Brian’s mom recently came out for a long weekend visit, and after a full Saturday on Whidbey Island it was nice having a more low-key local adventure spending our Sunday morning in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.

One of my friends and former co-workers recommended we spend some time in Volunteer Park, which is on the north end of Capitol Hill.

It was a sunny morning but it was supposed to get to almost 90 degrees so we wanted to beat the heat.

We had relaxing start to our day and then headed down to Capitol Hill for brunch at Volunteer Park Cafe. We lucked out finding nearby street parking and managed to place our orders and find cute window seats despite the cafe being fairly busy.

Brian ordered the Banana Brioche French Toast on recommendation, while I enjoyed a delicious brie and apple panini with lavender honey, and Ann had a yummy veggie quiche.

Brian didn’t love the serve and clean up after yourself part of our brunch, but I would go back again. I love local cafes and could easily curl up in a window seat with a book and some coffee (or a mimosa, depending on the day!).

After brunch we walked up the hill to the park and moseyed around. There were quite a few people out– a family having a party by the kids’ playground, some people practicing their flag routine likely for an upcoming parade, couples enjoying the sun and laying in the grass, a large group of guys playing frisbee, etc. It was nice to see so many people out enjoying the weather.

We came across a small pond featuring a momma duck with her ducklings and made friends with an incredibly outgoing squirrel enjoying his nut!

I had read about the Water Tower, which offers 360 views of the area, including downtown. We didn’t see any signs so we wandered around until we had enough cell service to track it down on Google Maps.

After climbing up the winding, 107-steps we reached the top and not only enjoyed wonderful views of the city, but incredible views of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker. It was a clear day and although it was getting pretty warm, there was a wonderful breeze coming through the windows at the top of the tower.

We read all of the information stands about the park’s history and enjoyed some of the background about the nearby mansions. We climbed back down and spent some time wandering the nearby streets enjoying the incredible old houses before returning to our car and escaping the heat.

We had sufficiently worked off our brunch through a morning of walking and climbing so we decided to end our time in Capitol Hill with an early afternoon snack at Hello, Robin. These awesome locally owned shops offer incredible cookies paired with Molly Moon’s ice cream for decadent ice cream sandwiches. (Note: Ohio friends, Molly Moon is the Washington equivalent of Jeni’s.) We each tried something different:

• Birthday cake cookie with salted caramel ice cream
• Orange habanaro chocolate chip cookie with strawberry balsamic ice cream
• Salted butterscotch cookie with maple walnut ice cream

Afterward we were completely satiated and ready to get out of the sun. It was a wonderful morning in Capitol Hill– I know we’ll be back!