Seattle Center is an Event unto Itself
Seattle Center is the heartbeat of modern day Seattle and a must see for anyone visiting the Seattle Washington area. It is perhaps one of the most famous places in Seattle if for nothing else, for the Space Needle that is housed here. The Space Needle is one of if not the most easily recognized landmarks in the U.S. Northwest.
The Seattle Center has evolved over time and now hosts many cultural aspects of Seattle City life. Among these cultural centers is McCaw Hall, which is the home of the Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. In addition to these establishments, Seattle Circle is also home to several theatres. Among them are: the Bagley-Wright Theatre, Leo Kreielsheimer Theatre, Poncho Theatre, and the Intiman Playhouse.
If theatre, opera, and ballet is a little too 'high brow' for you, then you will also be interested in knowing that Seattle Circle is home to Key Arena where the Seattle Sonics play as well as the Thunderbirds (Seattle's Western Hockey League team).
If you enjoy music, you should be sure to check out the Experience Music Project while you are here. This is essentially a museum of rock memorabilia and multimedia displays. Seeing the building itself is almost worth the hefty admission price, but the actual exhibits makes it a good bargain. You can make your dollar go even further by purchasing combo tickets for the Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. Both of these are located within Seattle Circle and they each offer a unique look at the cultures of today and the past. The Science Fiction Museum is one of my favorite places in Seattle to visit and I think even the stodgiest and most humorless among you would be hard pressed not to find something of interest in either of these museums.
For the younger members of your vacationing group, Seattle Center offers a great deal to do. First of all it is home to the Children's Museum. This is an incredibly fun, interactive, hands on learning experience for big and little kids alike. You could easily spend an entire day at the Children's museum without seeing the same thing twice. Even better is the knowledge that your kids will learn a lot and you can disguise their learning as fun. They will never know what is really happening.
Another point of interest for small children is Pacific Science Center, which is home to the Boeing IMAX Theater. The museum consists of eight buildings and houses not one, but two IMAX theaters, a tropical butterfly house, a planetarium, and several hands-on exhibits that are constantly changing and traveling around the country and to other museums.
In addition to all of these wonderful places, there are several fountains and gardens throughout the circle in addition to many restaurants that will appeal to all kinds of tastes and desires. But perhaps the most interesting feature of Seattle Center to the teen crowd is the skate park.
As I've said, you could very easily spend a day or even a week in the Seattle Center area and never run out of fun things to do. If you are planning a visit to Seattle Washington any time in the near future you will want to be sure that a stroll through Seattle Center is pretty high on your itinerary.
Seattle Art is in the Eyes of the Beholder
If art is of interest to you, there is plenty to keep you occupied during your visit to Seattle, Washington. From small galleries to big museums and places where you can create art of your very own, there is a little something that will appeal to almost any art lover.
I could begin by telling you about the various art museums in the area, but I think that is how I will end. I would first like to tell you about some shops that offer unique experiences with art and the processes of creating art. The first of these called Art By Fire. This unique little shop not only displays the artwork of artists but also offers classes in Glass Blowing. The classes are probably not a good choice for those vacationing as they meet once a week for four weeks and each lesson is four hours long. But, regardless of whether you are planning an extended stay or just curious about the offerings, there is great glass artwork to be seen here and I hope you will take me up on my suggestion that you stop by. They also offer bead making classes that are far less intensive and only require two nights effort (usually consecutive nights) that may be of interest to you as well.
The next shop I want to tell you about is called Glazed and Amazed. Slowly we are seeing more shops along these lines crop up across the country, but not everyone has discovered them and they are a great, fun way to bring out the inner artists in you and the rest of your family. You start by choosing a piece of ceramic to paint. You paint your masterpiece, then the kind folks at Glazed and Amazed fire it for you and you get to pick up your finished product in a couple of days. I recommend stopping by this shop early on in your trip as it does take a couple of days for the firing process. I believe you will have a lot of fun here and any children you have should really enjoy the experience as well. I know mine do.
Just a short drive from Seattle, in Tacoma, Washington is the Museum of Glass. While this doesn't exactly sound like an art museum, it is just that. One of the neatest things about this particular museum is that you can actually watch glass being made in the Hot Shop Amphitheater. This is perhaps the greatest thing about the glass museum, because here, you can actually watch glass become art. This museum is different enough to make it well worth the drive from Seattle to Tacoma and I really hope you will consider the drive if you have a passion for art. I really believe that the experience is one of a kind.
While you are in Tacoma, assuming of course that you visit the Glass Museum, it would probably be a good idea to head on over to the Tacoma Art Museum. You can see more beautiful works of art including more blown glass by Dale Chihuly who is truly is a master of the art.
Whatever your personal interest in art, whether watching it, observing it, or creating it, there is plenty to feed that need in and around Seattle. I hope that you will find this great city to be as much of a home to your artist heart as it is to many other great artists.
Seattle Freebies offer Cultural Significance
Seattle Washington is a great place to visit for many reasons. Whether you are a nature lover or more into the things that define a civilization such as shopping malls, museums, and one Starbucks, Seattle has a little bit of everything to offer its visitors. In fact, visitors could quite easily find that they have done and spent all that they should have rather early in their travel time if they aren't careful.
Below you will find a few great things to do on your trip that won't require robbing the children's college fund in order to pay for. I'm all for paying good money for good fun, but if I can find good fun for free, that means there's more money left for things that would have otherwise been off limits because of prohibitive costs. So go ahead and plan the dinner train, you can make up the cost by eating breakfast from a box two mornings in a row or spending an afternoon in one of Seattle's many great parks.
If you'd rather find indoor activities that are free, here are a few suggestions:
1) Frye Art Museum. Not only is the art top of the line, but the architecture is glorious as well. Through January of 2007, the Frye Art Museum is host to a very unique sound sculpture called Trimpin: Klompen this exhibit is comprised of 120 wooden Dutch shoes that literally dance before your very eyes. This exhibit is only one of many great exhibits that are sure to delight everyone in your group. This museum focuses on contemporary art from the 19th century to the present.
2) Museum and Arts Center. This particular museum is located about 50 miles outside of Seattle but might be worth the drive, especially if you enjoy taking in the scenery of the area. The fact that the museum is free is sometimes enough to make it worth the drive. Among the many exhibits that you or your children may find interesting is an exhibit of mammoth and mastodon in addition to a video on the mastodon excavation. In addition to this exhibit there are other exhibits that feature local artists and pioneer and historical displays.
3) Bellevue Arts Museum. This museum is only free on the first Friday night of every month. In addition to free admission and great art, there are live music and lectures from 5:30-9:00 pm. I feel this bears mentioning here because there are times to visit when this is free and I feel that this is a culturally significant activity that the entire family can enjoy.
4) Seattle Asian Art Museum. This museum is free on the first Thursday and the first Saturday of each month. Currently there is an exhibit of exquisite Buddhist art that represent the influences of Indian, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean, and Japanese artistic interpretations.
5) Wing Luke Asian Museum. This museum also offers free admission on the first Thursday of every month. Here you will find art and exhibits that are devoted to the Asian Pacific American culture. There is also a multimedia station that allows visitors to hear interviews with Japanese American citizens who were forced into internment camps during WWII. I think this is a museum that should be on everyone's to do list whether you can make it on one of the free days or not. There is a lot to be learned here and I hope that you will be up for the lessons.
While these museums are for the most part smaller museums, they still represent a significant contribution not only of art, but history to the world of art and artists. Even if the cultural offerings of the many museums aren't that appealing to you on a personal level, the benefits to your children might be surprising-especially when you consider the fact that you didn't have to pay a dime for admission.
Dot Cully
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