Seattle and "the 4th"

Hendrix, Ray Charles, and Kurt Cobain were all from Seattle. This made me like Seattle even before we had arrived.

Sweet.

Pat and Pam
My mum's identical twin sisters live two blocks from each other in Seattle. We got to enjoy their hospitality, caught up with cousins I hadn't seen for 10 years, and Alana had never met.

Boeing factory

I convinced Alana, Dad and Nic we should see the Boeing factory, where they do tours through their production line. It is the largest indoor space in the world (the blue doors in the picture are the size of football fields). It is in fact so large, that legend has it, one time they forgot to turn on the air conditioning, clouds formed inside the factory, and it rained. Another time, they had to send everyone home because there was a snowstorm inside. The factory is so big there are approximately one billion employees there. Each day they collectively consume the same amount of food as Finland does in a year. You can see the Boeing factory from space. The Boeing factory affects Earth's rotation around the Sun.

The true story is not quite as good. Like most things, the Boeing factory was better on paper.

Pike Place Market

Before the Pike Street Market, both fish, and the act of throwing existed. The Pike Street Market was the first place to combine the two (or something).

EMP (Experience Music Project)


EMP is a totally sweet museum founded by Paul Allen (who also co-founded Microsoft). We made the mistake of going EMP on a Thursday evening, when it is free to the public. It was originally meant to be a museum of Hendrix, but after disagreements with the family, ended up being a rock and roll museum, with a Hendrix focus. I would describe it to a Wellingtonian like Capital Discovery Place (which I don't think exists anymore), but with rock and roll, and with one hundred times the budget and taste. Neither the Boeing factory nor EMP let us take photos.

The 4th
I remember when it was Waitangi Day earlier this year, having to explain to Ben, a French friend, that New Zealander's don't really celebrate our national day (and I had never thought about until then either). You're more likely (guaranteed?) to see protests on the news. Compare this also to the number of American flags flown from front porches here, and you realise Kiwis really don't have a huge amount of patriotism (until Peter Jackson releases a film).

So I was pumped about the 4th of July. I wanted fireworks, mob frenzies, and guns being shot into the air.

As it turns out, they are not crazy up in the Northwest. We got fireworks (the best I have ever seen or ever will), a helicopter carrying a flag, and a brass band, but I would not describe the crowd as a mob, nor as frenzied.