Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle

Experience Music Project, with Space Needle reflected, photo by Vikingchild

I didn't know what to call this post, so it seemed appropriate to give Nirvana the nod in Seattle. Add to that that Kurt Cobain grew up in the nearby Aberdeen, although there's not much in common between Aberdeen, Washington and Aberdeen, Scotland. We've also visited Aberdeen, Maryland (Cal Ripken-town) and Aberdeen, California (two houses and a caravan, it seemed).

Seattle is one of the cities you can walk around, given the size. Pike Place is tourist-central, but off-season it's quieter and magical, especially eating breakfast upstairs at Lowell's, watching a low mist roll away over the Puget Sound...

Whilst Seattle is known for the rain, we've been lucky and had drizzle at the most. This time round we had roasting sunshine and I even managed to get accidentally sunburnt (not good). We've had 6 years between visits, and sadly to say (a) the Mariners have gone downhill badly, but more worryingly (b) the homeless problem in Seattle seems to have got a lot worse. You can't help feeling that the draw of north-western prosperity (Microsoft, Boeing, coffee) attracts people with high hopes - but little chance.

The monorail had given up by the time we revisited (shades of a "Simpsons" episode), but we walked to the Space Needle and I love this shot of the Frank Gehry-designed music museum. I don't know why people criticise this but are happy with something like the Space Needle...