Kubota Garden

Seattle is definitely not short on parks, but Kubota Garden is a different story. It’s special because it’s not actually a park, it’s a garden! Plus, it’s the only one that is a historical landmark in the City of Seattle. This beautiful place was the dream of Fujitaro Kubota, a Japanese immigrant from the island of Shikoku. He purchased 5 acres of land in 1927 and started a garden entirely self-taught (which is pretty amazing to us since we can’t even keep succulents alive). Over time features were added, and the garden expanded to the 20 acres it is today. It was always Fujitaro’s dream that his garden would be open to the public and help promote Japanese culture. After Fujitaro passed away, the City of Seattle was able to purchase the garden and make this dream come true. The garden is now maintained by the gardeners of the Department of Park and Recreation.

The park is a beautiful and peaceful place to take a stroll and admire the Japanese architecture. There are a couple of picnic tables for you to enjoy lunch and a handful of benches throughout. Dogs are welcome as long as they are on a leash and the park is wheelchair accessible.

Since no trip to a garden is complete without food (who are kidding…no trip to anywhere is complete without food!), we recommend grabbing some fried chicken at nearby Ezell’s (11805 Renton Ave. S.) or a donut at King Donuts (9232 Rainier Ave. S.).

Hidden Gems Seattle: Aurora Avenue

Okay, we know what you are thinking. Aurora Ave? There aren't any gems there, just dirty motels and sketchy car dealerships. Well prepare to be proven wrong. Aurora is one of those misunderstood avenues, like Jack in Titanic. It might seem a little rough around the edges, but once you start to look a little harder you will see it's actually a sweet, kind avenue, with a lot to offer the world. It just needs you to be open to its flaws, which we will remind you, we all have. So we challenge you to channel your inner Rose and look past the occasional scantily-clad woman or grafitti-ed wall and see the hidden gems below! 

The spot for Caribbean food!

Bongos

This brightly colored spot serves up authentic Caribbean cuisine and is being raved about by everyone who sets foot here. You can get sandwiches or plates (served with black beans and rice), and if you are doing it right, you'll sit outside in their beach-y feeling patio and pretend you are someplace tropical instead of Aurora Ave. It's hard to recommend something since everything we have tried is excellent, but you can't go wrong with the citrus braised pork (The Desi), which is a crowd favorite. 

Sky Nursery

We don't claim to have a green thumb, but if we were to invest in garden plants, we would go to Sky Nursery. This place is HUGE and every gardener's dream. Indoor and outdoor plants, gardening supplies and tools, fountains and art...you can find everything you need to turn your backyard into a garden oasis. You should probably grow tomatoes and bring us some.

Donuts galore and Aurora Donuts

Aurora Donuts

This tiny donut shop shares space with a Baskin Robbins (hey, feel free to do double duty, we won't judge!). It has all the standards and a large assortment of donut holes (even filled ones!). But our favorite is the kreme donut covered in powdered sugar and filled with either chocolate or vanilla. Yum.

El Camion

A taco truck in Home Depot's parking lot might seem like a risk, but El Camion has proven itself time and time again to be a go-to stop when you need a quick bite and want a taco. We are big fans of the veggie or fish tacos and don't forget to load up on the pickled veggies at the counter.

The French Dip at Grinders

Grinders Hot Sands 

Sandwich mecca! It's really hard to choose one of their over-the-top, loaded, hot grinders, but you'll be thankful you did. If you have trouble choosing like us, we like to get the SauBall, which combines the meatball sandwich and the sausage grinder (genius). They also have wine, beer, and live music. What more do you need?

Woodland Pizza

Woodfired pizza and an extensive rotating beer list, makes this an excellent choice for a chill night out. We especially like to go on Monday nights when they have trivia (7pm - 9pm) and order the Italian Stallion pizza. If pizza isn't your thing (who are you?!?!), they also have small plates, a great selection of salads and sandwiches. We also recommend swinging by for breakfast to build your own burrito. 

Brightly colored Mendoza's Mercado

Mendoza's Mexican Mercado

This tiny shop does double duty as both a small cafe and a Mexican grocery store. We like coming here for specialty ingredients like pre-marinaded carne asada and Jarritos soda. Don't forget to grab some of the homemade corn tortillas as they are essential for taking your tacos to the next level (oh yes, they are life changing).

