Girls Night Out: Brooke Westlund's Fabulous Paint Night

Readers, we love ya, but we have an honest truth for you. If you are paying for those paint nights where everyone in the class recreates Starry Night you are doing it all wrong. Last week we had the pleasure of hanging out with Brooke Westlund, a Seattle abstract artist, in her studio in Pike Place Market and creating some truly unique and beautiful art pieces to take home. 

The whole experience was a perfect 10. Brooke was ready with wine, snacks, and paint stations when the group arrived (she won us over at wine). We grabbed our aprons and started choosing colors for our paintings and then got started! It took about 3 hours from start to finish, but this is at a very relaxed pace; we gabbed and oo'ed and ahhh'ed over everyone's works, which added a lot of time! 

At the end of the night everyone had created something completely unique to their personalities. It was pretty incredible how different they all were. Some did the more geometric style and some did the more circular, bubbly style and all of them were beautiful! 

Even though she is a fabulous artist, we think the part that makes her truly great at throwing these events is her open and friendly personality. She was absolutely one of the girls for the night. We all felt at ease and able to ask for advice on what we should do based on her expertise (and for the indecisive ones in the bunch this was very important). 

Outside of throwing fun paint parties, she also sells some truly rad art. Go find her gallery on Western Ave (we wrote about it when we covered The Backside of the Market) and shop around. There is art for all prices and personalities!

Columbia Center Sky View Observatory

Everyone knows about the Space Needle. Tourists flock to it while the Columbia Center sits not even 1.5 miles away waving it's arms like the middle child at a pool party, yelling, "Hey! Look at me mom, I can do a back flip." But, alas, Mom only looks at the prize youngest who can do a cannonball. 

The Space Needle stands at 605 feet and costs $22 to visit. The Columbia Center sits at nearly 1,000 feet and costs $14.75 to visit. Obviously you have to factor in the fame of the Space Needle, I mean it is a souvenir from our first moon landing (no, it isn't), and it is located in the beautiful Seattle Center park, which offers a lot of other great things to do. However, if you have already been or would like the city views for a bit less money, we recommend you wander downtown to the Columbia Center, the tallest building in Seattle, and check out their Sky View Observatory.

Once you make your way to the top (it requires switching a few elevators, but everything is sign posted clearly) pay the doorman and then soak in views of Seattle in all directions. As locals we stayed for over an hour finding our favorite landmarks from above and watching our tiny city function from 73 stories up.  

In addition to the views, the observatory walls are covered in fun facts about the city. We loved learning about the floating bridges that connect us with the Eastside (520 Bridge is the longest floating bridge in the world. WHOA!) and seeing the various structures around Seattle that rank as tallest in the city. 

A Few Insider Tips:

• There is a mall-sized food court on the first 3 floors of the Columbia Center. If you are hungry when you visit, go check out the offerings downstairs, there is something for everyone. 
• While we definitely recommend the Sky View Observatory, there is a Starbucks located on the 40th floor of the Columbia Center that you can visit for free (don't be a peasant, buy a coffee at least) and still see some spectacular views of the city! 
• The Sky Deck Observatory has a small cafe where you can buy light food and drinks from. The beer and wine are all local, so if you want to sample some PNW beverages this is a great place to grab a drink to enjoy! 

Grab a drink and enjoy the view

Fremont Solstice Festival: Where Naked People Ride Bicycles at Seattle's Free Spirit Salute to The Sun

All are welcome!

Who doesn't want to see naked people, incredibly painted, riding bicycles down a public street? I mean really, even the most prudish person has got to be thinking, "But isn't that uncomfortable, where do all their bits go?!" and you want to know how you find out, by going to the Fremont Solstice Festival.

This three day festival running June 17-19 has something for everyone. There is music, tons of local craft vendors for shopping unique items, a parade for the naked bike riders, dogs (separate parade, dogs are always naked so that wouldn't be as entertaining), and food galore (seriously, SO MUCH FOOD).

The Naked Bike Parade is actually called the Solstice Parade since it does include incredibly constructed floats, groups of dancers, talented musicians, many costumes and other fun things, but we decided to rename it Naked Bike Parade, because let's be honest, the naked bike riders is why 99.9% of people are attending the parade. The body paint on some of these people is insane! There are entire galaxies painted on groups of people, Seahawks team uniforms, mermaids, and more. The creativity is endless, and you honestly forget about the bodies and just admire the talent it took to create some of them.

Of course some people half-ass the paint jobs, we are looking at you Dalmatian/Cow/? and then there are some people who just like to be naked and don't put any paint on (#FreeTheNipple, amiright?!?).

The bike riders kick off the parade (at 3pm on Saturday, June 18!) and then the floats come after, which are usually very liberal (did we mention Trump supporters aren't allowed at this festival?) and creative. After the parade go hit the beer garden and see some shows on one of the music stages. We also recommend coming hungry. Serious eaters will plan their time in order to be there over two meal times to maximize the potential for eating. 

Hidden Gems Seattle: Panama Hotel

They say those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Today we remember the past and take a trip to a Seattle institution where they proudly represent a trying period of time in the Pacific Northwest.

For such a young city, Seattle has an incredibly interesting history. Unfortunately, parts of the history are also very sad. Some would argue the biggest stain is Seattle's participation in the internment of local Japanese immigrants, many of which were American citizens, during World War II. This is a page in the history books we usually skim over. Many people aren't aware that we sent over 100,000 men, women, and children to camps around the U.S., forcing them to leave almost all their possessions behind, strip them of their freedom, and move them to confined camps with dismal living conditions. 

The Panama Hotel Tea House

The Panama Hotel works to educate people. When you walk into the Panama Hotel you are walking on floors that have a large piece of history beneath them. In the dark basement you can still find items left behind by Japanese families who believed they would return to Seattle for them someday. Sadly, many never did and their possessions remain here, protected, to tell their story. 

You can see the items left behind through a glass floor.

In 2006, the Panama Hotel was awarded the title of National Historic Landmark. You can visit it and peer into the basement via a glass floor in the back of the tea house. It is absolutely worth a visit and then we encourage you to share the story with friends and family; it is one we should talk about openly, so we can learn not to repeat it in the future. 

While you are there stop to have a pot of tea. Enjoy the atmosphere (and of course, a pastry, you can't NOT eat the pastries) and take in the old photographs and news clippings they have that document the past. 

If you want to learn more...

We see this story being told and remembered more and more now. If you would like you can check out popular books like Snow Falling on Cedars and The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet that tell the story of the people who were unjustly sent to these camps because of mass paranoia during the war. Actor George Takei also wrote and performed in a musical, Allegiance, which tells the story of the internment that he was a part of as a child, and the Seattle Times did a great piece on the Panama Hotel, which you can read here.