Monday, January 26, 2009

Washington Canada 2008: Day 6 of 6 Thur Nov 19

Making The Best Of The Last

I woke up at 8:30am and ate a big breakfast. I finished watching Dr. Strangelove finally!!! The day started with rain. Yay! Seattle area rain. I experienced Seattle area rain finally!!! The Washington Canada '05 trip there was rain outside the Seattle area. I channel surfed after eating breakfast and Dr. Strangelove. I watched a show on USA. I don't know the name of the show.

Steve has a weight set in his garage. I asked Steve if I could try out his weight set. He said yes. At 9:57am, Steve changed to his sweats and I wore my PJs and we spotted each other.





We showered after the workout. I packed all my belongings in my luggage. Today we planned to eat Chinese for lunch at one of Steve's favorite restaurants and visit the museums afterwards. I took one pic at Steve's deck.



We arrived at Golden Grill On The Bay at 11:52am for lunch. Steve wanted to take me to eat here. Fortunately, timing was good and we did. We could see Puget Sound from the second floor view.




I was able to get a picture of a Port Orchard police car, a Dodge Stratus. The pic was too small and there was a post blocking most of the car. I take a look closely and see if I could post on my police car webpage. The timing to the ferry was good after we finished lunch.

Last Visit To Seattle For '08

I saw the McDonalds billboard sign many times that looked like a pancake. The ad was actually advertising McDonalds new grande. We arrived at the Southworth Ferry terminal at 12:54pm to catch the 1:10pm ferry. We arrived at Fauntleroy port at 1:30pm and we headed to Downtown Seattle. Along the way, I saw a Chevrolet auto dealership closed. No cars in the showroom and the dealer lot. Another sign of the recession.

Steve took Northbound 99, a direct route to Seattle Center. I noticed the ports reminded me of Portland, OR when my family visited Oregon in 2005. I saw Safeco Field where the baseball team Seattle Mariners play and Qwest Field where the football team Seattle Seahawks play. We arrived in Downtown Seattle. Minutes away from the parking garage I saw a 24 hour QFC supermarket at North 5th Ave. and Mercer St. We parked in the same parking garage yesterday and the price was $1.00 cheaper. Steve was happy. We parked at the same area yesterday. The time was 1:59pm.

We purchased tickets for the Science Fiction and Rock 'n Roll museums at 2:10pm. The official names were The Science Fiction and Hall of Fame for the Science Fiction and the Experience Music Project (EMP) for the Rock 'n Roll museum. We had plenty of time with just less than three hours. No cameras allowed. I have a guide which helped me share what Steve and I did. I used my long-term memory, too *hee, hee* I explained in bullet headline format ^__^

Rock 'n Roll Museum

*The first exhibit we saw was a display titled "Roots and Branches." The display was a 35-ft cyclone shaped consisted of 600 guitars.

*We entered the Sound and Vision room where anyone could get quick lessons and experience singing, playing the keyboard, playing the drums, and playing the guitars. There were soundproof rooms to experience actually recording a song. There were a group of children running around from some sort of club or organization. I tried the drums. Drums were my favorite instrument in Rock Band. And singing, too.

*Next, we visited the guitar gallery which included guitars from famous musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. The gallery displayed the history and evolution of guitars and bass.

*Jimi Hendrix exhibit was our next visit. Born in Seattle, the exhibit centered on the life, his successes, and his contributions to music. The exhibit included handwritten notes, music timeline, and pictures of his childhood.

*We walked through the American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print. The exhibit displayed entertainment posters produced by Hatch Show Print from Nashville, Tennessee. There were clothing outfits worn by famous musicians. I think one outfit was from Johnny Cash.

*The last exhibit was the Northwest Passage. People could learn the famous artists from the Northwest. Kurt Cobain, Quincy Jones, Heart, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and The Kingsmen were included.

Science Fiction Museum

*The first exhibits after crossing a pathway between the Rock 'n Roll and Science Fiction were a Star Trek exhibit and What If? exhibit. I kept hearing George Takai voice too many times in the first exhibit area. Looking at the guide, Steve and I visited Level 2; however, the exhibit key starts at letter A to letter I.

*Science Fiction die-hards loved the museum. For a guy like me, it's worth walking around. If there was a trivia contest, I failed big time ~~

*In the same first exhibit area, we saw the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, science fiction timeline separated by decades, and a display of Mars. I saw a picture of a cosplayer from Sakura Con'05. The cosplayer was May from Guilty Gear.

*We entered Level 1. The exhibits included weapons, a Death Star from Star Wars, robots, toy robots such as Transformers and Gundam, spacesuits, spaceships, and books. My favorite display was the androids and the tank from the Terminator movies. And we saw Science Fiction characters. Everyone must watch E.T.

*The toy robots display was missing Optimus Prime. Fail. Maybe I should donate my Optimus Prime. Yeah, right `__^

*There was a display where you click on a spaceship and you read the description of the spaceship. The spaceships included the Imperial Starcruiser, X-Wing, The Bebop, and I think the Yamamoto. I recognized a handful of the spaceships.

*We also saw famous science fiction literature and authors and pictures of what cities looked like tomorrow.

*If I wanted a science fiction power, my top choice was a Jedi Master (see with your mind, not with your eyes).

Everyone Must Take A Vacation

The museum closed at 5pm. We walked to the car minutes after closing. We passed by KCTS, the public television station for Seattle. Steve and I talked about public television briefly. I forgot the specifics.

We ate a light dinner at McDonalds in Tukwila. I ordered the 10 piece Chicken McNugget meal and Steve ordered the Big Mac meal. We talked about how the Number 1 Big Mac meal cost $3 a long, long time ago. Times have changed. It's all inflation ;) And we talked about oil prices.



We arrived at SeaTac airport at 6:35pm. Steve dropped me off at Southwest arrivals. We said our goodbyes and I headed to the terminal. After getting my boarding pass and passing through security quickly, I purchased bottle water and sat at my gate for my 7:30pm flight. I watched the Thursday Night Football game on the NFL Network. The teams were the Pittsburg Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. The flight was 33% full. I read the book "The Choice" during the flight. I arrived in San Jose at 9:25pm, ten minutes ahead of schedule. My Dad picked me up and we headed home.

I'm growing up Finding Raymond Mar

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