Pop Pop Thai Street Food

Chances are you have driven right by this place and never noticed it. It sits in a strip mall/parking lot and doesn't gather much attention, but it's a secret gem that you must, must visit. This Thai street food is some of the best Thai we have ever eaten. We love the grilled chicken, which, we know, sounds extremely boring. Trust us. This dish is bursting with flavor and comes with an incredible tamarind dipping sauce. The braised pork leg, fried rice, and spicy holy basil are also excellent choices.

Than Brothers Pho

This shop only serves pho, and they do it well. The bowls are simple, but delicious and warming and made from a secret family recipe. It is our favorite bowl of pho in the city, and they also get our vote because you get a creme puff for dessert with every pho order.  

Burgermaster

Burgermaster has been serving Seattlites burgers since 1952, which gives them instant Aurora street cred! We love the old school feeling of ordering from your car window and having your meal delivered car-side. Sure, they no longer come along on roller skates, but we respect it all the same. They also only serve local, grass-fed, antibiotic-free beef, which gives them a leg-up on those other fast-food burger joints. 

Central Market Grocery

Central Market 

Is it weird to want to marry a grocery store? This place is the best of the best when it comes to getting your weekly haul. Central Market is a Town & Country Market, which is independent and locally owned and operated. It has the largest produce selection of any grocery store we have ever seen, an amazing deli for grabbing lunch, a huge selection of sustainable fish and meat, and a machine that grinds together peanuts and chocolate on the spot making the best toast spread and our favorite guilty pleasure. 

HT Market 

HT Market is another grocery store we love because it focuses on products from around the world. You can get all kinds of specialty goods from Japan, China, Vietnam, India, Thailand, Korea (to name of few) and all at extremely affordable prices. We like to go here for items you might not find elsewhere like the durian fruit, kaffir lime leaves and dumpling wrappers.

The crazy Aurora elephant

Aurora Rental's Elephant

A true roadside attraction right on Aurora. This elephant has been hanging out at Aurora Rentals's for many, many years, and has become somewhat of a landmark. Turns out, you can actually rent this elephant for 10k a day (40k a week...such a bargain!). The only catch is you have to replace it with another zoo type animal while you have the elephant rented. Giraffes or rhinos preferred. No biggie.

125th Street Grill 

Everyone needs a good diner in their life. You know, a place to go to for some "hair of the dog" and a greasy breakfast. We like this grill for their wide selection of omelettes and the pecan cakes for something sweet. They are also open for lunch and dinner, but we prefer going for breakfast and sitting in the lounge. They also have a banquet room just in case your book club meets early.

Interurban Trail Art

We love public art, and the silly sculptures along the Interurban trail near the Trader Joe's in Shoreline at 175th Street really spruce up this part of town. Our favorites are the snail and the horse! 

Fuzzy Buddy's Dog Daycare 

Your pooch needs some love while you are away at work and Fuzzy Buddy's is a great option if you live up north. Not only can your dog have an active social life during the work week ($30 drop-in rate), but they offer dog training classes as well. 

Rain or Shine's Favorite Seattle Restaurants

Warning: This is a completely biased list of the places we think are the best in Seattle. We are girls who don't need all the bells and whistles. If you have good service and awesome food and are located in a strip mall on Aurora, we will be your best customers. We do not consider ourselves foodies. We simply love eating. It doesn't have to look pretty, it just has to taste good.

We are not the experts, but we eat a lot (and when I say a lot I mean a lot), so that gives us some credibility just based on the shear number of places we go. We are full believers in four meals a day and we think the best reason to have a significant other is that you get to try more items on a menu. 

Here is a no-frills, no-politics, not-based-on-anything-but-our-personal-preferences list of our favorite restaurants in Seattle. 

Il Corvo Pasta

Sarah's Top Picks

Just to set the tone. This is Sarah's favorite meme.

1. Il Corvo - Pasta is my jam, and Il Corvo does it best. Owner, Mike Easton, learned how to make pasta when he was studying in Florence, Italy, so you know his handmade pasta is legit! The shop is located in Pioneer Square and only opened for lunch (11am - 3pm). It's tiny and there is always a long line, but it is well worth the wait. The menu is small (usually only 3-4 pasta dishes to choose from a day), and it changes daily. You need to follow the shop on social media or check the website to get the daily offerings but guaranteed you can't go wrong with any of them.

