10 Things I Hate About You Tour
one thing i was really excited about when we moved to seattle was being able to see all of the spots from the greatest movie: 10 things i hate about you. only problem was that riley had never seen it! i know…shocking…how did i marry a man who has never seen 10 things i hate about you?! ;) so we started by watching it and reveling in the beautiful heath ledger (r.i.p.) and seattle in the summer time. after that, we were ready to take the tour! it was a great way to see some different spots of the city! we used this and this guide to get us around. pretty much all of the spots were in fremont and tacoma which meant we had to do it in two days since they’re pretty far from each other. also, we didn’t go to the paramount theatre where the prom took place either because it was downtown and i’m sure we’ll see it eventually.
we got lucky with some sun on our first day in fremont! our first stop was kerry park where the opening credits were shot! it’s a super nice area with the best view of the city! then we found our way to the fremont troll. at first we couldn’t find it and then turned around and there he was lurking at the top of the hill. it kinda creeped me out haha! next was lake union and gas works park. this is where kat and patrick played paintball and shared their first kiss! poor riley had to witness me freaking out a little as i thought about the fact that heath ledger was in that very spot! we also did some shopping in the small shops in fremont–it’s a pretty cool town! we loved the vintage store there too. Bonus: parking was easy and cheap for all of these spots!
next was tacoma where the high school, house, and guitar shop are. the high school that looks like a castle is a real high school! apparently it used to be a hotel before it became a high school. it’s huge and amazing to think kids actually go to school there! do they even know what 10 things i hate about you is?! oh and it really is right on the water! this was another freak out moment as i pictured heath ledger dancing down those stadium stairs while singing “can’t take my eyes off of you” to kat. you guys…this movie! we brought koda with us on this leg of the tour so we walked around the super nice neighborhoods around the school. i creepily took a ton of pictures of the beautiful homes decked out with garland and wreaths and bows for christmas. the whole town was eye candy to me! then we found the stratford house which hasn’t been kept up super well buuut it was still fun to see. and then we found a metropolitan market so we can get some fresh hot gooey cookies. those things are dangerous.
there you have it! now if i’m ever missing heath ledger more than usual, i can just visit some of these places to think about how wonderful he is. and now i’m going to go watch the movie again :)
a message to all of my friends: if you love 10 things as much as i do, i will take you to all of these places if you come visit!