Fun and family friendly activity! I love going during strawberry picking season/check their website…read morefor what produce are in season. Paying by the lb, they provide boxes and cartons.

We visited Bailey Family Farm on the very first day of strawberry picking for the year (Jun 1)…read moreright after lunch. They had their fields filled with their earliest variety, Sweet Sunrise, with tons and tons of gigantic berries ready for harvest. When I say tons, I mean it - each plant was flush with berries, and it barely took us 30 minutes to basically fill up our entire flat. They also had a limited number of Shuksan and Rainier strawberries, and some barely ripe Totems available for U Pick. We ended up picking an entire box with Sweet Sunrise and two smaller pints of Shuksan and Rainier. Sweet Sunrise - These are a deep crimson red both inside and out. They are large (averaging around 33g each), but large doesn't necessarily mean better. In this case, the taste is kind of diluted down by the amount of water inside. The most ripe and soft ones are sweet and fragrant, but the vast majority are somewhat diluted in flavor. Even the sourness is dilute. The berries are mostly soft and tender. These are still really great strawberries, but are more muted in flavor compared to some of the smaller varieties. Shuksan - This is the 2nd time I've eaten Shuksans and the 2nd time I've been a little disappointed. These are medium size berries, coming in at around 15.5g each. They are extremely sour, making me pucker with every bite. They are also quite a bit firmer than the other two strawberries, even the darker crimson ones. Quite possibly it's too early in the season for these. I'll have to come back later to try more. These have the most lumps and mutant individuals with tons of multiple fused berries. Rainier - This is probably my 2nd favorite variety of strawberry after Hoods (last year, I ate half a flat every week when these were available). It's really early in the season, so there weren't too many available for us to pick. The ones that we were able to locate fill the mouth with a delightful, strong and potent strawberry fragrance. Unfortunately most are quite a bit on the sour side - the ones in the coming weeks will probably be more sweet. Size is by far the smallest, coming in at around 12g per. The berries are really soft and teeth slice through them like warm butter. They are more acidic and are the only strawberry variety to cause me some stomach issues. We visited again the following Monday and the plants were noticeably skimpier. The leftover Sweet Sunrise were only a third the size of previous, and mostly not as ripe. There were more ripe Shuksans, Totems, Rainiers, and even some Tillamooks, Puget Crimsons, and Mary's Peaks ready. Just some quick notes for these: Tillamook - 24.4g avg, 6.2 brix, varying shape, awful variety, even the super red ones are ridiculously sour. Even beyond the sour, they taste awful. The juice is sour, bitter, nasty, the worst. Puget Crimson - 35.8g avg, 8.2 brix, caps really easily, didn't pick a single strawberry where the cap stayed on. Very conical in shape. Really dark red color. Stronger flavor than tillamook and more sweet, but still quite sour. Expected more flavor for being so dark red. Juice is dark in color, no particular distinguishing characteristics. Mary's Peak - 18.8g avg, 8.4 brix, leaves stay attached, some even have stems. Mostly conical in shape but some wider. Really noticeable seeds, can feel them protruding out of the skin. Very pronounced sweeter but mild flavor, some grassy notes. Juice has some candy element like pixie sticks but more sour. Really love the juice. Sweet Sunrise - 17.2g avg, 7.3 brix, half the size of the ones picked the previous week and not nearly as good. Not as ripe I guess so they don't cap nearly as easily. Deep red color, but more sour than sweet. Shuksan - 17.6g avg, 8 brix, Lumpy strawberries, lots of them fused together into big half moon shapes. Great flavor complexity, nasal, strong strawberry flavor, a little perfumey. More stem quality in the flavor, vegetal not bitter, probably because the pith/stem area stays attached more. Juice normal and bright. I liked these way more than the previous week. Rainier - 12.2g avg, 9.5 brix, most of the ripe ones have holes in them from birds and slugs. Aromatic, sweet but sour. Super perfumey elements. Best in flavor. Juice astringent surprisingly not as sweet as the brix would imply, more acidic instead. I like eating the whole berry more than juiced. Thanks to Bailey Farm having so many varieties, this kind of turned into a little science experiment. What else can I say other than that I will definitely be back next year for more strawberries. As a side note: I really wish farms grew Hood strawberries around here. Maybe we just don't have the right climate and soil for that variety? Those are my favorite by far, with the most sweetness (one batch I measured this year when down in Portland was 16 brix!) and best flavor complexity.

It was nice and empty and clean. Even the bathroom was clean. Will go again. My go to theaterread more

This theater could really use a rehab. Bathrooms very out of shape and need work. Almost feels like…read morethis is an afterthought Regal experience. For the same prices as other Regals it should be held to a higher standard. It was the closest one for us and had the better screening time but it was not one I would return to again.

