Adventures in the Great Northwest

Washington / Vancouver / Alaska

Prologue / Washington (August 26)

The economy is hurting.  Barak wants me to help where I can, so I went to the depressed Alaska Cruise sector of the economy and found great discounts.  Always willing to help in a crisis, I signed up.  I decided to spend some time in Washington along the way and thus would add yet two more states to my 50 State Pledge. The plan, fly to Seattle for a couple of days, then two nights at the swanky Pan Pacific in Vancouver, catch the cruise and wind up in Anchorage.  Vancouver, British Columbia?  THAT'S not a state!  But I may decide to do Canada next!  Until then, it's just where the cruise started.

Left: I really thought 4:15 a.m. wake-up alarms were a thing of the past when I retired.  Like so many of my trips, I started with an early trip to Oakland Airport in my personal limo. Below: August 26,2009, 6:00 a.m. I was at the airport and on the news it was announced that Ted Kennedy died the night before.  More than anything else it signified the end of an era.

Below left - My flight left without a hitch and, as we approached Seattle Airport, I got a bonus!  A great view of Mts. Rainier (left)  and Olympic!

Below - Having arrived at 10:00 in Seattle, I parked next to this odd-looking building.  It turned out to be the one I was looking for!  It houses the Experience Music exhibits as well as the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame

This is the famous focal point of Experience Music.  Just as the real name of DaVinci's Mona Lisa is "La Gioconda", the real name of the oft called Guitar Sculpture is "If 6 Was 9".  Good thing, too.  Look again and you see there are more than just guitars.  Violins, mandolins, keyboards, banjos, drums, cellos, upright basses, a French horn, they're all here. The title comes from the Jimi Hendrix song of the same name.  All fitting since Hendrix was from Seattle.

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