Seattle Still

So our Thanksgiving sojourn continues in the Emerald City, and it's become obvious that the moniker is not due to the gemlike beauty of the place, but a reference to the fact that green mold grows on everything. Including us, now, I think.

Along with near-constant rain and eating, we've also managed to check out some of the cultural attractions of Seattle, and there are quite a few. For instance, one day we meandered over to the Experience Music Project (EMP) and its companion, the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. The museums are a project of Paul Allen of Microsoft fame or more properly Microsoft stock fame. The museums are housed in a building designed by Frank Gehry and to be frank (heh), I really think they are not his greatest achievement. I happen to like many other buildings he's designed, like the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A. or the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. But the EMP building is, to my mind, pretty much awful. Inside and outside. Ughh.

On the other hand, the exhibits and such were pretty interesting. Unlike most of my contemporaries I seem to have avoided the "dreams of being a rock god" phase of adolescence (or in the case of the Rolling Stones, their dotage) so I've never been particularly interested in music except to listen to it. Yes, what a concept, I know. The EMP has many instructive exhibits that taught me, for instance, what a steel guitar was or that the FBI once investigated the lyrics of "Louie, Louie" which really kind of blows my mind, man. There are lots of interactive exhibits (using Microsoft products I'm sure), with film clips on monitors and stations for listening to all types of popular music from the second half of the twentieth century on.

So I quite enjoyed the museum. We arrived in the early afternoon and from the documentation we had understood that there was a separate fee to enter the attached Science Fiction Museum. This turned out not to be the case: the entry fee covered both museums. We only learned this about an hour before the museum closed, however, so we kind of had to jog through the Sci Fi Museum quickly in order to see most everything. I loved, loved, loved this museum. It so appeals to my inner, and outer, geek that the guards had to start unlimbering their Tasers before I'd leave. I'd love to go back at some point. For anyone who is a science fiction fan of any sort, I think this is one of the best places to indulge one's love for that which must not be named.

Following up on the last entry, we did get around to indulging in some Chinese food, specifically the comestibles served at Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon. The food might be described as totally awesome. Apparently it can be a little uneven; when we dined there years ago I liked it but wasn't blown away. This most recent meal was pretty much perfect from start to finish. I have a hard time now deciding whether my favorite dish was the Salt and Pepper Prawns, the Crispy Smoked Duck or the Almond Cranberry Chicken. We may have to return so I can do a taste-off.   As my dear old Dad used to say, that was some good eatin'.

We followed up our excursion into Asian cuisine with a quick sidle over to American eats and checked out a drive-in called Burgermaster. It's kind of a touchstone, so one doesn't stray too far from one's roots or something like that. Or maybe just because they make a pretty damn good burger. And good shakes, Mary really like her boysenberry shake. I tasted it - even I, a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to shakes (is there really any need to have any flavor but chocolate?), liked it. It's been many a year since I tried a drive-in and it was a nice change of pace. It's not something I want to do on a regular basis because I invariably end up dropping tomatoes or the special sauce on my shirt. Still, it was fun and I'd do it again. After I get my shirts cleaned.

Concluding our tour around town we also managed to fit in meals at Pomegranate for dinner and  Atlas for breakfast. Both were more than worthy and we enjoyed dining at each.

So tomorrow we eat the fatted turkey and consume more food than one should eat in a week. My favorite kind of holiday. Happy Thanksgiving all and don't forget to stock up on the antacids.