Bellevue Botanical Garden is a beautiful place. And the fact that it is always free too! It's open…read moreevery day even holidays! To be a small botanical garden, there's a nice walking path and many, many beautiful flowers and plants to see. There are often local community events hosted here. Activities for the young to adults. They have classes that you can find and sign up for on their website as well. And the classes are affordable!! You may even see people taking wedding photos here because again it's beautiful. The park is ADA friendly. The path is dirt and pebbled but can be navigated with a wheelchair. There are bathrooms on site and a small shop. I have never purchased bulbs or plants from here but I know there is a big community around that. The coffee shop in the garden can get busy. But a benefit is we were able to charge my husband's wheelchair there on a visit. While the park is open every day, the coffee shop is not. Definitely this should be a spot for all locals. And not just a one time visit either.

This was a nice little find. We got here late as my sister had to take her son to this de's appt…read more By the time we got to Seattle, it was already 1 pm. Once the entire family met up, we climbed back into the car and headed to Bellevue. Not sur if it was due to the time. But we were surprised there was a lot of parking available. We spent a good 2-hrs here which included getting lost and finding other street entries into the botanical park from a school and from other busy street corner at the bottom of the park. Nice and shaded, quiet little creeks, plenty of seating for those that were inspired to journal, plenty of elderly people using this time to exercise and stretch. We enjoyed the different areas like the swinging bridge, the Japanese garden and even the little cafe they have there. Fairly priced items and plenty of tables to enjoy a refreshment and snack. By the time we were done, the gift shop was already closed. So I took the opportunity to drop a donation into the box instead.

I've always wanted to do more U pick stuff and my friend suggested we stop here when we were in the…read morearea for another event. It's right off the main road, easy to find, plenty of parking and very clean port a potty on site. The person working the stand was super helpful and informative. On the day of our visit they had U pick green beans and pickling cucumbers. My friend spent so much money on pickling cucumbers (I guess they are all water and very heavy), but I had a nice time picking enough green beans for the next nights dinner for a reasonable price. They also had already picked corn that you could take home for about 75 cents each. Both tasted delicious when cooked up the following day, my friend is making pickles so that will take some time. Next up is squash, closer to the end of October, I'm tempted to return to pick some spaghetti squash, they will also have acorn and pumpkins. Currently they have 4 sunflower mazes, we were in a bit of a hurry so we only did one, but it was a really nice photo opp and a good excuse to add in some more steps. On the day we visited there was a sale for 5$, but the price is normally 10$ for all 4, very reasonable. The maze we choose, since we didn't go to the website like we were encouraged to do, was just an out and back, but the other 3 might be more maze like. This was my first time in a sunflower field and very fun on a warm, sunny day. I did not realize there would be so many bees, but they left us alone. I hope to make it back here some day soon.

If you want something fun to do with the kids outdoors or just love berries, this is for you…read more What's extra nice is that they open late so you can totally do this afterwork rather than wait until weekend where it can get crowded :) We decided to check this place out after work and there quite a few people there so I assume that the weekend would be super busy. The process is that you get a box that they provide, go toward the field where another person will assign where you can pick and then you just start picking. Super easy. Once you finish, you bring it back, they weigh your strawberries and you pay. Another bonus is that they accept credit cards! I had a pretty fun time here. The strawberries are sweet and fresh and it was super yummy. I definitely would recommend coming here.

I've walked around this trail a couple times in the past. It's good to walk here when it's not peak…read moredaylight hours as there's not much shade then. This year I finally participated for the first time in the popular U-pick blueberries at the farm! They have a larger one at Mercer Slough too, but I heard it got more crowded there and decided to try Lake Larsen instead. I went on a Sunday morning before peak hours at around 10 am, so there wasn't a line or crowd. Price is 2.50 per lb and the minimum is 2 lb, so if you pick less than that you need to pay a flat rate of $5. I thought the price was pretty reasonable, even with the minimum 2lbs, you got a LOT of blueberries. It's a fun experience, being able to hand-pick fruit yourself and to take it home and either eat it, bake it, turn it into a jam, etc.. They also have a produce market later in the day where they sell fresh vegetables from the farm. The farm is well maintained, the area wasn't muddy when we arrived and it was pretty clean. They give you a pail to pick blueberries and then you can weigh it at the end once you're done. If you don't want your berries touching the bottom of the bucket, I'd recommend getting some bags or plastic grocery bags from home to put them in. You don't need gloves as the trees are around our height and don't have thorns or anything. Website recommended bringing bug repellant. There is a sign saying there are active wasps/bees nests; I didn't see any around, but it's probably better to be cautious and watch the ground as you walk. Don't know how it took me so long to finally visit the blueberry farm, but I'm definitely coming again every year! Super fun experience

Went blueberry picking at the farm. It was a great experience but I think a bit of labelling the…read morevariety would be great. For the large bucket I filled halfway, I paid about 19 dollars which is such an amazing deal to get fresh produce!