The elevator seemed to take forever as it cruised above the
foggy sidewalks of Seattle. Suddenly,
this confined quickly ascending glass room rose above the fog giving us a brief glimpse of the beautiful
surroundings before docking at the observation platform of the Space
Needle. The elevator exacerbated a
growing case of vertigo and made my legs shaky as we stepped onto the observation
deck.
A fake forced smile...I just couldn't bring myself to lean against the glass.
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| The view from the top...not too shabby.. |
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| Eye to eye with Mount Ranier. |
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| Rusty and I enjoying the beautiful sunshine above the clouds, as Yosiell takes the picture. |
I was clinging to the wall the whole time we walked around
the open air viewing deck but managed to approach the glass several times to
take a few pictures and remind myself that thousands of people every week
survive this attraction.
A quick trip down to the second floor of this precariously
balancing space ship. It took a good
twenty minutes of walking next to the glass floor before rationalizing that no
one has fallen through this man made torture and taking a leap of faith onto
the slowly rotating glass.
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| Standing on the slowly rotating glass floor...WTF...who devised this torture. |
After a good 45 minutes of facing my fear of heights (in a
totally safe environment), it was time to head back down to the blessed ground below. My fear of heights once again were proven unfounded. No one says that fears are rational. So marks one of the many adventures we had during our week long stay in
Seattle. Despite the rainy and overcast
weather, we enjoyed much that this city by the bay has to offer.
Immediately following my time in the iconic torturous
Seattle landmark, we went to the Museum of Pop.
Some amazing shows were happening in the museum. Marvel had an incredible display of super
heroes that was really well done. After
going through the exhibit, the point hit home as to what a true loss earlier this year
at Stan Lee’s passing.
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| Apparently a very valuable comic in the Marvel Universe...who knew? |
We breezed into the Indie Games exhibit featuring really
great electronic games from Indie creators.
It was hard not to channel our inner gamer friends as
we tried our hand at some games. (It’s amazing how many people associated with
the electronic and board gaming industry we know considering I myself am not
even remotely a gamer.)
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| Channeling my inner Yon Hardisty, Matt Fantastic and Andrew Schneider...all in the gaming industry in one way or another, and all righteous people with strong integrity...I like my friends! |
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| This ain't your grandpas Pac Man! |
Next we ventured into the exhibition entitled Scared to
Death. This is the kind of terror that I
don’t mind. A great exhibit featuring
primarily movie memorabilia. It was fun to see costumes and video clips of some
awesome scary movies. One of my
favorites was the stake that buffy the vampire slayer used in the movie (not
exactly a terrifying movie, but it fits in the genre, and who doesn't love horror and camp).
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| Yosiell definitely in his element...it's as if this whole bleepin' museum was made specifically for him!!!! |
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| Ugly screaming face! |
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| Creepy bodies hanging from chains...love this weird maze of death! |
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| Even the vampires in Seattle wear flannel a' la grunge style! |
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| Rusty in an episode of who wore the coffin best...???? |
From there into the fantasy exhibit…(again I kept asking was this museum made
for Yosiell…or what?). The exhibit was
exceptionally well done and really broke down everything from literature to
Dungeons and Dragons role playing, not to mention the way cool displays (even a
full sized sleeping dragon).
Our final exhibit was the Science Fiction exhibit. An odd assortment of memorabilia to be sure
but worthy of a look.
We spent New Year’s Eve in Seattle having dinner and a
Cabaret/Drag show at Le Faux Julia’s.
The drinks are sweet, the dinner was adequate, and the show was
spectacular. My favorite was a lovely young male dancer doing a reverse strip tease, very clever. We met a lovely couple from the South who had
recently moved to Seattle.
They say the
way you spend your New Year’s Eve is a harbinger for the next year. Well I spent it with my two most favorite
people, meeting new friends, and enjoying a wonderful show. The new Year should be filled with delicious
drinks (French 75’s, the least sweet thing on the Julia’s menu), beautiful drag
queens and strip tease artists, and a few hugs and kisses from loved ones and
new friends.
