Seattle Museum of Flight - May 28, 2016

Russ wanted to see Paul Allen's Museum of Flight, so we headed off to Everett. This airplane museum is different than any of the others we have been to (and that is a lot of them).  Almost every plane on display is flyable and they do actually take them out for display flights during the summer.  A couple, while flyable, are not actually flown because they are the only existing plane of that type in the world.

The museum designers did an excellent job of interpreting how technology innovation from 1935 to 1945 advanced at unprecedented rates as a result of several themes including political will and means and capacity. They showed how humanity on the homefront influenced the outcome of the global conflict. And they tied it to current days with the display of a replica of the SpaceShipOne as well as the White Knight which is the launch platform. One of the best systems analysis stories I have ever seen.

You also get to see what seemingly unlimited resources can do for a museum. All of the planes and tanks were meticulously restored.  Their paint jobs were authentic to a particular squadron or group. The displays described the vehicle in general and specifics (like where the plane was found and how it was acquired.)

And then there were the docents.  Very knowledgeable about the vehicles and some of them had their own stories. We met a 93 year old veteran who served in the Italy conflict during WWII as a bomber on B-17s. He told a very personal story of how he generally didn't wear a flak jacket because they were hot and uncomfortable, but on one mission when he was wearing his jacket, his plane was hit. He was knocked on his butt and saw holes in the fuselage. Then he realized that he had been hit by flak.  The guy actually pulled out of his pocket the pieces that had hit him. Fortunately, his flak jacket saved his life. His son served in Vietnam and is also a docent at the museum. 

When I go to these museums, I go because Russ likes them. I usually enjoy seeing the different planes, but they don't touch me emotionally, other than continued disappointment in the human race's need for war.  This museum was different. I got some different insights in World War II and the human dynamics that were part of it. It was a good visit.

 

A P-51 Mustang.  It took 117 days from initial concept to first build.

P-40 Tomahawk. This is the kind of plane that my dad repaired during WWII as an air mechanic for the Flying Tigers.

A Grumman Hellcat - at one point, Grumman was producing one of these an hour, a production record that has never been met.

A Sherman tank.  More of these were built than any other tank in history.

Eight inch howitzer. Those rake type things on the back were lowered and dug into the ground to provide support when the gun was fired.

A Messerschmitt 163 B Komet. The first rocket propelled aircraft, it tended to blow up while in flight.

A piloted V-1 Buzzbomb.  This rocket propelled missile was supposed to be guided by the pilot to a predetermined  position where the pilot would somehow get out of the cockpit (missing the intake of the jet engine). Most of the test pilots died.

Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne. Burt Ratan and Scaled Composites won the X-Prize with this vehicle.

 

The White Knight. This plane hauled SpaceShipOne up to altitude and then released it for its flight.

 

Seattle Center - 27 May 2016

This morning, we headed back to the Seattle Center to visit the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum. This was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to showcase exhibits of contemporary popular culture. We went because there was an Star Trek exhibit that looked interesting.

The architecture of the building is quite interesting - it is a Frank Gehry creation and has some similarity to the Walt Disney Concert Hall and other designs of his. Forbes magazine called it one of the world's 10 ugliest buildings and others have likewise derided it. The monorail runs through the building and it is rather startling to see it go overhead while standing in the lobby of the museum.

Except for the Star Trek exhibit, I was not that impressed with most of the museum exhibits.  They seemed to be just collections of items with little integration in the storytelling. The exhibit on Indie video games had several stations for people to sit at and experiment with creating a game, but it seemed that most people struggled with the concepts being explained.  The Star Trek exhibit focused on a theme of diversity and how Star Trek was a maverick in the TV industry by showing mixed race and species teams, same sex attractions and general tolerance of differences.

We walked around the Seattle Center grounds to check out some of the sculptures and the International Fountain. We ran into a festival that included craft booths, food and several music stages. The Armory Building has been converted into a huge food court, stage area and children's museum. The festival was hosting several music groups on this stage and we came just at the end of a big band group's performance.  Quite an eclectic group of people of all ages and styles were having a great time swing dancing - great fun to watch.

A view of the EMP Museum and the monorail rail on our way into the entrance.

Russ is practicing his captaining skills at the Con.

I always thought Picard looked very menacing as a Borg - a close-up view reinforced that thought.

Gorms are such dorks!

The costumes used cheap looking fabric and the chairs on the bridge were just cheap office chairs covered with foam padding.  Amazing that TV of the day blurred the view enough to make the props seem high tech.  Don't think HD is as forgiving.



Several of the actual models used in the filming of the Star Trek franchise were on display. This is the Deep Space Nine station.



More than 500 instruments and 30 computers were used to create this tower - If VI WAS IX. Headphones are available to listen to the music that gets created.

Adding to the eclectic mix of exhibits, one room was a homage to the Sea Hawks and their fans. This is the Vince Lombardi trophy - awarded to Super Bowl champs.

