Seattle, Once More.

On Tuesday, we toured the Seattle Public Library and the EMP Museum at Seattle Center, especially the science fiction, horror and fantasy exhibits. The Seattle Public Library is a newer building. Its construction was controversial because the collection was greatly reduced in size. Book-lovers were outraged. And the collection does seem small for a library in a town the size of Seattle. Computers and computer stations are everywhere. Moving from floor to floor is a mixture of stairs, escalators which skip floors, and elevators which don't. The fourth floor is famous for being all red: walls, floors, ceiling. This whole floor has six meeting rooms and bathrooms. When we were there only the bathrooms were used. No meetings were taking place as far as we could tell. Kathy and I found the layout confusing. The walls, floors and furniture were hard surfaces, a few brightly colored. The overall effect was not warm, cozy or inviting. I was reminded of the George Pompedieu Centre in Paris without the buskers out front entertaining the crowd. The EMP is near the Space Needle. From their website: “EMP is a leading-edge, nonprofit museum, dedicated to the ideas and risk-taking that fuel contemporary popular culture. With its roots in rock 'n' roll, EMP serves as a gateway museum, reaching multigenerational audiences through our collections, exhibitions, and educational programs, using interactive technologies to engage and empower our visitors. At EMP, artists, audiences and ideas converge, bringing understanding, interpretation, and scholarship to the popular culture of our time.” We camped overnight in Kent, Washington. During the evening, we purchased tasty chocolate-vanilla ice cream at a poorly attended ice cream social at the campground. Actually, I went back for seconds (kdr). A great, nourishing supper! Later we the camp had an outdoor showing of Dwayne Johnson's movie, Gridiron Gang. During the credits, the movie showed clips of the real life football coach saying the very phrases Dwayne Johnson's character used in the movie. “On the football field we will do things my way. You are losers. Doing things your way got you here [in prison]. Doing things my way will make you winners.” Stuff like that. Once again, we were pretty much the only ones that watched the whole movie.