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| Excited to be rid of 2018...let the festivities begin! |
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| The delightful Brandon and the beautiful, talented, and charming Natalie...wonderful to randomly meet such kindred southern spirits. |
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| Our hostesses for the evening. The Cis Gen Woman on the left did an incredible strip tease during the course of the evening. |
Other adventures in Seattle included a rainy hike I did
alone around Snoqualmie Falls, Beautiful but a bit touristy and not very
secluded- some of Twin Peaks was filmed here, I believe Laura Palmer’s body was
found at the falls, for those old timers that remember the show.
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| Exhilarating...lots of over spray! |
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| Overcast and chilly but still an exciting falls to be sure. |
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| A quick hike to the base of the falls and a slightly different view. |
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| Waste from the old hydroelectric power station...turned into passable sculpture. |
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| The lodge...a Twin Peaks filming location. |
After getting thoroughly drenched, I went to Tiger Mountain for a few more hours of hiking. Two trails diverged in these green woods, and I had to choose between the Difficult Trail and the Very Difficult Trail. I spent a good minute having an internal monologue debating which trail to take when an elderly Chinese woman decided for me by breezing by without batting an eye and taking the Very Difficult Trail. (We all know what trail my ego forced me to take so let’s not pretend I’m anything other than as transparent as an open book).
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| On a Mount tiger trail... |
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| An idyllic nature scene... |
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| A random mountain scene from the town of Snoqualmie! |
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| Same mountain, different view. |
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| Certainly can't overlook the train museum in Snoqualmie. Small and quaint. |
A few “Must Do’s” should you ever find yourself in Seattle…
Honest Biscuits – a place to get biscuits with country ham
or fried Chicken. Art, our good friend
from our Raleigh Days, owns honest Biscuits and beside good biscuits, he serves
up an authentic pimento cheese with a damn good view.
Pie Bar – They serve pie and pie like drinks…ummm, ‘nuff
said.
Ballyhoo Curiosity Shop – Every manner of curiosity, some
old, some new, but all fun stuff.
Push Pull - Gallery/Zine shop. Great outsider art and lots of edgy Zines!
Georgetown Records and Fantagraphics - A record store and graphic novel emporium!
Hula-Hula - A tiki bar with nightly Karaoke! Soooooooo weird and cool!
Fogue Gallery – a gallery/artist collective featuring
artists over fifty years old. Some
amazing stuff! (Although we have more art than we know what to do with, we bought two pieces from an artist in this gallery).
Archie McFee’s – of course.
Although Archie McFee’s has a pretty good on-line catalogue, it is so
much better to see the weird and unusual wares all in one place.
Spend a few minutes of your time
while you’re there, and browse the free rubber chicken museum.
I learned so much about this corny comedic
trope.
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| Rusty admiring the Rainbow Rubber Chicken decoration that at one time adorned the Archie MacFee Gay Pride float. |
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| Rusty in the VIP section of the Rubber Chicken Museum. |
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| Yosiell fondling the world's largest Rubber Chicken! |
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| Rusty contemplating choking the chicken...OK gentle readers, you knew I had to add a "Choking the Chicken" reference somewhere in this string of photos. |
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| It's as if this cut out was made for me! |
Flip, Flip, Ding, Ding – A pinball bar in Georgetown.
Pinball and electronic games with a side of
nostalgia.
One definite don’t do…Pike’s Market…rustic floor board to
ceiling people.
Really not worth it just
to see fish mongers flinging fish.
And finally some random photos of our trip...
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| The Fremont troll! Lots of people climbing all over this Atlas Obscura favorite. |
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| An old gas plant next to an old landfill? Let's build a park! |
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| Random creepiness highlighting the bleak and barren winter landscape...or just a crow in a tree. |
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| Walking around the Ballard Locks in the bone chilling rain and cold. |
Well, gentle reader I hope your New Year’s Eve was a
harbinger of a great 2019. I haven’t
really made any resolutions…and really don’t intend to…instead, this is a good
time to reflect on the many changes (and my personal choices) of the past year,
a somewhat difficult year to be sure.
After a long session of smudging the entire house with white sage, I
intend to focus on the positive. Life
seemed excessively complicated in 2018, so my word for 2019 is going to be
“Simplify”. So gentle reader, may your 2019 be filled with kindness, compassion and love.
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