An exhibit dedicated to Science Fiction movies included costumes like Mork's from Mork and Mindy.



The stage in the Armory Building displayed a beautiful large quilt with a music theme.



One of several street performing groups scattered around the festival.

The International Fountain was built for the 1962 World Fair. It is programmed to send out interesting patterns of water spray.  This would be a great place to get cool on a hot day (if those ever happen up here.)

Seattle, Washington - 26 May, 2016

On our first full day in Seattle, we visited the Pike Place Market, Chihuly Gardens and Gallery, and the Space Needle, attractions that are unique to Seattle.

Even though it was in the middle of the week and not yet vacation season, Pike Place was jammed.  I do not want to ever go there on a weekend or when the tourists arrive in full force.  Such a unique place - sensory overload with sounds, smells, colors and crowds.  If you like people watching, grab a coffee and pastry, find a place to sit and watch humanity walk by; that will keep you entertained for hours. The construction is interesting.  The original building was built in the early 1900s and has been expanded many times over the years. I don't think any of the construction people ever used a level, most floors were sloped in all sorts of direction. Overall it was a great way to spend a few hours.

We then headed over to the Seattle Center where the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens are located.  Since parking is a premium, we decided to leave the truck where it was, wedged on the fourth floor of a downtown parking structure. The walk was about half an hour and we managed to pick the right streets so that the climbs weren't too steep.

When we were in Florida last year, we were able to see Chihuly's work in a gallery in St. Petersburg.  The exhibit in Seattle has similar art but on a much bigger scale.  The colors are so intense and beautiful. The skill and patience required to create these huge pieces is inspiring. This exhibit includes a lot of glasswork on display in a garden setting. Even though it was overcast and cold, I really enjoyed the blown glass items situated amongst beautiful flowers, plants and trees.

Both Russ and I have been to the Space Needle before; Russ saw it when he went with his parents to the World's Fair in 1962 and I visited the first time I was in Seattle on business around 1976.  While the basic structure and elevator system has not changed, the observation deck is much improved.  There are lots of interactive kiosks, bars and snack cafes. We spent about an hour wandering around and taking in the sights.  One cool thing we purchased was a cardboard Google which is a poor man's 3-D virtual reality device.  You use a smartphone app to deliver the video.  Pretty darn cool, although I had a slight headache after looking at some space needle videos that were free to download.

We finished the evening back at Pike Place where we had fish and chips at the Athenian Café sitting at a window table overlooking the harbor area.  Great fun!

The market opened in 1907 in response to consumer dissatisfaction with price gouging by local markets.  It now has over 500 businesses.

A bouquet jam packed with flowers runs for $15.  For the same price at Ralphs, you get 3 nice flowers and a pile of cheap filler.

It was chilly inside the market since it is an open air market.  Notice the neon sign in the background - I swear there is more neon lighting at Pike Place than in all of Las Vegas.

Not sure if this is really a real fish.  When people got close, one of the workers would squeeze something behind the counter and the fish would jump.  Could have been a rubber fish for all I know.

That grey blurring object is a fish.  This is the famous fish throwing store.



Free samples were plentiful.  We bought some fresh fruit which were delicious.



The street performers were plentiful and quirky.

Rachel, a 500 pound piggy bank has been the unofficial mascot since 1986.  The money collected is used in the market's social services.

 

One of the gallery rooms in the Chihuly exhibit included several glass bowls patterned after Native American woven baskets. The room included a variety of baskets and blankets.  I actually saw a child try to lift up one of the glass baskets and the basket slipped from his grasp. It made a racket, but did not break - the mother grabbed the child's arm and told him he couldn't touch things, then let him go so he could run off to another area of the room. 



In the meantime, the child's father was fingering the Pendleton blankets that were on display as part of the exhibit.  He unfolded several blankets and was telling his wife to come look at the details, when one of the museum staff hurried over and told him he couldn't touch the display.  Like father, like son - Wow!



We saw a short video that showed how works like this are put together.  A lot of engineering is needed to provide the necessary strength.

These pieces of glass rest on a clear glass (or plexiglass, not sure) ceiling with back lighting.

I think my favorite Chihuly works are these underwater scenes.

Can only imagine how vibrant these colors would be on a sunny day.

The gardens were a riot of blues, oranges and reds.  The plants were color coordinated with the artwork.

Not sure if the artwork was made to match the plants, or if the plants were selected to match the artwork, but the colors were a perfect match.



This reminded me of those rock candy sticks you can get in candy stores.



 

The Seattle Center contains a number of art pieces, including these solar flowers.

The EMP museum is a Frank Gehry design. His inspiration was the cut up pieces of guitars.



Gives me heeby jeebies to imagine that huge spiders might be crawling on top of a building I am in.



Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner sat at the stools at the corner of the bar in the Athenian Café for one scene in Sleepless in Seattle.