Everett, WA 2020

After our first couple days in Seattle, we headed to Everett on Monday evening.

Our first stop in Everett was Trader Joe’s! We got a few snacks for our hotel room, and of course a reusable Washington state bag. After we snacked up, we checked into our hotel, and I put my tulips from Pike’s Place Market into a makeshift vase (the ice bucket).

We got settled in a little bit before heading over to Ivar’s Fish Bar for dinner.

Christopher had the fish and chips and a side caesar salad, and I had the prawns and chips. We liked this local chain and we’d eat here again.

Christopher worked Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so those days I entertained myself around town while he was gone.

Tuesday! Not a terrible view to wake up to. I love a slow start to the day, so I listened to the NPR Up First podcast, did the daily NYT crossword puzzle, and then ventured out for breakfast.

I walked to this cafe I found on google maps with good reviews, only to find it temporarily closed while the road it’s on is being replaced or turned into a river, who knows. Of course I was planning to spend this chilly day inside drinking coffee, so I was wearing a sweater dress and a rain coat. It was like 40 degrees, I life in Florida, I was frickin freezing Mr. Bigglesworth (hey 90’s movie reference).

Anyway, I found a new place on the map, blew my nose a hundred times, tried not to freeze to death, and walked to Narrative Coffee Co.

This place kind of felt like it was off the beaten path, but damn it was packed. And it stayed packed.

There were no tables and no seats at the community table available when I got here so I had to decide between the last stool at the bar by the front window or the couch. I am not very ladylike on a bar stool and since I was wearing a dress I figured it was probably best not to flash passersby through the front window. Couch it was. It also meant eating my breakfast off of the skinny coffee table that was lower than the couch. It was a little awkward.

But then my latte and breakfast came out and I immediately stopped caring about the awkwardness of eating on a couch. I got their traditional breakfast, which had eggs, bacon, crispy fried potatoes, and hearty toast with homemade citrus marmalade. It was AMAZING.

Right about the same time my food came, a study group showed up and joined me in the couch area, so I was surrounded by students working on a project. It was kind of fun. After I ate breakfast I wrote for a while and listened to some podcasts.

I got another latte and a coffee cake mini loaf to take back to the hotel, and headed back for a nap. Like a grown up.

There were so many pretty plants on my walk back to the hotel. Washington is freaking gorgeous.

For dinner we went to Scuttlebutt Family Pub. It’s a cool brew pub on the water, which was cool.

Christopher had blackened salmon linguine with the tripel seven (777) to drink and I had Maibock Joe (pretty much a sloppy joe) with onion rings and a KEXP Transistor IPA to drink. The beer was good, the food was fine.

For dessert we got the apple crisp, which no jokes was a can of apple pie filling with some oatmeal on top. Not that crispy. Meh.

I know it was a weird time when we were there, but our server definitely did not want to be at work, and was not about to be fake friends with us for the hour we were there. Oh well.

Wednesday! This was a FUN day!

I had breakfast at Strawberry Patch Cafe

The chalk board walls were cute and cool way to keep kids entertained while they wait for food. I also really loved the tiny creamer.

I had the griddle special for breakfast, with french toast, eggs, and bacon. This place was adorable, the service was friendly, but the food was just alright.

I wanted to drink a little more coffee and maybe do a little reading or writing, so I headed to Paesano's Coffee & Cafe.

They had this cozy fake fireplace, so I huddled up next to it while I drank coffee and read a book.

A couple hours and two large lattes later, I decided I was basically loitering at that point, so I moved on to lunch. I was brave and asked a woman in the coffee shop for a recommendation, she mentioned that El Paraiso Mexican Grill just down the street had really good bean dip, and I was sold.

I had a chicken burrito with rice and beans and a patron margarita, but this is the only picture I took. I was laser focused on that bean dip (on the left) and my margarita.

I happened to notice that the Funko HQ was in Everett when we drove to dinner on Tuesday night, and it looked like it had a store, so that was my next stop.

This is going to get it’s own post, so I’ll just share a couple pictures here. Check out the full Funko post for more.

I spent about an hour in the Funko store. Picking out the little figures I wanted to buy was hard work, so I needed a treat. Thankfully, Karls Bakery & Cafe was right next door.

This beauty is one of the best maple bars I’ve ever had. So light and airy and mapley and goood.

In between my adventures in town and dinner I did some laundry and listened to some podcasts. For dinner we walked to Brooklyn Bros. Pizzeria.

We really liked this place. Everyone was so friendly and they stayed pretty busy while we were there, I just happened to get this picture between groups. This is when the Covid-19 stuff started getting a little scarier, so there were definitely fewer people out, and a lot of the people that came in while we were eating took their pizza to go.

We had a 14” Napoletana pizza with pepperoni and green peppers. It was delicious and we ate the whole damn thing. I feel like if we lived in Everett, this might be our regular pizza joint.

Thursday! Covid-19 was official named a pandemic on Wednesday of our trip, so Thursday was the first day of ohhhh fuck, this is serious business. It was Christopher’s last work day, and we started thinking about what our options were, and how we could best stay safe, while also making the most of a weird, scary, unprecedented time.

As usual, Thursday started with breakfast.

I wondered over to Vintage Cafe where I had the vintage french toast, eggs, bacon, and coffee. The vintage french toast is coated in crunched up cereal before being cooked, yum! I chatted with the servers and another woman who was also eating alone near me. It was nice to talk to people for a little bit, but once I was done eating, I went in search of better coffee.

I ended up back at Narrative Coffee, becasue I just loved it so much the first time. This time I got a spot at the community table and I was able to drink my latte while I wrote for a bit.

After Christopher was done with work, we headed to The New Mexicans for dinner.

We kicked off the pandemic panic party with margaritas, duh, strawberry for me and mango for Christopher. They were good, strong, and exactly what we needed.

We got the smoked chicken enchilada with pinto beans and possibly the world’s most gigantic chili dog. These dishes were so good, but holy crap were they huge. We didn’t come anywhere near finishing them. So maybe share if you go here. They have an eclectic menu, and a surprisingly good selection of pies for dessert.

We got the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cream pie and I know this photo is garbage, but this pie was GOLD.

Friday! The time had finally come for me to show Christopher my new favorite coffee place, Narrative (big surprise there right?).

I had one last latte, and Christopher got a pour over, and we both had the traditional breakfast I got the first time I went there on Tuesday (scroll up if you want to see that picture again). It was a lovely end to our time in Everett.

Check out the rest of our trip: Seattle Part 1, Seattle Part 2, Funk HQ, The Outback Kangaroo Farm.