Gas Works Park in the wind and rain

Sometimes we don't look at the weather report when we head out on a family excursion, or sometimes we do but the sky is clear and blue so we head out anyway. We've found though, that Seattle skies can change in a matter of minutes and clear and blue can quickly give way to gray and rainy. That's what our trip to Gas Works Park was like last Saturday. Our entrance to the park was greeted with clear skies and gigantic abandoned machinery

and other odd-shaped structures.

Located on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, Gas Works Park has preserved the structures that most communities have torn down, and that's what makes it so fascinating.

We're used to seeing structures like this as the detritus of the industrial age, defunct and rusty behemoths that make you think, I bet that soil is polluted with a million carcinogens. Yet somehow, when they're preserved and painted and put on display, you're compelled see it differently. Wikipedia describes it as a rare example of "industrial archeology." I like that term.

Inside what's known as the "play barn," you can see the welding and the rivets and the ingenuity that went into assembling these structures.

And feel the haunting stillness and silence of these once-productive machines.

You can touch the cold hard steel and look up iron-clad towers.

These things were built to last.

They even outlasted their industry. 

And since it's a prime piece of real estate right on Lake Union with a kickass view of the city, it's only fitting this area would evolve into a tourist attraction.

So they retained what the could, and decontaminated and landscaped the rest.

 

Right around this time the clouds rolled in and the wind started blowing rain in our faces, but we kept exploring.

 

 

 This earthen mound is known as Kite Hill.

 I later learned from Wikipedia that it's a man-made mound, "molded out of thousands of cubic yards of rubble from building foundations covered with fresh topsoil."

 There were a few other intrepid explorers out that afternoon, but not many.

At the top of Kite Hill there's a large concrete sundial.

Apparently, if you stand in a certain spot, you can tell the time and season by the shadow that your body casts.

 Our shadows, or lack thereof, told us it was the dark and cold and windy and rainy season.

But not too dark or cold or windy or rainy for this kid to fly his kite.

Or for our kids either.

It's just another aspect of Seattle

that we love.

Space Needle!

Of course I can't have a blog about outings in Seattle without documenting a trip to the Space Needle.

We took my parents there the day before New Years eve. I had two buy-one-get-one-free holiday special passes I had gotten from Starbucks (and so did lots of other people, hence the long line). Then, while we were waiting to purchase our tickets, some lady came out of nowhere and handed my white-haired dad a free "senior" ticket she wasn't going to use, so all 6 of us got tickets for the price of two!  The only thing better than that was the fact that it was a rare clear (albeit cold) day. Check out this awesome view we had of the Puget Sound, downtown Seattle and Mount Rainier:

That was worth the 45 minute wait to get on the elevator. So was this sunset over the sound:

Here's my east coast parents way up in the Pacific Northwest sky:

And Sage and McKenna enjoying a snack.

I walked around the deck and took pictures of the surrounding sights.

This is Lake Washington, our neck of the city.

And here is the Space Needle at night:

And here is the Space needle on New Years Eve:

Okay, we weren't really there in person to see these fireworks, but we watched them on t.v. (and I snapped this picture. Hooray for HD!). 

Every city should have an odd shaped structure to admire, it makes the landscape much more interesting.

A Seattle Center Sunday

I have a feeling if I keep this blog up I'll have many posts about the Seattle Center. There's a lot going on down there - museums, events, and of course, the Space Needle. Last Sunday we headed downtown for a triple dose of unconventional culture - Urban Craft Uprising, the Science Fiction Museum, and the Experience Music Project.

First we stopped to admire the fountain.

Next we walked to the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall to check out the Seattle craft scene at Urban Craft Uprising. It was packed! And bursting with handmade awesomeness.

I hope to one day see kokoleo in that crowd. I miss being a part of a thriving craft scene.

I immediately recognized these Devout dolls from a group art show my kokoleo monsters were in at Monkeyhouse Toys in Los Angeles years ago. I love her stuff, and apparently so does McKenna. 

Next we headed across the plaza? lawn? center? (whatever they call it) to the museums. Look kids, Space Needle! with a quintessential drizzly gray backdrop.

Here's the Experience Music Project/ Science Fiction Museum. It's hard to know where one ends and the other begins.

McKenna was happy to find a pile of dirty leftover snow.

And Sage tried to figure out the maze painted on the cement outside.

Space Needle!

The walk up to the museum evokes a spaceship/acid trip experience to prepare you for what lies inside.

First, the Science Fiction museum traces the history of freak-filled literature and film.

Robots!

Spacemen!

Apemen!

 A massive cyclone of instruments!

 Wait, what? Okay, now we're in the Experience Music Project part. The kids listened to Jimi Hendrix music in the Jimi Hendrix room. Apparently we're big fans because this is the second weekend we've given them a Jimi Hendrix experience.

These are some of the first electric guitars ever made.

The inside architecture is as crazy as the outside.

Okay, now we're in the science fiction part again.

 

 

I half expected to walk into a hybrid room where robots and aliens were jamming out on electric guitars and belting out sci-fi rock n' roll.

Here's the hands-on music room where you get to try out all aspects of music making, like vocals:

Drums:

  Guitar:

 

D.J.-ing:

You can even get a private studio for a while and jam out with yer bad selves without anyone having to hear it.

Or you can play with your friends like you're a real rock 'n roll band cutting a record.

 One last inside shot on the way out...

Now, the outside, looking up...

Check out the Christmas tree-shaped lights atop the Space Needle. On the way out I captured the other Seattle Center landmark across the street.

After a day filled with awesomely weird crafts, robots, aliens, monsters, and flamboyant rock 'n rollers, it seems fitting to end with a giant neon elephant.