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Photo Essay: A dream trip to Seattle for a cup of coffee

Darja French
Post Independent
Groups of people walk around near the Pike Place Market.
Darja French / Post Independent

I grew up in Latvia where the number of Starbucks coffee shops has always been and still is zero.

Over the years, I developed a certain admiration towards something that was so foreign, yet so desirable to me. After living in the United States for five years the appreciation didn’t go anywhere. 

So when my best friend Gaby and I were choosing where to go on our vacation — Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks was the obvious choice. 



If you know me, I get excited every time the word Starbucks is even mentioned. Imagine my delight visiting the first Starbucks store established in 1971, located at Pike Place Market. 

Even standing in line for 30 minutes made it so much more thrilling. Nothing could compare. 



Another highlight of the trip was visiting the Starbucks Reserve Roastery that blew me away with its vastness and made me feel like Charlie at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

Walking around Seattle was pure joy. It’s the city where there is a Starbucks coffee shop every five minutes of the way, sometimes even right across from each other. 

But Seattle is so much more than just Starbucks, or a million other wonderful coffee shops. 

It’s also home to the world-famous Pike Place Market and delicious seafood, beautiful Waterfront Park and the Seattle Great Wheel, vibrant neighborhoods, Amazon headquarters, and of course, the amazing Space Needle, Seattle’s most famous landmark. I have always adored the futuristic style and I even remember doing a project on Googie architecture when I was in college. Who knew that I would be standing on the Space Needle’s observation deck years later?

It almost feels surreal to experience something in real life that you were once so fascinated by based on the pictures. And yet there I was on top of the Space Needle with Starbucks coffee in my hand. Does life get any better than this? 

On the flight back to Denver, Gaby and I were sitting next to a man from Seattle who correctly noted: “How fascinating: You met at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park and you went on an adventure together” and what an adventure that was. 

My Seattle dream comes true.

Taken inside the Original Starbucks store which was established in 1971
Darja French / Post Independent
Below the Seattle Space Needle.
The Seattle Great Wheel is a giant Ferris wheel at Pier 57 on Elliot Bay that opened in 2012.
The view of downtown from the Seattle Great Wheel.
Darja French / Post Independent
Groups of people walk around near the Pike Place Market.
Darja French / Post Independent
The Seattle Great Wheel is a giant Ferris wheel at Pier 57 on Elliot Bay that opened in 2012.
Below the Seattle Space Needle.
Heaps of gum on the popular gum wall located below the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.

All images and story by Darja French / Post Independnet


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