Seattle Visit

Last Friday I went over to Seattle to spend the weekend with my friend Gina. She and her husband, Alex, and dog, Riley, live in Bothell, north of the city. Here are a few pictures of her house, yard, and of course, Riley.

Riley is a 7 month old Labradoodle and he loves to play.

Gina and I went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit at Seattle Center on Saturday. I took so many pictures that it was really hard to pick just a few of them to post. This sculpture is called the Sealife Room. The 15-foot tower takes inspiration from the sea and Puget Sound. The sculpture includes forms such as starfish, octopus, conch shells, sea anemones, urchins and manta rays.

The origins of the Niijima Floats dates back to 1995 in Nuutajarvi, Finland where Chihuly experimented with temporary installations along the shore of the nearby river and tossed glass forms into the river to see how the glass would interact with water and light.

Chihuly began the Macchia series in 1981 with the desire to use all 300 colors available to him in the hotshop. It is named after the word for "spot" in Italian. Chihuly realized that the glass panes looked more clear and vibrant against a cloudy sky than a blue one. This idea inspired his experimentation to separate the interior and exterior color by adding a white layer in between a "cloud". Each work is speckled with color, which comes from rolling the molten glass in small shards of colored glass during the blowing process.

The glass ceiling.

The Glasshouse and one of the garden statues.

Next, Gina and I rode on the Seattle Great Wheel, a new ride that opened the last week of June. The wheel is 175 feet tall and 200 feet off the water.

The ride is located at Pier 57 on the waterfront. The 280,300 pound wheel holds 42 gondolas, allowing for 252 passengers at full capacity. Here is a view of Mt. Rainer and both stadiums.

The ride lasts for approximately 12 minutes after being fully loaded. Even the floor of each gondola is glass so you can see outside from every direction. The gondolas are temperature controlled however they could not keep up with the temperatures over the weekend. 

The space needle is visible while on the ride.

Looking down at all the umbrella's shading customers from the 90+ degree heat.

What a fantastic weekend to be visiting a friend and seeing the sights of Seattle.