2. Restaurant Roux - Ask me out to brunch, and I'll suggest this place. It's southern comfort food at its best with all the delicious standards. Shrimp and grit. Check. Chicken and waffles. Check and check. And, of course, the southern classic...fried green tomatoes (on a Po Boy, but it still counts). The other thing that keeps me coming back is the cocktail list that is fine tuned to perfection. Brunch is Saturday and Sunday only from 9am - 2pm, but the restaurant also serves dinner daily starting at 5pm.

3. Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon - There is a reason this place has won best Chinese food in Seattle for 7 years. One word: Dumplings. Okay, actually there are a lot of reasons other than dumplings, but the dumplings are what I love. The dumpling dough is handmade by Judy Fu herself in the back of the restaurant. In fact, you can get all of the noodle dishes with homemade noodles that are rolled and cut on the spot. We suggest you go that route. It's 100% worth the trip to the Maple Leaf neighborhood. 

Chicken and waffles/Shrimp and grits at Restaurant Roux

The literal pink door

Kristina's Top Picks

1. The Pink Door - This is one of the first restaurants I ate at in Seattle and it has been a place I have celebrated a lot of life milestones. The reason I keep going back? Well, Italian, that doesn't need much explanation, everyone loves Italian and a lot of places in town make great Italian dishes, but i haven't found a place in town that can match the atmosphere (they have cabaret and aerialists, it's a hard act to beat!) along with the phenomenal menu items. Sitting outside on their deck overlooking Puget Sound, eating summer risotto with a glass of crisp white wine basically defines my happy place. 

2. CJ's Eatery - Alright, we warned you, it wasn't all going to be glitz and glamour on this list. Cj's is a diner in Belltown that I just can't stay away from, but don't expect any truffle oil or aioli on the menu. What you can expect is delicious breakfast comfort food. What do I recommend? 6 words: Chicken Fried Chicken with Chorizo Gravy. It is only served on the weekends and it draws a crowd. There is really no need to try anything else (unless you don't eat meat..then this would be a bad idea). 

3. Etta's - I wasn't born in the PNW, but I drank the Kool-Aid and am a full believer in the magic that is the Upper Left USA. One of the BEST parts of living here is the fresh and flavorful food that comes out of the area. I think Etta's is the place to sample the best of the PNW, especially salmon. The restaurant has great people, a well-rounded menu and drink list and most importantly, you can end the meal with their famous coconut creme pie. 

The rose mimosa and chorizo gravy at CJ's

Mailbox Peak

It's true we are no strangers to hard hikes (see: Grouse Grind), but we wouldn't say we exactly seek them out. What we do love here at Rain or Shine Guides and what we WILL seek out is weird stuff (see: Hat N' Boots). When we heard there was a 4,800 foot+ mountain peak with a mailbox installed on it, we decided, yes, that's weird and we must see it. It didn't matter that Mailbox Peak is arguably one of the hardest hikes in the Snoqualmie area. Weird stuff is always worth it.

Our office dog, Maggie, crushed the trail

Nobody knows exactly why a longtime letter carrier decided to install a mailbox at this particular mountain, but it is what gives this peak its name and is what made it famous. There are two ways to get to the top of the mountain. You can go the old way, which is so steep it's considered a vertical incline, gaining almost all of that 4,800 feet in 2.5 miles. Fair warning now...it's unrelenting. It's torture. It will make you call your Mom crying. The trail will start with a well worn path but quickly becomes a mess of trees, and you must follow the white diamonds stapled to the trees to find the rest of the way to the top. Your other option is the new trail, which was built not too long ago as a result of all the injuries and rescues that were occurring on the old trail. So, why would you even consider the old trail, you ask? The new trail is nothing but a sea of switchbacks and will take you over twice the distance (9.4 miles roundtrip). We decided to take the old trail up and the new trail down, and this worked out well. It cut the distance a bit, but felt safer overall. No matter what option you take, remember to take your time. Your quads, knees, back, calves and sanity will thank you.

When you do finally reach the top, give yourself a pat on the back, crack open one of those beers you remembered to pack, and take in the 360 degree panoramic views.

Insider tip: People leave all sorts of interesting things in the mailbox. It's fun to bring a small token with you to leave or to swap out for something different. We brought a Marshawn Lynch themed poker chip because nothing is more beast mode than this hike. Also, don't forget your Discover Pass!