We’ve had a lot of fun exploring different spots on Capitol Hill, from eating at Stateside to visiting the Volunteer Park Conservatory, to climbing the tower for views of the surrounding area, to taste-testing coffee at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery!

As part of my birthday celebration, we added a few more experiences to the list, grabbing brunch before work on Friday, and then checking out a new ice cream shop and swinging through the farmer’s market and park during the weekend.

The Wandering Goose

I don’t remember who or when, but someone somewhere recommended we grab brunch at The Wandering Goose. Who doesn’t love birthday brunch? We lucked out grabbing street parking just outside the building and headed in to place our orders—coffee and Aunt Annie’s biscuit sandwich for me, and the biscuits and gravy for Brian (surprise! :)).

This place is cozy and small—I’m not sure it could seat more than 20 people. We were early and there weren’t many people yet so we had no trouble ordering our food or finding a seat.

My sandwich was delicious and the serving size was generous—I ended up having to take part of my order to go. Brian thought his biscuits and gravy were just ok—he is kind of particular about his sausage gravy so while this was good, it didn’t quite meet his expectations. I’d definitely go back for some of the other chicken biscuit sandwiches or to try one of their lunch plates.

Salt & Straw

I can’t quite get a pulse for how people feel about Portland-based Salt & Straw coming to Seattle. Some Molly Moon’s die-hards seem upset but when we arrived at the new Capitol Hill location, the line out the door suggested to me that many people are thrilled to have another amazing ice cream option!

I had no idea what to get—there are traditional flavors I still haven’t tried, but I am also always drawn to the seasonal flavors since you never know if or when they will return.

We were trying to divide and conquer a couple of flavors between us when we rounded the corner of the line, caught a better view of the flavor board, and discovered the best birthday present ever—an ice cream sampler option! We quickly prioritized our picks and then shared a board of four golf ball-sized mounds of delicious ice cream in various fresh berry-related flavors. Yum!

Cal Anderson Park

After our afternoon ice cream, we were ready for the proverbial walk in the park. Our first stop was the local farmer’s market where we checked out a number of vendor booths and I ended up with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Definitely the first and probably the last time my husband ever buys me flowers—I loved them!

We also wandered down to Cal Anderson Park, checking out the Jimi Hendrix statue on Broadway along the way. There were tons of people out enjoying the sunshine and weekend, and we took our time people watching and making our way back to our car for our journey home.

There’s always something new to discover on Capitol Hill—I’m sure we’ll be back soon!