New "Sky" Interior on an Alaska Air 737-900ER!

On my last trip to Oakland and the Bay area, I was on a brand new Alaska Airline 737-900ER, which is really nice! I can't recall being a plane with this new type of interior, but between the thinner seats and the reconfigured bins the plan really does feel like it is more spacious. The LED lighting is nice although I am no sure how long the "cool blue" thing will last, fortunate it can all be reprogrammed!

University of Washington Sakura Cherry Blossoms 2014

It is time once again for sakura season! The cherry blossoms at the University of Washington are at peak bloom (as of 2014-03-23) and the weather is finally feeling like spring. The annual bloom of the cherry trees is a cherished part of the experience of being a student at the University of Washington and draws visitors from around the world. 

If you are interested in seeing the cherry blossoms, go now! You can also see pictures from previous years here if you need more sakura photos and you can read more about the history of the trees here.

A Quick Preview

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but here are a couple pictures of what will be showing up soon on the blog:

Sounds from the Seattle World's Fair: Audio Postcards

A couple weeks ago I picked an awesome set of drinking glasses from the Seattle World's Fair that was held in 1962. The fair gave us our iconic Space Needle, the monorail, and helped put Seattle on the map (literally in many cases). It was supposed to be a preview of our tomorrow in space and what life would be like in Century 21.

It also came with a huge marketing campaign. Movies, commercials, celebrity appearances, and music were all part of a big push to make sure that people actually showed up. As part of this, there was a series of postcard records put out with Century 21 themed songs. When I picked up my glasses, they vendor threw in this one for free:

I had to know what was on it. It turns out that there are bunch of them and thanks to a music fan out of LA, we have a chance to hear them. He's got a description of each track, so be sure to check out his post before you click here to download the ZIP file (thanks Mr Fab!) and take a listen to these pieces of nearly lost music from the fair. The track list is below:

1. "Invitation To The Fair" - Joe Juma
2. "World's Fair Seattle" - Billy Earles 
3. "Summer of '62 - Ronnie Draper and the Fordomatics
4. "Cafe in The Sky" - Kelly Gates
5. Gayway Twist" - the Frantics
6. "Come and See Seattle" - Frank Sugia Trio & Naomi 

Touring while Local: Chihuly Garden and Glass

Dale Chihuly is widely known as being a master of squiggly glass sculptures. While today he is not directly involved in the production of the glass that he is known for (He considers himself more of a "director"), the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit at the Seattle Center contains the bulk of his corpus of work. If you are a fan of Chihuly, this is your place.*

The price to get in is $19, which is a buck more than going up the Space Needle. There are combo passes available that make it slightly cheaper to do both ($33 for both. If you are coming all the way to Seattle and doing the tourist sites, how could you not do the Space Needle?). King County residents get in for the low, low price of $15 per person (and they didn't even check our IDs to confirm it). Once inside, there is about an hour plus of things to see, perhaps a little more if you become absorbed into the artwork.

I can definitely see how much of this was groundbreaking and experimental when it was first coming out and becoming popular. There are plenty of vivid colors and shapes that come together to create the scenes and the larger sculptures are impressive from a technical standpoint: There are hundreds of pieces suspended from a metal "skeleton" and each time it is moved to a new location, the exact shape and composition of the sculpture changes. On the other hand, it does feel a little like his work is pretty mainstream now and the video at the end of him "directing" feels a little ludicrous: 15 minutes of someone telling a team of minions "No, move it three inches to the left" is supposed to be mind altering art? At times the museum comes off as a little too pretentious. As if anything done by Chihuly is automatically the highest example of art that you have ever had the honor of witnessing.

Being from Seattle, I think that there is a bit of Chihuly burnout. We have had his stuff all over Seattle and the region for years, but for many people this may be their first time seeing it. It IS impressive and many people who visit Seattle visit the museum rate it very highly. In fact, right now this is the number one attraction in Seattle on TripAdvisor.

*If you like glass in general and would like to see a broader collection, you may also consider the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. While there, there is also the new LeMay Car Museum and the Tacoma Museum of Art. 

Touring while Local: Argosy Locks Cruise

Seattle is a city permeated with water. There is the Puget Sound to the west, Lake Union in the middle, and Lake Washington to the East, all of which are connected by cuts and canals. Before highways, planes, and trains the water was the way to get around the Puget Sound. At one time, Seattle was a hub for a mosquito fleet that could take you anywhere around the Sound. While those days are gone, Seattle's maritime tradition and natural beauty remain an asset to the city.

Getting on to the water is a great way to see Seattle from a different angle. I've written about the half-hour excursion to Bainbridge Island several times before (here, here, here, and here), but another popular way to get on the water in Seattle is provided by Argosy Cruises. As part of my effort to tour while local, I tried out their Lake Union and Ballard Locks Cruise.

The tour starts out on the waterfront. This is the main dock for Argosy cruises and most cruises leave from here. However, this particular one starts out with a short bus ride from the waterfront to Lake Union. Once there, you board near Kenmore Air just across from the Museum of History and Industry. In the photo above, you can also see the Virginia V which is one of the last remaining mosquito fleet steamers.

