Two-Fer

SEATTLE STORY:  Today we hit two museums - for free! - thanks to passes we'd scored a couple weeks back via Seattle Public Library's museum pass program. 

Our first stop was the Museum of History and Industry, or MOHAI, on the south shore of Lake Union. It's always a wonderfully educational and enjoyable destination.

If you're in the South Lake Union neighborhood, you need to play the 'count the cranes' game. Construction is going gangbusters in the area. Today, we spotted NINE cranes working away in the area. 

Once inside, the kids made a beeline for the interactive exhibit of iconic symbols of brands famous in our region. 

By spinning dials, you can light the Rainier R, make an Alaska Airlines plane fly, pedal the unicycle of the Ivar's clam and more. 

As we toured around today, I was impressed by the numerous exhibits prompting visitors to think about where and how they live, and the focus on innovations and sharing ideas.

At the "Idea Lab" on the main floor, people are encouraged to ponder what future air travel will look like. 

Annabelle noodled the topic, made a sketch, and posted it with dozens of others' contributions. 

In another spot nearby, there were response cards featuring one of four questions.   

It was interesting reading others' opinions. There seemed to be a consensus, BTW, that transportation is a problem that needs solving now. 

On the second floor, we always stop by a little theater where a wonderfully entertaining musical movie about the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. 

We found yet another opportunity for input on the second floor.  The kids had a chance to share what their 'next cool idea' is.

In a quiet corner of the second floor, we found a small room that was fashioned to look like a chamber where hearings were held during an awful chapter of our state (and nation's) history: the red scare. 

Annabelle was the prosecutor, and CJ was the suspect. Annabelle asked him a series of scripted questions about his reading habits, groups he affiliated with, social causes he was interested in and more.

The fact that he'd read "The Lorax" and was interested in environmental causes made a bit of trouble for CJ. He was informed his library card activity would be monitored, and that people would be told to avoid associating with him. 

MOHAI has a small section dedicated to music and sports in Seattle. We got to gander at the National Basketball Association championship trophy the Super Sonics won in 1979. 

And in an exhibit about the Jewish community in Seattle, we saw an amazing necklace that Alvin Goldfarb Jewelers made for Ken Griffey Jr. He's wearing it on the cover of the Sports Illustrated pictured below.

On the top floor of MOHAI, we enjoyed the view of Lake Union, all the way across to Gas Works Park. 

WE ARE 12:  After MOHAI, we made our way to Seattle Center, destination Experience Music Project (EMP). We were there just a couple of weeks ago, but we were happy to be back, as an exhibit had been added since our visit. Namely, "We Are 12," which is all about the Seahawks' Super Bowl season last year. 

Front and center in the exhibit is the lovely Lombardi trophy!

We also got to see a super blingy Super Bowl championship ring. 

One wall of the exhibit had a Seahawks by the Numbers graphic. We learned lots from it. For starters, CJ's foot is nowhere near as big as Russell Okung's.

And Annabelle's hand is a whole lot smaller than Russell Wilson's.

We learned that the Seahawks were the youngest team to ever win the Super Bowl.

And we were reminded that it only took the Seahawks 12 seconds to score in the Super Bowl (a record).

 And we were also reminded why winning the Lombardi trophy was so darn sweet ,.. Seattle had waited so long. 

We got to touch some of the turf from CenturyLink stadium. It doesn't feel or smell like real grass, in case you were wondering. 

We checked out a few items from the Pete Carroll collection. Apparently the coach has a penchant for old school Bubble Yum gum. The whistle is from practice last year, as are the gloves - he likes to toss and catch the ball with the team.

There were a couple of graphics delineating Carroll's philosophy. 

I'm guessing Percy Harvin's gone because he didn't quite fit the list below. ... 

It was fun seeing Pete's notes for a speech, scrawled on a file folder, to the team before last year's National Football Conference Championship game.

After seeing all the items on display, we went and sat in a theater adjacent to the exhibit. There, they were screening an NFL films program about the Seahawks' championship season. I think I have every play of the game memorized at this point, but I'm nowhere near tired of seeing replays! :)

While at EMP, we had to check out some of our favorite exhibits, including popping in on dear Jimi.

And we took another tour through the great Fantasy exhibit at EMP at the present. We practically had the place to ourselves, so the kids got to experiment with some of the interactives we didn't get a crack at last time we visited. They had fun creating 'cards' of themselves as fantasy characters.