Day Six

A jam packed day full of fun and excitement. We woke up early once again so we could maximize our time in Seattle. I was extremely tired from staying up so late the night before so Rose drove while Joyce navigated. So far during the trip Joyce has been quite happy to sit in the backseat and repeatedly yell out directions or tell us, well after the fact, that we missed a turn. However, when we tried to make her the official navigator she always somehow weaseled out of it. Not today my friend. The border guard was jovial and told the ladies to keep an eye on me. Ridiculous advice really. No one can control me border guard – no one.
We went to Seattle Centre which is the home of the Space Needle, the Science Fiction Museum and the Experience Music Project. As ugly as the Space Needle looks in pictures it is much worse in reality. It looks like the CN Tower’s welfare scamming cousin.

The SF Museum and the EMP are two museums in one building. They are both funded by Paul Allen (the co-founder of Microsoft) and designed by Frank Gehry. The EMP was originally supposed to be composed entirely of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia but Paul Allen had a falling out with the family and it is now an interactive music experience. You can record your own songs and produce your own albums. The same kind of thing you’ve been able to do at the Ex for about 15 years. We went into both museums but only to see the gift shops. In the SF museum the cashier at the gift shop must have thought he’d died and gone to heaven when he got that job. Prototypical SF fan with long orange hair, a scruffy beard and ill-fitting brown polyester clothes. As we walked in we overheard part of his conversation with another one of the workers, “You humans do tend to choose foods based more on taste than nutritional composition”.

We stopped in at McDonald’s for lunch. They have iced coffee at McDonald’s so I ordered one with my combo. I got the large which was a whopping 32 ounces. Is coffee a diuretic? Find out what happens later in the day.

After lunch we headed to Pike’s Place Market which is similar to St. Lawrence Market but on a larger scale. There is one fish stand that is famous for the workers throwing the fish to each other. We watched that for about an hour without ever getting a really good picture of anyone throwing or catching a fish. They did it plenty of times but there are large crowds and it happens so fast that it makes getting a picture difficult.

We started heading back to the car when I had a strong urge to go to the washroom. Strong may be a bit too mild of a term, let’s say a physically powerful urge to go. Went in to the Marriot Hotel where they told me the washroom was down a long hall and to the right. Got there, one stall – occupied. While I was waiting, another man came in. He wanted to go into the stall as well, I told him I was waiting for it, he said okay and left. The man in the stall, hearing this brief conversation, decided be helpful and very slowly give me directions to another washroom. “Make a . . . right out this . . . door, go down . . . the stairs, take your first left and then a sharp right . . .” I didn’t think I had time to hear all his instructions never mind carry them out; plus, the guy who came in and left was probably already headed there anyway. I went in to Starbucks. Yes, of course they have a washroom. It is at the end of a very long hall and you need a pass code to get in. The pass code is 9542766423. Seriously? How about 9999. I happy to say that disaster was narrowly averted; but, in typing that code into the washroom door keypad I’m certain I now know the tension a bomb technician must feel when defusing an explosive device.

Feeling relieved, we headed off to the Museum of Flight. This is sponsored by the Boeing Aircraft Company and was very interesting. A lot of exhibits showing the history of flight, etc. We then went to see Bruce Lee’s grave. While looking for the grave we saw a group of about six Chinese teenagers walking through the cemetery. Let’s follow them I thought. Joyce suggested they might actually be there to visit a relative but I followed my gut and sure enough they led us right to him. I mentioned to them that I was a little hesitant to follow them in case they were there for a relative and I was party crashing a very somber moment. Then one of them pointed to a tombstone beside Bruce’s and said, “that’s my grandfather”. I felt terrible until I realized P.J. Malone was probably not really his grandfather.