Ramen, not from a bag, and other ventures

I started out the day with a little breakfast here at Hyatt Place, with my mind on the Kiki Ramen my friends and I were planning on having for lunch. I had always heard that real ramen was a must-try but I’d never done so myself. Shana and I tried the Shio bowl that had pork and shiitake mushrooms and it was fantastic! I don’t think I will ever be able to stomach a regular bowl of cheap ramen again.

Our next stop was Amazon Go, which was the most amazing retail experience I have ever had. I still don’t understand how that store keeps track of who takes what item! Everything in there was surprising cheaper than I would have imagined. We loved it so much that our group made three stops by the just today! I will get to try my cinnamon roll cup that I purchased early in the morning before our flight.

Then we went to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a tour. I actually hadn’t ever heard of the foundation so I didn’t know what to expect. During the tour, I was really drawn to the Countdown to Zero display about eradicating diseases. This exhibit really piqued my interest since I want to go into the medical field. It opened my eyes to the possibility of me working in this field one day and being able to impact people who can’t help themselves in this way. 

Later in the day, Shana, Dylan, Parker, Rachel, and I took an Uber (my first Uber) to the troll under the bridge. I honestly wasn’t terribly impressed with the troll, but thankfully we walked to the nearby Gas Works Park which was recommended to us by Paul and Malloree Benade. The view of the cityscape was amazing from this green hill! This park would have been a wonderful place to sit down and read a book or have lunch. 

Arguably my favorite part of the day was our next stop, which was the University of Washington. The Uber ride over, courtesy of Talal and Benji the white dog, was a great time in itself. Talal kicked off conversation by describing an all red-meat diet he had heard about on the Joe Rogan podcast and that set the tone for the rest of the ride. We ended the ride talking about how to kill an alligator, so clearly we all had a good time! I really wish we could’ve carried Benji around campus with us, he was a good boy. But as we made our way to the center of campus where the cherry blossoms were positioned, we momentarily forgot about Talal and Benji. The campus was beautiful with lots of 19th and early 20th century architecture mixed with more modern buildings spread throughout the campus. I actually wanted to be an architect for a long time so I really enjoyed seeing all of the older, rustic structures. My favorite part, other than the architecture, would be the cherry blossoms in the middle of “the Quads.” This was clearly the hub of campus and it was full of people! We finally finished up the day with a dinner at Serious Pie! This last supper was a nice, relaxing way to end an amazing trip to Seattle.