MusselFest, aka the Best Girls Weekend EVER!

Scott, Kevin and Patrick have been planning a "Mancation" in Seattle for quite some time now. It was spurred on, no doubt, by Scott's many declarations about how great a beer city Seattle is. I can't argue with that, but when Way and Becca decided to join their husbands up here (since airfare was so darn cheap) and since Emi was also visiting from Hawaii last weekend, we decided to create our our own Girls Weekend. I must admit, beer made a small appearance in our weekend too.

We started off with a visit to Spur, a gastropub in Belltown. Decor was sorta hip, but we were very disappointed - hugely boring cheese plate (nothing soft or stinky in the 3 tiny wedges on the plate!), overly smoked bison burger and high prices. Blech.

Saturday turned out to make up for Spur! The day started off on the right foot when we snagged a box of Thin Mints in the 10 minutes we had to wait to take the short ferry ride over to Whidbey Island. Then we headed over to Coupeville for the great MusselFest, where we gorged on Mussels (SO tasty and plump and fresh!), explored the town to try out each restaurant's mussel chowder and then washed it all down with some brew and dancing in the beer garden. We drove back to Seattle via Deception Pass and the quaint little town of La Conner, and then snagged a table at Purple Cafe in downtown. This meal featured a much more impressive cheese plate (stinky and creamy cheeses = yay!), a delectable lobster mac and cheese, wine flights galore and very interesting desserts (goat cheese ice cream!). After our bellies were full, we headed back to my house just as the snow started to come down! We threw several logs on the fire, cracked open a few bottles of wine, and then gabbed the night away.

Sunday featured a short walk to our neighborhood breakfast joint - Pete's - and then sad farewell as the crew headed back home. I was sad to see my girls go, but was content that we had such a fabulous weekend. I am amazed but so thankful and happy that even after all these years of knowing each other, we can still get together and have such a good time just hanging out. I am convinced that even if the MusselFest had turned out to be a dud, we would have had fun just walking around the town, enjoying each other's company. Can't wait to do it again with them soon!

Mussels at the MusselFest!

Seattle, LA, Honolulu and San Francisco represent!