HOLLY JOLLY: Santa is everywhere this time of year, and he pops up all over Seattle, at malls, Macy's, you name it. However, our favorite place to catch up with the jolly old elf is at the Space Needle. After all, it doesn't get much more Seattle than that!
We caught an elevator up this morning, shortly after 11 a.m. The photo below is of the Pacific Science Center Arches the the Chihuly Garden of Glass through smudged glass doors.
On the way up the escalator, there are graphics on the wall, chronicling the iconic landmark's history. Like most other brilliant ideas, the Space Needle's genesis was a sketch on a cocktail napkin.
One thing we learned today is that way back when (1962), there was a torch atop the Needle! I can only imagine how cool that looked! I wish they'd bring it back!
Instead, there's just flashing bulb atop it now.
We also learned that the Needle's rotating restaurant is spun by a one horsepower motor. Wow! How is that possible?
Up top we had a view of one of our favorite playgrounds in the city, the space just west of the former Experience Music Project (now MoPOP).
Naturally, we had to take the obligatory photo toward our neighborhood. The foreground is the roof of Key Arena, In the distance is Magnolia, our 'hood.
Christian caught a shot of this Coast Guard ship being tugged across Lake Union.
Later, I found this photo (below) from the Ballard Locks of the big ship, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro, moving through, on to Puget Sound
On our way away from Seattle Center, we had to stop by the Center House to check out the annual model railroad display.
STATION TO STATION: This afternoon, a friend shared a link to a site that let you hop around to live broadcasts from radio stations circling the globe.
Called Radio Garden, all you have to do is click on any of the little green spots/stations around the world to listen in to what they're broadcasting.
We clicked on all sorts of countries - Japan to Iceland to Greenland to Russia and beyond. What was interesting to us was how many of those stations were playing "American" music, with English speakers/singers.
Finland seemed to be an exception; the stations we 'visited' there were all non-English.
We did listen to some Russian sports radio. We were guessing they were talking about hockey, but who knows?
We totally encourage you to give Radio Garden a test drive. Much fun!
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