08/03/04’s illustrious band:

Steepness in Seattle

Northwest Notes, Chapter 11

Brought to you by the unbelievably hilly city of Seattle and Amy 2.0.

Monday, July 12, was another day that made me glad I had on a good pair of walking shoes. We headed first for Seattle's most famous landmark, the Space Needle. After looking it up and down (mostly up), we opted to skip the trip to the top in favor of ducking underground. Why? Well, for one thing, you can get the view by clicking on the link above and checking out "click to see Seattle live from the top of the Space Needle" from the comfort of your own home or office. And for another, at the base of the Space Needle rests the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame! After nearly a week of plants, plants, plants, my companions figured they owed me a nonbotanical stop. I couldn't argue.

So down we went into sci-fi heaven. There was a whole room devoted to the early days of science fiction -- novels, pulp magazines, lurid cover art, ground-breaking TV shows, author-annotated scripts -- accompanied by video interviews with some of the genre's most famous writers. There was also a spaceship room, a costume/prop room, and an alien/monster room. Beautiful, glowing, wall-to-wall geekery, my friends. I wandered around this, my natural environment, in a happy, timeless fog. But after being politely asked whether I was going to compulsively read every word on every placard in every display, I stepped up the pace a little. Once I had helped the gift shop to live long and prosper, we headed back outside.

We then embarked on a driving tour of Seattle. We may not have covered a lot of ground moving east to west or north to south, but if you measure by up and down, I think we made it to the moon and back. Seattle is HILLY!! And I'm not talking about the gentle, rolling hills we Midwesterners are so fond of, no sir. These are the spiky bits left over from the day Mother Nature woke up and said, "Excuse me while I grunt out a jagged mountain range. Well, make that two."

Sitting in the back seat of the BeLuvMobile was kind of like riding in the tail car of a roller coaster -- I could see the hood of the vehicle either point up into the air or disappear down out of sight a second before hitting the hill myself. G-Doc assured me that riding in the front seat was even more coasterlike, and not always the fun part where you fling your hands in the air and yell "Whee!" and find an embarrassing digital picture of yourself on display at the end of the ride. But he coped well, and did a fine job of map reading besides.

Part of the driving excursion included -- are you ready for this? -- a lush park with a fine conservatory. Yes, more plants! They were very nice. It was also very nice to get back to Amy's pad to munch goodies on the balcony and watch Finding Nemo before bed. Sometimes unscheduled tours are the best.

The next morning was Tuesday, July l3, the last day of our trip. We needed to get to the airport by 2:00, but that still left time for a stop at a local nursery. Here, at long last, G-Doc was finally able to purchase some plants to send home as souvenirs. Some people collect postcards or salt and pepper shakers or T-shirts; G-Doc collects plants. Amy found a few for her place, too. I managed to enjoy the scenery without hindering the shopping. My gardener buddies complimented me on being such a good sport about all the plant stops, but I wasn't just playing along. What better way to spend a vacation than looking at beautiful things in beautiful weather with great friends?

Then it was lunchtime (viva la teriyaki!) and then, sadly, it was time to go. Out to the airport, onto the plane, and back to the Midwest came G-Doc and I, having left Amy with a new passionflower to remember us by. G-Doc and I parted at the Twin Cities airport, and I was home by 9:30. Mother Media, who had been house-sitting at Sensational Acres, greeted me warmly, and we had show-n-tell until past my bedtime.

Best vacation ever!

Thanks, G-Doc! Thanks, Amy 2.0! Thanks, Tourism Victoria and Vancouver Island!

Tomorrow: I take off at an ungodly early hour of the morning to spend a few days visiting Sister-san. Going to Phoenix in August may ruin my reputation as a smart Media Sensation, but it'll be worth it to see my sister and the future niece/nephew she's cooking up. Don't worry, we plan to spend most of our time in the soothing embrace of air conditioning.

Today around the world: August 3 is Martyrs' Day in Guinea.

E-mail the Media Sensation: BandNameoftheDay@hotmail.com

Visit the BND archives at http://jugglernaut.blogspot.com.