tour is hop on hop off but I stayed on for the entire time. It took about 2-2 1/2 hours if you did not hop off. They took you by every major spot in Quito and stopped at the Virgin of El Panecillo. This is also where I did my souvenir shopping at. There were so many pretty souvenirs at an awesome (LOW lol) price.

Sitting on top of the tour bus .... I eventually went inside because it was HOT!

Initinan MuseumSo this is the REAL equator. It is located next door to Middle of the World exhibit. This was one of my favorite things to do. I went with a hostel tour for $10 and it was truly worth the price. The only regret was that I was given less time at the fake equator. We were given about 2 hours at the real equator and it was definitely need. It costs $5 to enter and that includes a guide who not only explains everything to you but also does cool science experiments. My inner science teacher was so giddy. We learned a lot about the amazon and the equator in general. My favorite task was trying to balance the egg on the nail. Only a small amount of people are able to achieve this feat and I was one of them. Ya'll see my egg certificate.

Banos
Banos is a town in Ecuador about two to three hours away from Quito that is known for its hot springs, sitting in the base of an active volcano and extreme activities. Don't let the distance keep you away from going. It's totally worth it. As a matter of fact I would like to go back to Ecuador just to stay longer in Banos. Please remember that all of the extreme activities take place in Banos. We crossed from one mountain to another on a tram, visited the waterfall, crossed a suspension bridge and swung off of the end of the earth in Banos. If you decide to visit Banos, I included the company that I used on the link. Please hope and pray that you get Jessica. She was the best tour guide motivator and photographer.

Must Eat

Hotel Ibis

I stayed at Hotel Ibis which is centrally located. Their restaurant was amazing! Every dish was amazing! Like EVERY dish! The breakfast buffet was stellar and the prices were reasonable. The service can be a little slow but that is just the Ecuadorian way. You adjust. The food is worth the wait. I literally would sit in the evenings in wipe away tears as I placed the food in my mouth. It was just that delicious.

Dulce de Guayaba

So in Ecuador they have a fruit called guayaba. In the US we call this fruit guava. I am not a guava lover at all but I visited this candy factory and omg! The guava candy, sweets and wine ... yes wine.... were fantastic. I immediately purchased the candy taffy to bring home to share with my daughter (which I never did lol).

Mercado

If you ask a local for eating suggestions, they are going to recommend a mercado. I was sitting at the hostel waiting for my tour to begin and I was starving. So I decided to walk down the street to look for a restaurant with amazing reviews. I had to stop and ask 3 locals and they all pointed me in the direction of the mercado. So I headed inside the mercado. There were tons of homemade food vendors who were so friendly and welcoming. I had soup, an appetizer, fried fish with rice and potatoes and a drink for $7. Look at the plate! Of course I could not eat it all and I felt bad for leaving so much food on the plate but it was yummy and satisfying!. We stopped at another mercado on the way to Banos for fruit!

Quitis Cafe-Gelateria

When I arrived to La Basilica it was rainy and cold. I stepped inside the Quitis to grab a snack and escape from the rain. It was so good. I was trying to be good by only ordering one scoop but I really wish I had of ordered like 5 lol. I ordered the tres leches gelato and it was scrumptious!

Quito is a great place to relax and EAT! The locals are very friendly. Hopefully you will give it a try and let me know what you liked ❤️