Day two of ‘Tour Seattle’ was a winter wonderland and included the Experience Music Project, the Space Needle, and the Pacific Science Center. All three places were threatening to close early due to the weather. I’m so glad they all remained open until sometime after we left for the day. I had envisioned the day much differently than it happened, but ultimately it turned out just right. As far as my photography went for the day…well, I got lots of practice taking snow shots which pose the problem of over exposure. In most cases, I wasn’t very successful at all. A lot of my pictures are completely horrible, but some ended up being worthwhile. The biggest disappointment of the day was that I had planned ahead and knew exactly when the sun was supposed to set so we could get photos from the top of the Space Needle. Well, the Seattle weather had a word or two to say and those words included snow, clouds, and fog.
Experience Music Project
I was so excited to hit the Experience Music Project (EMP)! I looked at their website last night and was happy to see two exhibits I knew I was going to enjoy…Avatar and a Can’t Look Away: the Lure of Horror Film. The Avatar exhibit really made me want to watch the movie again. I loved the commentary explaining how they created the CGI world. It’s impressive that they even hired actors to play the parts in which their human forms were never in the movie. They wanted the Avatars/Na’vi to look believable. It’s worth seeing, so go before September. The Can’t Look Away: The Lure of 
Horror Film was ok. I enjoyed parts of it, but it was a very small exhibit. I really enjoyed the video commentaries by Eli Roth…what a hottie he is. They had a display with 100 of the top horror films of all time. My friend and I counted how many we’d seen…my count was 24 and his was 12. It made me think I need to watch some of the classic horror films from the past. <<Note: The picture of the ‘Wall of Scream’ on the right…none of the photos were red…it was the lighting. How fitting since it was in the Horror Tribute.>> The surprise of the visit was the Guitar Gallery. I hadn’t thought about it before, but the history of the guitar is quite fascinating. And, the guitars on display were just beautiful. Go see this exhibit…I think you’ll be surprised at how interesting and educational it is. We also saw the Battlestar Galactica, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix exhibits. While they were all kind of interesting they didn’t capture my interest like Avatar, the Horror Tribute, and the Guitar Gallery did. Lastly, if for no other reason I recommend EMP because of its interesting architectural lines…great photo ops.
Pacific Science Center
Our next stop of the day was the Pacific Science Center (PSC). We got some interesting pictures of the winter wonderland that engulfed the city as we strolled from the EMP to the PSC. Since the PSC is geared more towards families/kids we only hit the high points that might also be interesting to adults. The Butterfly House tops the list of adult friendly exhibits, plus it was a nice way to warm up given its hot and humid climate. Even though I find butterflies beyond beautiful, I’m a little creeped out about the fact that they might land on you…after all they are bugs…yuck. We also stopped by the Tide Pool, but decided not to ‘pet’ the sea anemones…we took a few pictures instead. Those two exhibits filled our time until the scheduled laser show, set to the music of Bob Marley, started. I got some pictures of the pre-show, but got caught trying to take some pictures of the main show…oops. I’ve always loved laser light shows it was a highlight.
Space Needle
The final stop of the day was the Space Needle. An icon of Seattle, the Space Needle was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. Even though the buildings in downtown Seattle have
gotten higher over the years, the buildings near the Space Needle have remained low and therefore the Space Needle still stands out in the Seattle landscape. I specifically timed our journey up the 520 feet to the observation deck so we could get pictures of the evening’s sunset. Try as I might, I just couldn’t get a decent picture. The clouds and fog made sure of that. Even though an amazing sunset photo was out of the question, it was still fun to take photos of the winter wonderland. And let’s face it, there are many sunsets in Seattle but it doesn’t snow her often.
Even though the day didn’t go exactly as planned (as is the case with most of my adventures) it was still an amazing and one-of-a-kind type of day and I thoroughly enjoyed it (well, except for the chilling wind at the top of the Space Needle…brrrr).
To see the rest of my pictures click on one of the links below: