Nerd-vana

Everything including the coffee

Traffic in Portland was particularly heavy this morning and we finally were seeing the region’s rain.  As we were staying in Vancouver, we opted to just head north.   We got on the interstate and made our way to Longview. 

You may be thinking, I’ve never heard of Longview… this would not be a surprise.  It’s a manufacturing town on the Columbia River.  It  does have a huge library, but that’s not why we detoured.  They have a squirrel nut bridge.  It’s a path and suspension bridge over their main road - from tree to tree  for the squirrel’s to travel.  I loved it.  That it was almost right in front of the library was a bonus.  We didn’t see any squirrels traveling it though, which was disappointing.  (This is also the town where the Monticello … I forgot it’s name - happened, where the area petitioned to become what’s now OR and WA and of course, Lewis and Clark slept there.)

By the time we hit Tacoma and Seattle, the weather had stopped raining and became just overcast.  We decided to head into Seattle to our two must see spots.  Seattle is a nice enough city.  The vibe is different than Portland and it’s much, much, much bigger.  It feels like the biggest city I’ve ever seen - on scale with NY and Toronto, but I’m not sure. 

What I don’t like about it - is it’s hilliness.  I can’t imagine what SF would be like.  I was very nervous driving around.  M. thinks is fine though.  On the up hills, I was glad we had the automatic, On the down hill, you could see the lake, beyond the highway that you then drove down hill and under to get onto,

We past by the Boeing plant.  It’s a city in itself.  I decided though that I’d rather watch how they make the airplanes on tv than walking thru the tour.  My father would be disappointed in me, but …

After a brief driving tour of the city, we parked at Seattle Center, home of the needle and multiple museums.  Our first stop the EMP (pop culture ) museum.  I must admit, though I wouldn’t miss it, I was a bit skeptical.  I was wrong, it was the coolest thing yet.  They did music and pop culture far better than the Rock n Roll Hall of fame. 

The exhibition was clearer, had more information, was just all round more substantive, but didn’t loose it’s cool factor.  Our first  experience was a sculpture of 700 instruments - a tower of g’tars.  This lead to the Nirvana display.  I have to again admit, I’m not a big fan.  That being said, the exhibition was good.  It made me appreciate them, and because I was there listening / reading it even established them in relationship to music history and I could see why they were/are significant.  There were other bands in the area whose sound I like better, but … 

This lead to the g’tar history room, more exciting for M. than I, but I did appreciate seeing Hendrix’s g’tar that he played at Woodstock and more so Clapton’s first g’tar on which he also recorded Layla and other Love songs.  It was worn, that was cool too.  They also had a Hendrix show - he went to high school here- but I am not a fan, so it wasn’t as exciting.

Next on to the Horror movie exhibition - how could I resist?  I am a bit appalled at how much about horror movies I know, but that aside…. We saw original copy of Dracula.  It was typed written - that surprised me.  This may not seem as thrilling to others, but there was also Jason’s mask, the pub sign from Am. Werewolf, the aliens’ monster, Buffy’s spikes, and Sean’s shirt (it had red on it).  (And I expect everyone to know these references!!)  There were taped interviews with makers (Corman, etc.) Of course, there was more, but these are highlights.

Keeping up my extreme Geekness, the next gallery was Fantasy Realms… Already being familiar with the archetypes, the information in this display was not news, BUT…the outfits and swords from Princess Bride!  The wicket witch of the west’s hat and the cowardly lion costume.  Bowie’s outfit from Labyrinth, Narnia wear !  I was in pop culture heaven. 

But wait there’s more! Then came Sci fi -- Lt Ahura’s outfit (she was tiny), Kirk’s chair - it looked cheap and fake live,  Neo’s black coat (he was tall),  Jack  O’Neil’s id  tag… and the weapons… Mars Attack, Wraith destroyers, Ripley’s gun against the aliens  and more….  Just so very cool.

This place was nerd heaven.

Then there was Chihuly’s Garden.  It was actually very similar to the show of his we saw in Montreal last year -- so not as striking, but just as cool.  The color and the way he snakes glass in to organic forms is so impressive, particularly in mass.

This is one that I think the pictures are required - we need upload and then I’ll post them.   Of course we saw the mono rail and the needle, but all things pale in comparison to EMP and Chihuly.  

Our excitement today continued when we got to the hotel - booked for two nights - we thought - and discovered they had no reservation and no rooms.  (We’d used booking.com - do not use them,.  Repeat - do not use!!!)  The hotel that didn’t have room, was nice enough to let us jump on their computer and find a place down the road,

The one down the road - the website said a room was available, but when we called they told us that the room wasn’t clean, they couldn’t/wouldn’t clean it and therefore the only room they had was the Jacuzzi suite for significant more money,  However, if we booked the room they didn’t have ready and wouldn’t have ready online for that room’s price, as long as the suite didn’t book before we got there, then we’d get the suite for the other price.  ALL of these rooms were too expensive, but since we’d had trouble finding a place last night for tonight (why we had booked two nights) and we were tired - we took it.

The good thing about it all, my shoulder was bothering me yesterday and today something fierce - not to mention my hip that often screams at me.  The Jacuzzi has done great things for both spots.

We also decided to book (not thru a secondary site, but through the hotel) a place in the area for tomorrow, then two nights at a place that might be scary - in the Mt Rainer area.  We also booked a ferry passage and place further north for Sat night - since it will be Saturday - after that - the plain is sketchy - aside from knowing we need to be at SEATEC Tues evening to fly out at the witching hour.

PS- Forgot to mention OR is the only state other than NJ where you cannot pump you're own gas.  And the EMP also had a lego exhibit of  the world's tallest buildings (Saudi Arabia has the winner.)   It was neat, but lego buildings just can't compete with monsters and sci fi.