The tour takes you from Lake Union, by the houseboat from Sleepless in Seattle, under the Fremont bridge, past the Alaskan fishing boats, through the Ballard Locks, and finally out into the Sound to come back to the waterfront. All the while, staff gives the story of that things that are sailing past you.

Once past fisherman's wharf, it is off to the Ballard Locks. The Locks, a piece of infrastructure, are actually one of the top tourist destinations for the city (number 15 on TripAdvisor) and the cruise is a unique way to experience it. In order to leave the lake and go into the Puget Sound, the boat must go through the Locks. Completed in 1917, the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks as they are officially know allow boats to traverse the 20+ foot sea level difference between the lake and the Sound.

Once outside of the Ballard Locks, you are on the Puget Sound where you will round Magnolia and head into Elliot Bay to the waterfront. On a clear day, the sound will give beautiful views of the Olympic Mountains, Mt. Rainier, and the city itself. Mt. Rainier in particular seems to loom larger than usual from right around the tip of Magnolia. Coming closer, you'll get excellent views of the Space Needle and the cityscape when you draw near to the docks and the end of the tour.

This particular tour goes for $41. If you are visiting and looking to save some money, Washington State ferries provide another way to get on the water. At $8 per person on foot round trip (there is no fare headed west for foot passengers), it doesn't show off the city to the same degree but does lend itself to afternoon trips to Bainbridge Island. A middle option that still offers a guided tour with less cost and time commitment is the harbor cruise that Argosy offers for $24 a person. It is their most popular tour and you still get the views of the mountain, sound, and city. Either way, seeing the city from the water is sure to give a unique perspective on the city and be a fun afternoon.

Touring while Local: Tour de Chocolate with the Chocolate Box

The Northwest has gone through a boom in all things sugar related: Cupcakes, ice cream, macarons, and, yes, chocolate. In one of my previous posts, I called out Indi Chocolate as a great new addition to the Pike Place Market, but just outside of the market itself is another haven for chocolate: The Chocolate Box.

In addition to being a shop featuring Northwest chocolates (and wine), the Chocolate Box also offers tours featuring the favorite confection. In my case, I went on the Tour de Chocolate, one of their most popular options. It features a hands on (literally) chocolate making course, drinking chocolate, a "Cocoa 101" short course on the origins of chocolate, and a chauffeured trip and tour of the Theo Chocolate factory in Fremont (complete with lots of samples). It was two and a half hours of guided chocolate tasting, viewing, and making all starting from a convenient location next to the Market. For visitors tight on time and with love of chocolate, this is a good way to taste some of the local chocolates and visit Theo chocolate without the hassle of a bus or renting a car.

The tour starts out at the shop where the owner, the knowledgeable and passionate Michel Brotman (seen above with his wife and fellow chocolate lover, Valerie), provides everyone with a taste of drinking chocolate and leads a 15-20 minute discussion on chocolate and the origins of chocolate, the cocoa plant. You'll get a feel of the process of making chocolate from fruit to bean before heading off to see one of Seattle's best known chocolate factories.

If you have never heard of Theo Chocolate... they're good. Really good. This part of the tour is similar to the regular factory tour offered by Theo, but does give a behind the scenes look at a gourmet, fair trade, bean-to-bar production line. Led by the experts from Theo, you work your way through all of the different stages of making their chocolate bars until you get to... the gift shop, which features samples of everything. My personal favorites are fig, fennel, and almond and vanilla nib (which may be limited time). For the more adventurous, there is also coconut curry and spicy chili chocolate! I haven't seen a curry chocolate bar anywhere else, so this is a must try (although maybe not a must buy).

Once the tour is over, we head back to the Chocolate Box for the hands-on part of the tour. Every tour ends with you going home with a bar of chocolate, but the twist is that you make your own. There are tons of toppings to choose from to come up with your own style of chocolate bar. You also get to temper your own chocolate by hand, resulting in a tour full of messy hands. Then again, everyone secretly wants to do this, right? How often are you encouraged to get your hands covered in chocolate and then not to waste any of the chocolate?

Overall, the tour is great fun for a chocolate lover and a very convenient way to see Theo Chocolate. For visitors who don't want to deal with the hassle of a car or the bus, getting to Fremont can be a bit of a detour but the transfer included with the tour can make that an easy and enjoyable side trip. In particular, the hands on activities are great for couples and kids (On our tour we had an aspiring chef who looked to be about 10 who was very interested in the whole process).

If you keep an eye out for deals and have a little luck, you can also score a deal on a tour with the Chocolate Box. Deals have been known to pop up online and most recently, the chocolate and wine tour was featured as a killer deal on HowAboutWe.com (which is a website offering deals on dates for couples). Alternatively, you can book a private tour for $299 for up to 10 people, giving you half off per person if you fill it up.

That's it for now! You can find out more about the Chocolate Box and the tours they offer on their website here.