Friday, January 31, 2014

Travels With Sadie, Part Six: Seattle

Our last stop before heading back to Germany was Seattle. We were flying home out of Seattle because it was much cheaper than flying from Missoula. Our original plan had been to drive (or have someone drive us) from Missoula, but because of the weather my parents thought it would be safer to fly. We flew on Horizon, and even though it was a really short flight, it was pretty nice. The plane was a "turbo-prop," which usually freaks Hunter out, but they did have free micro-brew beer, which was a nice surprise for such a small airline. It was an IPA, but hey, it's free.

We were only going to be in Seattle for one night, and I wanted to see my friend Megg, who I met at library school. We planned to meet at a local brewery that was not too far from our hotel by the airport. Of course, I went to the wrong location and we got there I think an hour after we had planned to. I also learned in even the short time I was there that driving in Seattle is terrible. Like, there are turn only lanes that aren't actually marked until you have passed the point where you must turn. And I mean, that sounds like I'm exaggerating, like it's only very close to where you must turn, but no. I mean, the Sims family's feelings toward Seattle weren't great that week anyway (it was just a few days before the playoff game) but dang driving was annoying. Plus, we didn't have any GPS or smartphones or anything, just the flip phone we had bought for the trip.

Anyway, our flight out didn't leave until like six the next evening, so we had some time to see a sight. I decided on the Experience Music Project, as my friend Megg had suggested. When I went to the website, I saw that they had an exhibit about Nirvana and one about icons of scifi, so obviously I was in. I had been to the museum I think twice before, once in 2005 and once before that, like pretty soon after it had opened I think. At that time, there were huge lines and it was pretty crowded, but it wasn't really like that this time. The exhibits had also changed. When I went before, there was only one section dedicated to science fiction and this time there was a lot. In addition to the aforementioned "Icons" exhibit, there was one about fantasy and one about horror film. I also thought that when I was there before, there was a bit more general music memorabilia/history, and this time there were really only special exhibits: the one about Nirvana and one about Jimi Hendrix.

I enjoyed seeing the Nirvana stuff. None of the information was anything new if you've read like everything there is on the subject, but it's cool to see guitars and such up close, and it also contexutalized their music within the larger cultural climate, so it wasn't just like a history of Nirvana. Hunter thought it was kind of weird to see guitars that had been smashed, in the sense that it's done as like an act of destruction and yet ends up being preserved and in a museum. He also commented on the exhibit being like a "safe, sterile way to experience Nirvana." I see what he's getting at, but I also feel like if you're visiting it, you're a fan and you aren't like, experiencing it from a distance, you're just augmenting what you already have. I didn't take any pictures of the Nirvana stuff, but I did get some of the memorabilia we saw.

Dalek from Doctor Who 

 Data's Uniform, Star Trek: TNG

 Yoda's Walking Stick, Star Wars

Captain's Chair, Star Trek. Really wish they let you sit in it. 

Mr. Pointy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer 

Jack Torrance's Axe, The Shining 

Costumes from The Princess Bride 

Costumes and Masks from Labyrinth

Anyway, I will have just one more post about our travels, describing the trip back. Stay tuned!

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad you went to the EMP! And I'm glad you made time to see us too :)

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