Detour

Seattle

 Room With A View

Everything was in motion and all systems were go. Bags were packed and we were headed North then East. Then that storm with a friendly sounding name but a rabid reputation, Hurricane Sandy, made a mess of so many plans. Our plans were small potatoes compared to the lives that were disrupted, or worse, ended. But still, we were lucky to be just inconvenienced.

Instead of spending 4 days exploring Washington DC, we got reacquainted with a place that we hadn't seen in quite a while - Seattle. Further turning that sour lemony taste into lemonade was the room we got overlooking one of Seattle's most famous landmarks.

Seattle is a much more colorful city than its skies let on. At left a tree that could be mistaken as something from Vermont. Monorail tracks split a portion of the EMP (formerly known as Experience  Music Project) Museum Building. 

Guess what was 50 years old this year? 

Yup, the Space Needle. Still going strong and still as beautiful as ever. 

What is Robin doing? Well, given that it was Halloween when we met her, her appearance is only part of the story. Robin was at the Seattle Center to welcome us to a fantastic exhibit about legendary King Tut. Subtitled "The Pharaoh's Gold", it was certainly colorful and rich in history.

This gorgeous urn held the remains of King Tut's stomach. Seems there were funerary urns for many other parts of his viscera as well as his sarcophagus. These objects were over 3,000 years old. Some we saw were from 5 millennia ago. Not sure I've seen many objects that old.

This is what King Tut looks like today. This is the only model of his body. It was done with scanning equipment that then produced a 3 dimensional image that was made into what you see above. The king was estimated to have only been 19 when he died.

As observed we saw a bit of the city during Halloween. The lady on the left was actually a pretty young woman who assumed the costume of something out of Mary Poppins. The cute girl on the right was a little kid who was waiting for her porridge.

        

 

Good food is almost as common as the rain here, even in many delicatessens. Me? I was happy with a brown bag lunch with a soda whose label I hadn't seen for years.

As colorful as Seattle is, not all color is wanted. We did see more graffiti than before and there appear to be many more panhandlers. One guy tried to be clever with a sign that said: "Give me money or I'll vote for Romney." He'd starve in my home town.

One last note, every photo was taken with an iPhone.