Category: Attractions

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Yelp for Help

On Monday evening my husband and I took our six-year-old nephew and five-year-old niece to see Paw Patrol LIVE! in Seattle. These two kids haven’t spent much time in the city before and they thought it was pretty cool to be so close to the Space Needle.

We started at the McDonalds by the Seattle Center where they enjoyed a Happy Meal and I choked down a quarter pounder. I admit I’m not a fan of the “Golden Arches” like I used to be.

On our way to the theater we stopped at the huge playground where the kids had a fantastic time running around and climbing all over the giant structure. My nephew really liked the “spinny thing” merry-go-round though he made no effort to aid in spinning it; he left that up to other kids.

They were bursting with energy as we pulled them from the playground and walked to the theater. We followed a trail of kids and parents to Marion Oliver McCaw Hall where we found out seats on the First Tier. I sent my husband out to get the kids some light up toys just as the show started.

The show was fairly interactive and when the drama on stage began to lose the kids attention, the actors were quick to ask for help from the audience. During intermission we bought each of them a plush pup to take home. By the end of the show they were out of their seats jumping and dancing to the finale music.

When the show was over we headed back to the car and stopped at the big fountain for a few pictures. They spent the next half hour running around the fountain. I really don’t know how they can have so much energy! They wanted to go back to the playground as we walked passed it to our car! It was great to see them have so much fun outside!

While they got toys and a Happy Meal, they also got a memory they will likely hold onto for a very long time. The batteries will die in the light up toys and they will find their way to a garbage can before long. The plush pups will no doubt end up in a thrift pile but the feelings they have for that night could potentially last for many years to come. We gave them an experience of seeing a live show, of walking the streets of downtown Seattle, and running together without technology or other distractions.

It was time and money well spent in my opinion.

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Seattle Museum of Flight

Back in 2012 I began searching popular wedding venues in Seattle for my upcoming nuptials. I stumbled across the Seattle Museum of Flight and I knew that was the place for us to say “I do”. Before then I had no idea Seattle had such a museum.

Yesterday my husband and I returned to the museum. We try to go at least once a year and see what’s new. Last year we spent quite a bit of time in the J. Elroy McCaw Personal Courage Wing of the museum. This exhibit features aircraft from both WWI and WWII. I really enjoyed our visit last year and learned a lot about how aviation changed warfare. This year was almost a struggle however.

As I walked though the vast quiet cavern that held war machines of the past, I felt unsettled. So many people died in the two  wars that should have ended all wars. There’s no question the Axis Powers needed to be stopped. There’s no question Hitler was responsible for acts of evil on a scale most of the world had never seen. My grandparents generation had reason to fight, to rally together, to die for a just cause . What the United States was able to accomplish in military buildup between the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII is staggering to say the least. Every single American did their part to support the war effort and because of that, victory was all but certain.

Today we live in a world that is technically at peace on a scale never seen in human history. But I don’t feel the peace my grandparents fought so hard for, not anymore. I feel a tension, a shift in direction, a reversal of course in the cause of peace and I wonder if America will once again be called to set aside their very lives in a war effort. I hope we can turn the tide, right the ship, and continue to find peaceful and diplomatic solutions to the problems facing our world. I want to believe the last great wars are behind us but I have a feeling we as a nation are coming to a crossroads. I have no faith our current leadership will make the right choices in stemming the tides of war.

We wandered over to the Apollo exhibit where I was sure my mood would be uplifted as space exploration has been a passion of mine since I was eight years old. I marveled at the Saturn V engine on display. I enjoyed seeing the standby Viking Lander on loan to the museum. I loved the lunar rover Boeing built for the later Apollo missions. Yet I couldn’t quite shake my melancholy as the accomplishments in space travel today can’t seem to compare to those of the late sixties and early seventies. We won the first leg of the Space Race and we should be leading the race to Mars. The final frontier has a way of bringing mankind together. How far could we go if we spent half as much on our imagination as we do on weapons of war?

As we continued through the rest of the museum I began to wonder what it would look like fifty years from now. Would there be a WWIII exhibit? Would there be a section dedicated to the Korean War, parts I and II? Will there be an exhibit dedicated to the first human Mars missions? I left the museum with a lot to consider and maybe that’s what places like this are supposed to leave you with.

The Seattle Museum of Flight has a lot to see and I would encourage anyone local to plan a visit in spite of my somber mood! They have an airpark where you can walk through an older Air Force One, a Concorde, and a 787 Dreamliner. It’s kid friendly and the gift shop has lots of cool inventory.

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USS Turner Joy

My husband and I recently visited the USS Turner Joy in Bremerton, WA. The Turner Joy is a Forrest Sherman class destroyer built in Seattle in 1957. Most notable about her time in service: she fired the first naval shot of the Vietnam War, and the last.

As a former United States sailor, I couldn’t help but be reminded of my own time in service. The boat ‘smell’, the decking, the paint, sound-powered phones, battle lanterns, very little has changed from the days of the Turner Joy’s service to today.

Navy destroyers have been in the news a lot lately with the incidents involving the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain. Both of these ships were involved in collisions that resulted in loss of life. It amazed me how these mighty warships were shredded by the ships that hit them. While aboard the Turner Joy, I would discover why.

At one point as I toured part of the engine room, I noted a change in temperature. I was on the starboard side of the #2 engine room and as I moved aft into a narrow space, it felt warmer however, no equipment was running. I reached out to the outboard bulkhead and it was warm! The sun was out and I could feel significant heat radiating from the bulkhead! It didn’t take me long to find an information sheet about the hull and learn why. How much metal stood between my hand and the sunshine outside? 3/8’s of an inch! THREE-EIGHTHS of an INCH! It’s no wonder they call destroyers tin cans and it’s no wonder the collisions mentioned above were so devastating!

These ships were designed for speed and evasion so to keep them light they give them just enough of a hull to hold everything together. The downside to this design, they crumble if they hit something or something hits them. After touring the Turner Joy I gained a lot of respect for my shipmates serving aboard tin cans!

I highly recommend visiting the Turner Joy for those of you in and around the Seattle area. It’s a short walk from the ferry pier in Bremerton and almost 90% of the ship is accessible!