We’d normally take advantage of a long weekend and make a trip somewhere. But having just returned from Anacortes the previous weekend and scheduled to fly to Barcelona the following Wednesday, we decided that all three of us should take a staycation for Memorial Day Weekend.

As luck would have it, three of Seattle’s five major league teams were playing home games, each on different days. We started off Friday night at Climate Pledge Arena where the Seattle Storm WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) team were taking on the Dallas Wings. A notable player for Dallas was 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Awak Hiba Kuier, who was picked 2nd overall in the 2021 draft and in 2022 became the 8th player to have dunked a basketball in the WNBA.

We’d never attended a WNBA game before and found it exciting and entertaining, particularly in having seats only a few rows up from the action. In a closely-contested game, Dallas bested the Storm 95-91.

The weather had started to warm up again, and on Saturday we had lunch outside at LOCAL Public Eatery before making a quick shopping trip to REI. On the way, we walked through the striking grounds of the Sitka apartments, modelled to evoke the atmosphere of the San Juan Islands.

That evening, we attended a Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer game versus the New York Red Bulls. Before the game, we stopped in for the first time at a new restaurant, Vindictive Wings. The popular restaurant , owned by two pairs of brothers, started from a pop-up and got a great write-up in the Seattle Times. We loved the food, the vibe and the friendly owners, and it’s become a new favorite of ours.

In a low-scoring game, the Sounders beat the Red Bulls 1-0. We’ve attended a few Sounders games before and the audience participation is almost as entertaining as the game. Sounders fans are amongst the most enthusiastic we’ve seen, and cheer and gesture in synchronicity on various cues throughout the game.

Our final major league game of the weekend was the Seattle Mariners baseball team taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates at Safeco Field. We bought Diamond Club seats, which are seats in the first 8 rows behind home base and include access to a private club. The food and ambience at the club was excellent, and our third-row seats gave us a close-up view to home plate and the Mariner’s dugout. In an action-packed game, the Mariners hit three home runs and beat the Pirates 6-3.

We’d not attended a baseball game for ages, and haven’t in the past found the games particularly exciting. But being so close to the field of play made a huge difference to our interest and enjoyment of the game, and we’ll definitely be back.