Happy 4th from Downtown Kirkland!

Happy 4th of July! It’s hard to believe that it’s been a long time since I last celebrated 4th of July. I haven’t seen a live fireworks show in years. The last time I can recall seeing a live fireworks show was when my family went to see it at Gasworks Park… and it was funded by Washington Mutual Bank (WaMu) and all WaMu banks were rebranded to Chase bank by the end of 2009. So it was that long ago since I saw live fireworks.

This year we spent our 4th of July in a pretty lazy and relaxed way. By noontime, we head out to a local organic lunch/brunch place in Kirkland called DERU Market. It was our first time there and I’m in love!! From the decor to the aesthetics, to the food. I’m a little sad that I didn’t take many pictures of the place, but the decor was very minimalistic, bright, airy… you know what– I’ll just take a picture next time. I did take pictures of the food though.

I got the Carrot + Brie Sandwich and their Farm Salad. I also got an Ice Americano with that, which was served in Mason Jars. That’s as hipster as you can get. I was a little disappointed by the usage of plastic straws though. Hipster point -1.

Never in my life did I imagine eating a carrot sandwich. But it might be my new favourite thing. The roasted carrot felt just as rich and filling as meat. If we ever go back, I really want to get this sandwich again because it was amazing. But I know that another part of me would probably want to try something else on the menu too. -Sigh, a foodie’s dilemma-

After Brunch, we took a short walk in downtown Kirkland, but since the fireworks show doesn’t start ’til later in the day we went back home to relax until 9PM before we headed back downtown again. When we arrived downtown at night, we got a light dinner from the food stalls and situated ourselves for the fireworks. The funny thing is, while we were waiting for the show to start we could see 2 other firework shows on the other side of Lake Washington!

Fourth of July in Downtown Kirkland was very enjoyable and definitely family-friendly. We also saw a lot of cute doggies (even though I felt a little sorry for them having to deal with the fireworks). I’ll definitely be back again. But not next year. I will probably explore other fireworks show next year just o spice life up.

Lately, I’ve been feeling very lucky that I live in an area where I have so many places to explore in such close vicinity. I’ve been living in the Greater Seattle Area for more than half of my life, yet, I still find many many new places to explore each day.

It became one of my goals to try to explore new places on a regular basis. Whether it be a photo spot, cafe, restaurant, park, just anywhere that would make me want to say “wow, I want to bring someone here next time”.

With that said, since I work in the heart of downtown Seattle, you can definitely expect more posts about my hidden/not-so-hidden-gem discoveries!