Seattle: Chihuly Garden and Glass

In some of the earlier posts I have been inserting "museum" into the name.

They don't use the word, but there are some things that are very museum-like there.

I have been a fan of Dale Chihuly since a Portland Art Museum exhibit many years ago. (I think it was the late 90s.)

A lot of the work was at least somewhat familiar. 

Part of what made it museum-like is that there were sketches and artifacts that gave an idea of the sources of inspiration.

That occurred mainly in the Galleries, which are what you go through first.

There are several different sections.

After the Galleries is the Glasshouse.

It has one long sculpture that reminds me of what I could see of his work in the Tacoma Courthouse.

The last stop is outside into the Garden, with trees, plants, and glass. 

There were series represented that I had not seen. I don't remember the baskets being part of that earlier exhibit. 

(Then again, I didn't see any of the Irish cylinders here, but they were my least favorite.)

One of my favorite spots was the Persian Ceiling Gallery.

It reminded me a lot of the West end of the Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma.

There were similar shapes, colors, and the sense of abundance.

The difference was how the light shone through and reflected on to the walls.

Beautiful.

It is a beautiful place to walk around, and probably my favorite of our activities.

You should do this!

Well, unless you don't like beauty.

COVID: This is mostly outside. While not terribly crowded, I stayed masked until I entered the garden.  

I will add that while the Glasshouse is spacious, it is built rather like a greenhouse and can be kind of stuffy.

Accessibility: This was pretty good. There are lots of sharp things around that could shatter, but you are not supposed to touch them.

In addition to smooth paths and mainly being single story (there is a bar that is connected, but we didn't go so I can't speak to it), the way the art is arranged it is fairly easy to have a good vantage point, regardless of height. 

 https://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/

Seattle: Space Needle

I liked the Space Needle more than I thought I would.

I suppose I was expecting it to be this kind of boring tourist attraction that doesn't live up to the hype; I have heard similar things about the Spanish Steps in Rome and Stonehenge (both of which I would still totally visit).

Plus, having been up on two other high up observation decks, I wasn't too impressed with either of them, though both are taller than the Space Needle.

Skydeck at Willis (Sears) Tower, Chicago: https://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2013/12/chicago-skydeck.html

CN Tower, Toronto: https://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2014/06/toronto-cn-tower.html 

I think what really helped here is that they don't take themselves too seriously. 

Various features remind you that this is "space age" and you can have fun with it.

Where else are you going to find a robot barista?

Built for the Century 21 Exposition World's Fair in 1962, looking toward the future involved a design that incorporated elements of a hot air balloon and a UFO. 

It would be easy to miss the balloon and only see the UFO (more effective than the ones in Flushing Meadows, despite the Men In Black plot point), and space ended up being more of a theme.

Some of my preference may be local bias. This may be my first time in the structure, but it is very familiar.

One of the first things I noticed going up was that from the one elevator I could see the interior stairs used for the Firefighters' Climb.

It wasn't as useful as I'd hoped for getting oriented to Seattle Center, but it did provide me my best view the Post-Intelligencer globe. (Though that was from the return elevator, not the observation deck.)

Yes, by going up there you are being a "tourist."

That doesn't have to be a bad thing.

COVID: I was masked the entire time. There's just no other reasonable option.

Accessibility: This is pretty good. There are stairs in some areas, but there are always ramps and elevators as well. 

We saw many mobility devices in use and there did not seem to be any problems.

It might not be great if you have acrophobia. 

https://www.spaceneedle.com/