Hendrix, sculptures and Pleasantville

My last few days in Seattle were spent doing a variety of different things to finish off my time in the US.  First off was some more sightseeing – I’ve done most of the tourist-type things around the city in the past, but a couple of the more recent attractions were still on the list, starting with the Olympic Sculpture Park – around 9 acres of reclaimed industrial land just outside the CBD that has been turned into a large scale sculpture park (surprising I know, given the name and all).

Very cool idea, and some funky sculptures and gardens to check out.  The price is right as well – free!  A very worthwhile way of spending an hour or two strolling around with great views of both the sculptures and out over the harbour and city, and there’s even some benches and grass down beside the  waterfront at the edge of the park where one could, say for example, doze off in the sun at the end of it all.  Somehow I managed not to, but it was a close run thing…

Not too far away from the sculpture park is the Seattle Center, which includes the Space Needle and all of the various attractions around it.  I’ve paid the overpriced fee to go to the top of the needle in the past, so didn’t feel the need to go again, but what I was interested in checking out was the Experience Music Project, Paul Allen’s (of Microsoft fame) tribute to former resident Jimi Hendrix and all other things musical related to Seattle.  Yes, including Nirvana.  And Pearl Jam.  And other proud wearers of the flannel.  I really enjoyed spending a few hours in here (and not just because it was air-conditioned … or because I’d been playing Guitar Hero on Nick’s Wii console earlier in the day) – the Hendrix exhibit was surprisingly informative, and the Guitar Gallery had 50+ guitars and basses dating back hundreds of years, including some famous ones belonging to luminaries such as Clapton.

The two storey sculpture made from literally hundreds of guitars was pretty awesome as well, if you find that kind of thing interesting (which I do).  There’s also a whole lot of booths upstairs where the budding rock star in you can play the guitar, drums, keyboard etc, either by yourself or with the other people in your group of cubicles.  You can even record your efforts in one of the studios and have it burned to CD – judging by some of the noises I heard, either a cat was being murdered inside or Britney was recording her comeback album.  Pretty hard to tell from where I was standing.

Your ticket price also includes admission to the Science Fiction Museum – I’ve always enjoyed good sci-fi (probably more books than TV) but for some reason I wasn’t that excited by this museum.  There’s hundreds of file and TV props and other items of science fiction memorabilia but I dunno, maybe I’m just not quite enough of a Trekkie to appreciate it all.  Then again, that’s probably not such a bad thing.  Wandered round there for maybe 45 minutes or so looking for inspiration, but having not found it I met up with Nick and went to the pub instead.  Always a good place to find inspiration, I believe.  We went to a cool little bar called Zigzag, tucked in behind Pike Place Market – it actually got a good write-up in the Frommers Seattle guide I was reading so it’s obviously not exactly undiscovered, but it was reasonably quiet and does excellent cocktails and cheap beers during happy hour – which, coincidentally enough, was when we were there…

Next day was spent shopping – won’t bore you with the details but suffice it to say that Nordstrom, Gap and the Levi’s store all got the benefit of my patronage.  Oh, and a luggage store to find a duffel bag to carry all my new purchases home with.  Well it seems rude to not take advantage of that 50kg luggage allowance when leaving the US…

The final ‘highlight’ (and oh what a highlight it was) was tagging along on a trip out to Microsoft with my erstwhile hosts.  They had to go out there to jump through the requisite hoops for gaining remote access to part of the Microsoft computer network, so I thought I’d check out this bastion of geekdom.  Well, bugger me if it didn’t make me want to peel my eyeballs with a cheese grater within a few minutes of pulling into the campus.  Resembling nothing so much as a scene from Pleasantville or The Stepford Wives, the place really didn’t inspire me much – it felt very suburban, with low rise office  blocks spread out over a huge area and linked by Microsoft-branded shuttle buses everywhere.  Ick.  Not for me, thanks – I could feel my will to live sapping the longer we stayed there.  A bit disappointing, actually – I must admit that I had somewhat higher hopes from the place.  Though there was one upside on the way back – cruising down the highway beside a fairly large armoured vehicle, complete with mounted cannon etc.  Not the kind of thing you see on State Highway 1 near Hinds back home, put it that way…

And that was pretty much the end of my time in the States – it was off to the airport the following day, for 20+ hours of fun and excitement on the way back to Melbourne, via San Fran and Auckland.  I have to say that I really enjoyed my time in the US – it was great to be able to spend a good length of time enjoying what various parts of the country had to offer, as well as hanging out with friends both old and new.  Awesome, awesome, awesome.  If my bank balance didn’t need to last me another few months, I would have extended my stay by another few weeks – as it is, I think I’ll be trying to have an extended stopover here on my way home from Europe later in the year.

So, part one of the trip is over.  A few weeks now hanging out in Melbourne with family & friends, before hitting the road again in August.

Take care out there!