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Saturday,
April 22, 2006

Seattle, Rock Three

Or, "DAYUM, that mountain is big!"

The vacation gods were smiling on us, because today turned out to be absolutely beautiful, clear and sunny. Leaving our umbrellas at the hotel, the first order of the day was a pilgrimage to the Science Fiction Museum, at the Space Needle/EMP/World's Fair site.

In a word, "Wow." The museum is extremely cool, with an impressive collection of books, costumes, models (including a life-sized Alien Queen), video/audio interviews and other SF memorabilia. More importantly, it has the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, with such notables as Hal Clement, Damon Knight and Ursula K. LeGuin. And yes, I did notice that there were a lot of empty spaces on the wall that featured the HoF members.

Hey, I can dream.

After I finished genuflecting, we headed over to the Space Needle for a sky-high view of Seattle. Built in 1962, the Space Needle served as the symbol of that year's World's Fair, and is now the symbol of Seattle (as seen in the opening credits for FRASIER) and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. And I have to say, getting to the top was a heck of a lot faster and easier than getting to the top of the Sears Tower.

Once we took one of the golden elevators up to the observation (or O) deck, I started gazing my way around the Seattle environs. Thanks to Vonda, I already knew that the city was bracketed by the Olympic and Cascades mountain ranges, which were snowcapped and quite beautiful. What I wasn't expecting is shown below.

Damn. This is Mt. Rainier, the active volcano south of Seattle/Tacoma. Yes, I said active volcano -- it's part of the Ring of Fire that circles the Pacific, and is linked to the seismic activity that shakes the Pacific Northwest every so often. 14,410 feet above sea level, according to the national park information, it's a popular tourist attraction and one big mothering mountain -- this picture really doesn't do it justice at all. Of course, should it follow in the footsteps of its geological neighbor Mt. St. Helens and blow at any time, all the ash and unpleasantness will blow east, and Seattle should be relatively unscathed. Tacoma, however -- well, let's just say that the major lava flows from the last eruption are in highly populated areas. Pompeii, anyone?

Once we wrapped up the Needle, we headed back to the hotel for a necessary nap (hey, we've been walking around more in the last few days than we have in the last year combined), then went over to the Elephant and Castle pub for dinner with some friends. This turned into two and a half hours of great food, interestingly named beers and roaring laughter, plus pictures with napkin-based wimples. It's a long story.

We finally staggered back to the hotel around 11:30 PM and collapsed into bed. Tomorrow, an amphibious truck tour of the city!