One of my 30 before 30 items is to spend a day exploring a local (Washington) town I’ve never been too. But there are also many areas in and around Seattle that I’ve never really explored. After walking one kid to the bus stop earlier this week, the little guy I watch was pretty adamant about going buh-bye. It was a pretty nice morning, with quite a bit of blue sky which is always nice (and fairly infrequent at times) in a place like Seattle. So we loaded up and circled through our favorite Starbucks for a latte and specialty ice water (because water from a starbucks cup is ten times better than the water in your own water bottle when you’re two), and then head out. I was aimed for Fremont, a fun artsy area, when I decided to swing out toward Wallingford first. It’s a cute little neighborhood and while I’ve driven up and down N 45th St. more times that I can count, I’ve never been inside the Wallingford Center that advertises ‘Life’s Necessities & Little Luxuries’.

An old school building from 1904, this places oozes charm before you even head inside. The kiddo was excited to go inside and look around. We were greeted with a big display of cupcakes at Trophy Cupcake. But before he could do more than point at all the nummies, he spotted a train table in the middle of the ‘hallway’ at the north end. The place was pretty empty at it was just opening, but after a looky–lou around, there are a lot of open spaces available for rent. I get the feeling that most people come here for specific reasons – the pharmacy, the old Tweedy & Popp hardware store, etc. – rather than just to browse. It’s too bad, really. I think they could do a lot with this building to build up visitors to the area. I still have yet to explore the other stores on the street (there is a fun sock shop, but they weren’t open yet).  The kiddo is pretty good about keeping his hands to himself as we looked through a couple of the shops and then headed outside.

We circled the building and spent some time watching a small fountain that had a pink carnation bud floating around. The water was icy-cold so it was easy to convince the kid to keep his fingers out. We then walked up the street a bit, but a majority of the shops don’t open until 11 (and we were about 20 minutes shy of open).  Overall, it’s a lovely little area. Some of the shops outside the center look a little run down, but certainly worth a revisit once everything is open. And we’ll certainly return for a tasty cupcake sooner rather than later. Trophy has converted a couple of the old classrooms into a fun seating area.

The top floor has been converted into studio apartments. Google doesn’t provide many images of the way it once was, but more than anything I’d love to see the way the studios are set up. A building like this is as close to ‘old history’ as we have in Seattle. #historynerdsunite