Needle Day

2023-07-10
Seattle, WA

Today we left North Cascades behind. We could have stayed another week or two. The weather was great, the mountains beautiful, and the crowds weren't that bad even on a weekend. But the trip continues.

We drove two hours or so to Seattle to do some touristy things. We went up in the Space Needle (completed in 1962 for the World's Fair). The views were great, even the view through the glass floor (which isn't for everyone). We walked all the way around the outside while it revolved under us. It turns at one revolution per hour so it's a reasonable clip. Fun fact: The Jetsons was set in 2062, exactly 100 years after the Space Needle was completed and they lived in a house that resembled the Needle.

None of this was there when the Needle was built.
None of this was there when the Needle was built.
What your feet see as you walk around the needle. This is the Chihuly Exhibit.
What your feet see as you walk around the needle. This is the Chihuly Exhibit.

Next we walked across the way and visited Chihuly Gardens and Glass. Chihuly art is fairly ubiquitous, but this was quite an exhibition. It was well worth our time.

Marine-themed sculpture, ten feet tall.
Marine-themed sculpture, ten feet tall.
Ceiling of a walkway.
Ceiling of a walkway.
A small piece of a much larger sculpture
A small piece of a much larger sculpture
Here the gardens and glass go beautifully together.
Here the gardens and glass go beautifully together.

After lunch (art makes you hungry), being tourists, we walked a mile or so to Pike Place Market. Val did some shopping while I found a bag of Rainier cherries to keep me happy. We also learned that my streak continues as the baseball all-star game starts today in Seattle. Add that to my major golf tournament and superbowl that I unwittingly intersected. You'd think I would learn to check a sports calendar before traveling by now.

One of hundreds of shops at the market.
One of hundreds of shops at the market.

The drive out of the city was arduous with several slow patches. I try to avoid cities on these trips because I don't like dealing with my car there. Driving, parking, it's all a pain. Cities aren't so bad if you rely on public transit and Lyft. At any rate, we drove out to Port Angeles to visit Olympic National Park which is another top 15 park that gets 2.4 million visitors a year. And it's laundry day, being roughly half way through the trip.

It's also the start of another three-day hotel stay. It's nice to be able to work out of the same base for a few days like this. After we leave Olympic we will be doing one-night stays in hotels or tents for the rest of the trip.

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