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An iconic landmark that is so quickly recognized that only one name comes to mind when it is shown, while not rare, is somewhat unique. The Space Needle is just such a landmark. Were it the first scene in a movie, the location would be set for Seattle without further explanation.

We arrived in Seattle on Friday, September 16, staying in Lynnwood, located north of the city and near Mukilteo, the location of the Boeing plant. Saturday we are off to tour the Boeing plant. Unfortunately a camera is not allowed on the tour.

The facility is in the world’s largest building by volume, 472,000,000 cubic feet — seven NFL football fields would fit within it! We saw the assembly line for the 747, 767, and 777. The final exciting part of the tour was seeing the new 787 that is soon to be in service. It is a revolutionary plane for comfort, luxury and economy of operation. If you want to order one of these airplanes, get in line. They have orders through 2020. That’s a lot of jobs for a very long time.

We were left with this request to tell our travel agent: “If it’s not Boeing, I’m not going!”

Our next adventure is a trip into the city. The AAA book has given us several good ideas. The first is listed as one of the “Gems.”  Experience Music Project is a unique museum that delves into the history of rock ‘n roll. The first exhibit is the towering sculpture of musical instruments. Guitars are in the majority, but look closely and you find keyboards, violins, accordians, and much more.

The exhibits that most interested us were about the life and times of Jimmy Hindrix. That man could play the guitar!

In conjunction with the music museum there is also a Science Fiction Museum. It just so happened that the Battlestar Galactica exhibit was featured. Since we have just finished watching the four seasons of the show on DVD, it was a very timely exhibit. Also featured was the making of Avitar, a movie that had to wait for the technology to catch up in order to be made.

From the museums it is a short walk to the food court for a bite of lunch and then on to the Space Needle. The plan was to have lunch in the Space Needle revolving restaurant, but, alas, it was booked! Bummer!

The Space Needle is 605 feet high and was the centerpiece for the 1962 World’s Fair. The observation deck is at the 520-foot level and affords a beautiful 360-degree view of the Seattle area.

Looking north we see Queen Anne Hill.

Lake Union lies to the east of Queen Anne Hill.

The tall buildings of Seattle are to the east and a bit south.

Elliot Bay lies to the south.

To the west is Puget Sound. It is an absolutely gorgeous day to be up here. You can see forever! Given Seattle’s propensity for rain, we are feeling very fortunate!

From the Space Needle we are walking south to the Olympic Sculpture Park. Before we ever get to the park, we find this interesting piece. I’m sure there must be a title plate somewhere, but I can’t find it. I wonder what this is supposed to be.

(Note: After doing a little research on the internet, I still haven’t found the name or artist for this piece.)

Walking south toward the park we are able to get a different perspective on the Space Needle.

This is a very unique park. The path meanders through this small park with sculptures randomly placed along the way. The first piece was almost missed. This s a tree that is created out of some type of metal. It is so lifelike that it looks real until very close inspection. It isn’t easy to make a lifelike tree!

Elliot Avenue, a major thoroughfare, intersects the park. This typewriter eraser seems to be on a runaway course down the hill to the street as we walk along the opposite site of the road.

Waves was created by Richard Serra. The following is the description found in Wikipedia: “Each piece is structurally composed of two huge sheets of curved weathering steel that are mirror images of each other put together to form what Serra calls “Ws” or “W units” and sometimes “Wiggles” (after the letter “W”). Serra said that by creating a piece 125 feet (38 m) long he wants people to walk among it and participate in it, rather than just observe it. When walking through the structure with Serra, he will point out the shapes formed in the air between the steel pieces as much as the pieces themselves and that the shapes formed change as you walk through it. He says, ‘The subject of this piece is not its image and it is not the steel. It is you. Your experience in walking through becomes the content.’”

This one is fascinating to look at. The pieces would all fit inside one another if folded back up. the reflections of the surrounding area make the shiny sides seem to disappear in some places.

Look closely at the center of the picture. The ampersand is on a swivel that allows it to turn in the wind. I had to wait for it to be turned just right in order to get a picture. Why an ampersand?

I’m not sure I see the “eagle” in this piece, but it does have some interesting lines.

This description in itself is a work of art! It sort of ends up with “Huh?”

This is my favorite piece of the whole park. We are across the roadway now and looking down on the typewriter eraser. Just think. There is a whole generation of people coming along who won’t even know what this is!

These pieces were lying about the path with no seeming rhyme or reason. They are very interesting shapes among the plants.

This fountain is fascinating! The artist is Louise Bourgeois. The description is again taken from Wikipedia: “The sculpture includes models of a nude father and son reaching for each other but the other is obscured by the water. The artist explains that the nudity and obscurity represent vulnerability and the way male familial relationships deteriorate. Each figure will be obscured by water gushing over their surface as Louise Bourgeois described the work in her proposal. The volumes of water will be on a timer to mark the 24 hours of the day, accompanied by the ringing of a bell. On the hour, the water will be lowered to reveal the son. At the next hour when the bell rings, the water will rise hiding the son, while the other mound of water will descend to reveal the father. The figures when revealed will seem to float in the air above the water.”

We happened to be here when the father was briefly revealed and then obscured.

I do not have information on this piece, but the view of Puget Sound behind and through it is beautiful.

Frank O. Gehry designed this building to resemble a smashed guitar. Darned if I could see the resemblance, but it is a very odd building.

As we walk back from Olympic Sculpture Park to our car, we are seeing the shape of it better than when we were on the other side earlier in the day.

The monorail is in the foreground to confuse the issue, but it still doesn’t look like a broken guitar to me.

It has been a full day. It is time to head back to the RV and rest up for tomorrow’s adventure.

Today we are checking out the canal that connects Lake Washington with Puget Sound.

The draw bridge is raising to allow the sailboat to enter the locks. Our timing is perfect for the full show.

The drawbridge is back down.

The view across the locks is showing some fall color.

Fish ladders are a a way for fish to get around obstacles that man has put in their way. Dams can be very detrimental to the salmon swimming upstream to spawn. Fortunately, Chittenden was an extremely forward thinking individual. He built this fish ladder long before there was an awareness of the needs of the spawning salmon.

The water flows through the fish ladder with a fairly strong current to attract the fish to the ladder. They swim into the first chamber and must then jump up into the next chamber. These fish seem a bit confused, but one has to assume that they eventually get it figured out since there are salmon upstream in this river.

The the spring this is the way out for the young salmon.

The engineers put these viewing windows in this segment of the ladder so people like us can see the fish as they pass by.

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Looking at the drawbridge from the far side of the locks.

This sculpture is meant to make one think of waves.

We drove to the Discovery Park on the far side of the locks. It proved to be a very strange park. On the map it looked like it might have some amazing views out into Puget Sound. However, that was not to be. With that disappointment it is time to head on back to the RV and call it a day.

Seattle seems to be an old city that is still very vibrant and alive. It is an interesting place to spend some time seeing what there is to see. We may have to put this on the list of places to return to. Life is good.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 at 16:48 and is filed under North by Northwest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.