Seattle - Day 8-11
Back on solid ground for good - we arrived back in Seattle this morning. We decided not spend our 6th Anniversary day traveling so we are spending a few days exploring the Emerald City.
Yesterday was a sea day - Egg played in another Poker tournament but was knocked out in the early rounds this time but he had a lot of fun and that is really all that matters. I got involved in the Slot tournament. I wonder how they played so instead of standing around to watch I got involved. It was $15 to enter and they rig machine to play for 5 minutes and push the "spin the wheels" button as many times as you can. The person with the highest score wins! There is no skill involved completely a game of chance but it was exciting, and I can blow $15 on the slots on my own so I was not loosing money I would have lost anyway. No harm, no foul in my opinion. I played in two rounds - the first go I didnot place at all (got about 70,000 credits), the second round I won the round and so advanced to the finals (143,000 credits - wished I was playing with real money that time). In the final round the winner got $500 but I again did not place (only 60,000 credits this time). I needed my machine #3 - it was a butterfly motif machine - got extra spins if the butterfly 7's lined up...it was neat. I met some great people waiting for the next round to start and heard lots of travel/cruise stories.
Disembarking was a bit of an ordeal but all in all not stressful. Egg and I almost over slept but we got in time to have breakfast before the big crowd, our streak of having the line form after we are done continues. As we got out of the elevator with our bags to get in line to get off the boat we shocked to learn that the line wound around the 7 floor like a snake with end...we decided to separate when we figured the end of the line was never going to appear. So I stayed with the bags and Egg went in search of the end of the line. We traded places when he made it to the lounge, upon my return trip he joined me in line and we passed through customs without an incident. We figured out our hotel was about 0.5 miles away and decided to walk it with all our bags. That sounded easier than it actually was but we made it just fine.
The hotel is nice just off the main park with the Needle. We are not going to rent a car as we seem to be able to get around town with ease, there is a monorail and most of the attractions we want to see are just blocks away. The hotel we are staying in also has a shuttle which we will investigate more tomorrow. We are happy to report as well that we are not going to have to cut our stay short - upon checking in their were some unforseen issues but I have a great sister-in-law who saved the day and all is good. Thank you SO MUCH - you are Awesome! You have a huge amounts of babysitting coming your way!!!
We walked through the "Experience Music Project" this afternoon - FABULOUS music museum. Two sections dedicated to Jimmy Hendrix and his life. Fascinating stuff and put together very well. They had a walking tour on MP3 players, interactive exhibits to listen and play around with his music, movies and news clips. There was another wing of the history of music in this area and displays for those that made it big including as most of you already know: Nirvana, grunge movement, and Heart (to name just a few). But the best part of this museum is the guitar sculpture with over 400 instruments. It is a cone shaped structure top to bottom - the lower circumference is much small than the top and is somewhat incorporated into the building. The guitars are rigged to play - the sculptor worked a mathematical ratio to design a string plucking mechanism and it plays random notes and makes music! This is a MUST see!
The other side of this building houses the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of fame - full of facts, time lines, and lots of memorabilia from various TV shows and movies. There are lots of books on display and relates a story line to current situations like cloning and surveylence cameras. It is fascinating to see that some things that are actually happening were written about decades ago...fiction becomes reality...what if....?
Yesterday was a sea day - Egg played in another Poker tournament but was knocked out in the early rounds this time but he had a lot of fun and that is really all that matters. I got involved in the Slot tournament. I wonder how they played so instead of standing around to watch I got involved. It was $15 to enter and they rig machine to play for 5 minutes and push the "spin the wheels" button as many times as you can. The person with the highest score wins! There is no skill involved completely a game of chance but it was exciting, and I can blow $15 on the slots on my own so I was not loosing money I would have lost anyway. No harm, no foul in my opinion. I played in two rounds - the first go I didnot place at all (got about 70,000 credits), the second round I won the round and so advanced to the finals (143,000 credits - wished I was playing with real money that time). In the final round the winner got $500 but I again did not place (only 60,000 credits this time). I needed my machine #3 - it was a butterfly motif machine - got extra spins if the butterfly 7's lined up...it was neat. I met some great people waiting for the next round to start and heard lots of travel/cruise stories.
Disembarking was a bit of an ordeal but all in all not stressful. Egg and I almost over slept but we got in time to have breakfast before the big crowd, our streak of having the line form after we are done continues. As we got out of the elevator with our bags to get in line to get off the boat we shocked to learn that the line wound around the 7 floor like a snake with end...we decided to separate when we figured the end of the line was never going to appear. So I stayed with the bags and Egg went in search of the end of the line. We traded places when he made it to the lounge, upon my return trip he joined me in line and we passed through customs without an incident. We figured out our hotel was about 0.5 miles away and decided to walk it with all our bags. That sounded easier than it actually was but we made it just fine.
The hotel is nice just off the main park with the Needle. We are not going to rent a car as we seem to be able to get around town with ease, there is a monorail and most of the attractions we want to see are just blocks away. The hotel we are staying in also has a shuttle which we will investigate more tomorrow. We are happy to report as well that we are not going to have to cut our stay short - upon checking in their were some unforseen issues but I have a great sister-in-law who saved the day and all is good. Thank you SO MUCH - you are Awesome! You have a huge amounts of babysitting coming your way!!!
We walked through the "Experience Music Project" this afternoon - FABULOUS music museum. Two sections dedicated to Jimmy Hendrix and his life. Fascinating stuff and put together very well. They had a walking tour on MP3 players, interactive exhibits to listen and play around with his music, movies and news clips. There was another wing of the history of music in this area and displays for those that made it big including as most of you already know: Nirvana, grunge movement, and Heart (to name just a few). But the best part of this museum is the guitar sculpture with over 400 instruments. It is a cone shaped structure top to bottom - the lower circumference is much small than the top and is somewhat incorporated into the building. The guitars are rigged to play - the sculptor worked a mathematical ratio to design a string plucking mechanism and it plays random notes and makes music! This is a MUST see!
The other side of this building houses the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of fame - full of facts, time lines, and lots of memorabilia from various TV shows and movies. There are lots of books on display and relates a story line to current situations like cloning and surveylence cameras. It is fascinating to see that some things that are actually happening were written about decades ago...fiction becomes reality...what if....?