Seattle
We discovered this morning that it is illegal to ship wine from the state of Washington except from a winery, so our pack and ship excursion was sort of in vain. We have three bottles we will need to bury in the center of suitcases and hope the TSA inspectors don’t break them. We have not had good luck with them in the past.
We headed for the area of the city around the Space Needle to check out some of the tourist spots. First we went through the Science Fiction Museum.
Being a Sci-Fi Fan, I had looked forward to seeing it, but it was a little disappointing. There were too many exhibits that consisted of words on a wall with mounted books and magazines.
The actual exhibits of costumes, people, and props from movies and television were more interesting when they were the real thing as the reproductions were sometimes not done too well or were just plain hokey. However, I really liked seeing Robbie the Robot from “Forbidden Planet” and the robot (which never did have a name) from the original TV show “Lost in Space”. Unfortunately they were in the same exhibit together and were set up so that they were talking to each other, in argumentative fashion. I ignored that part.
The robot section and the alien section were the best. Some of the interactive parts were good, especially the one where you could get information of different fictional planets.
I was pleased to see “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” was well represented as it is a favorite of mine. Babel fish were listed as one of the communication devices along with the Star Wars communicators.
Since we could go on the same ticket we also did “Music Experience” in the same building. It was OK. We loved the music of the 60’s section, especially the displays and A/V’s of “Louie, Louie”. I had not realized it was recorded by every group in existence at the time. Some of the costumes and guitars on display were interesting.
The history of music in the Seattle area was fascinating; though we did chuckle when we came to the area depicting what Tom always called (to Rob’s chagrin) “alternatives to music”.
No pictures were allowed inside the galleries of either one, so I have only pictures of the outside of the venues—very unique architecture, but appropriate.
Both museums were built by Paul Allen and some of the displays are part of his collection. We heard that some of the Music Experience displays are part of Steve Ballmer’s personal collection, but not sure if that is factual.
Next we did what every Seattle tourist must, and went up the Space Needle.
The sun was out, but it was too cloudy over the mountains with the approaching storm to see the far mountains. Nevertheless, it is always fun to have a view from so high up (over 600 feet). You can walk around the entire circle and see Seattle and its environs from all angles. Tom took pictues from every side. I managed to catch him in a moment without the camera in front of his face.
Our final tourist activity was to ride the Ducks. These are 1940’s era amphibious vehicles, painted garishly with their logo, that give a land and water tour of Seattle. It was fabulous even though it was raining part of the tour.
Most of the Duck tour pictures were taken through rain splattered plastic windows, so are not the clearest. When the rain let up the captain tried to open the plastic shades, but the old people on board complained about the cold, so we only had brief times to take clear pictures. Two old ladies wore rain hats the entire trip, as they were sure the roof would leak and they would get their hair wet. They were ditzy but fun—from Nebraska. There was also a couple from Danville, PA, which we thought was kind of cool.
Here are some various sights seen about the city, on land:
ancient metallic bamboo forest (street sculpture):
A uniquely named cookie shop:
Coffee shop:
An aluminum tree from the Olympic Sculpture Gardens:
Luckily the rain stopped while we were on Lake Union. I loved the lake portion of the Duck tour.
Entering the Lake Union:
Seattle has about 500 houseboats and floating homes. The houseboats are self contained, and must be pumped out. People have converted all sorts of vessels into homes. We saw old tugboats and other conversions. Really neat.
The floating homes ranged from the original shack-type dwellings, which used to be housing for the poor of Seattle (certainly no longer!)
to elegant mansions floating next to their sailboats.
We also saw the “Sleepless in Seattle” home, which went on the market while we were visiting Seattle. The price is 2 ½ million dollars. It was purchased right after the movie came out for $800,000. The first twenty four hours it was on the market this time, fifty realtors and twelve prospective owners toured the house. We didn’t think we would make the pre-qual, so we didn’t try to go through it!
Aurora Bridge—home of the Fremont troll (under the right hand side beyond the picture):
Space Needle from Lake Union:
We saw the Washington State women’s crew out for practice:
This boathouse is actually a functional boat. The owner could not get permission to put up a building, so she had a huge floating-house-type boat constructed on the site. It has running lights and engines that could (but don’t) actually move it. If you have enough money you can get around the rules.
This is “Revolution” the restaurant, which is part of the Sci-Fi Museum/Music Experience complex,where we had a late lunch and warmed up with excellent coffee.
Coffee shop:
An aluminum tree from the Olympic Sculpture Gardens:
Luckily the rain stopped while we were on Lake Union. I loved the lake portion of the Duck tour.Entering the Lake Union:
Seattle has about 500 houseboats and floating homes. The houseboats are self contained, and must be pumped out. People have converted all sorts of vessels into homes. We saw old tugboats and other conversions. Really neat.
The floating homes ranged from the original shack-type dwellings, which used to be housing for the poor of Seattle (certainly no longer!)
to elegant mansions floating next to their sailboats.
We also saw the “Sleepless in Seattle” home, which went on the market while we were visiting Seattle. The price is 2 ½ million dollars. It was purchased right after the movie came out for $800,000. The first twenty four hours it was on the market this time, fifty realtors and twelve prospective owners toured the house. We didn’t think we would make the pre-qual, so we didn’t try to go through it!
Aurora Bridge—home of the Fremont troll (under the right hand side beyond the picture):
Space Needle from Lake Union:
We saw the Washington State women’s crew out for practice:
This boathouse is actually a functional boat. The owner could not get permission to put up a building, so she had a huge floating-house-type boat constructed on the site. It has running lights and engines that could (but don’t) actually move it. If you have enough money you can get around the rules.
This is “Revolution” the restaurant, which is part of the Sci-Fi Museum/Music Experience complex,where we had a late lunch and warmed up with excellent coffee.
Seattle is such a wonderful place to sample coffee.
I can't believe this is our last day. Five weeks have flown by. We have accumulated such unbelievably great memories. What an adventure!
I'm sure our friends and family will be pleased to hear there are thousands of pictures (no exaggeration). Digital cameras are dangerous in some people's hands.
Postscript:
The wine survived the trip just fine.
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