Rocky Mountain High: October 3 - 5, 2018 ~ Seattle

Seattle ~ October 3-5, 2018

Photo Credit:  John Bos

We arrived at our apartment at about 9 p.m. and were met by a nice young man named Miles, who escorted us upstairs and gave us a brief overview of the apartment and the rules.  It is a comfortable space with two good sized bedrooms and two full bathrooms.

A view of the courtyard from our balcony

Kitchen and laundry area

Dining room taken from the edge of the living room

 We were delighted to find that our host had left us a bottle of Washington State wine in the fridge, so we all toasted our arrival in the Belltown section of Seattle and enjoyed some rest and relaxation in front of the television where we watched the very end of the Wild Card playoff game between the Oakland As and the New York Yankees.  I did a load of laundry and we all retired for the night.

With just one full day in Seattle we had our work cut out for us.  Betty Lou had made an appointment for zero balancing while we were in San Francisco, so we rose relatively early and set off on foot to find a place for breakfast that was on the way to where she was headed.  We ran into a friendly lady on the street who directed us to the 5 Point Cafe, saying it's the best place in town for breakfast.

The cafe is an interesting place -- sort of a bar and cafe -- and there were several gentlemen enjoying some libations (at 8:30 in the morning, no less).  One of the men had been "cut off" by the bar tender after getting into an altercation with another man.  He was none too happy as he left.  Jeff ordered hash and eggs, and both Peter and Betty Lou ordered breakfast sandwiches.  I had cranberry juice since I didn't really see anything on the menu that appealed to me.  Betty Lou soon set off to her appointment while the men finished up their breakfasts.

Everywhere we went, Peter made friends with canine friends along the way.  Clearly he loves them, and then respond in kind.

From there, it was a short walk to the Space Needle where Peter and Jeff elected to go to the top.  I opted to sit in the sunshine and do some reading.

     

As you can see, it was a beautiful day, and it became even more beautiful as the day wore on and the clouds dissipated.  As the three of us walked to City Center and the Space Needle, we encountered a gentleman talking to himself, rambling on about Russians and Putin and spies.  At one point he said to us, "Is this a good day for you to die?"  Jeff and I just walked faster without making eye contact, but Peter replied, "No, I don't think so at all!"  The man became even more agitated and continued to follow us.  A short time later I heard him say, "The guy in red is our target.  I don't know yet about the other two."  I muttered, "Don't engage!" to Jeff and Peter, and we quickly moved on to City Center where he stopped following us.  A bit scary, but I don't think we were ever seriously in danger.

  

The Space Needle, built for the 1962 World's Fair, is an observation tower that stands 605 feet high, 138 feet wide, and weighs 9,550 tons.  Built to withstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour and an earthquake of up to 9.1 magnitude, the Space Needle affords views of the Seattle skyline, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, and Elliott Bay.

Jeff and Peter stood on the revolving glass floor, known as "The Loupe."  It stands 500 feet high and gives 360-degree views of the city.

    

After Betty Lou met up with us we went next door to the Chihuly Museum.  What an absolute treat this was!

Dale Chihuly (pictured above) is a Washington State native whose claim to fame is in his blown glass sculptures.  I became acquainted with his work during my association with the Bushnell in Hartford, where they have a very large Chihuly installation.  It fascinated me the first time I saw it, and the name stuck with me, and I can recognize a Chihuly anywhere (there was one on our cruise ship to Alaska).

All of the rooms in the museum are dark so that viewers can get the full impact of the sculptures.  The photo above is of the first "room"

Each of the rooms highlights a different aspect of his work.  The two photos above are inspired by Native American art.  An ordinary photograph doesn't begin to capture the intricacies of each piece!

  

The series of photos above showcase his seaform series.  I especially loved the squid.  Although the glass looks black, it is not possible to make black glass.  Instead it consists of layer upon layer of cobalt colored glass and it truly looks black to the eye.

 

The photo and video above are ceiling panels that captivated me as I left the seaform room and made my way into the garden room, where my jaw dropped.

I must have taken 20 pictures from all angels of this installation -- and none of them capture it well.  It is a riot of color and shapes inspired, Chihuly said, by his mother's gardens.

These large bowls in the last room are incredible in their use of color; layers of glass make looking at them a matter of perspective.  One must view them from underneath, straight on, and then (if you are tall enough) inside of them.  Although Jeff was not a big fan of Chihuly, even he appreciated the artistry.

      

The last "room" was the glass house with a large installation of autumn-colored flowers hanging from the ceiling.  I loved capturing the Space Needle framed by one segment of the sculpture.  Jeff also took a photo - mine is on the left; his is on the right!

    

Outside in the courtyard, a young woman gave a glassblowing demonstration that was really fascinating.  In the end she created a small glass bowl - suitable for use as a salt cellar.  I went into the gift shop in hopes that they had something similar to it for sale, but alas, they did not.

We all appreciated our visit with Chihuly and decided that it was time for a visit to Pike's Market where we would pick up the fixin's for our dinner - fresh, wild caught salmon, sweet potatoes, and broccoli.  

We made the long trek back to the apartment, stopping for some wine along the way.  Dinner was absolutely fabulous -- the salmon was so fresh, and the sweet potatoes made with some apples, salt and pepper was great as well.  I roasted the broccoli with a bit of lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Truly a great combination!  After dinner we packed up our things in preparation for an early morning departure to King Street Stations and our train to Vancouver!

I will add that I did not get a truly great night's sleep as I was awakened at 2:20 a.m. by the sound of gun shots -- 4 in quick succession, then a slight pause and two more shots.  The sound jolted me awake, and it sounded as if it happened right outside our apartment.  My heart was racing as I lie in bed and tried to calm myself down.  Eventually I heard sirens as several police cars and an EMT fire responder made their way to the scene.  Perhaps 30 minutes later I heard a woman keening.  I must have dozed off a bit, but didn't really sleep much before our alarm went off at 6 a.m.  Later in the morning I checked the news and found out that the incident happened about a block from our apartment.  A 32-year-old man was talking to somebody in a car when another person in the car shot him.  He died at the scene, and the police did not have any witnesses.  Wow!  Too close for comfort for sure.

On to Vancouver!