Seattle Center

On the most recent trip to Seattle I checked out several facilities in the 74 acre city park known as the Seattle Center.

The Seattle Center was built for the 1962 World's Fair and is mostly known for the Space Needle. The Seattle Center is roughly bounded by; 5th Avenue, Mercer Street, 1st Avenue, Denny Way and Broad Street. There are several notable attractions in Seattle Center aside from the Space Needle, on my recent trip I also went to the Museum of Popular Culture and Chihuly Glass & Gardens.

The Museum of Popular Culture is located on 5th Avenue and Harrison Street. The Museum was established in 2000 with the incredibly awkward name of "Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame" before it was changed to the current name in 2016. The Museum of Popular Culture features displays for; Horror Movies, Sci-Fi, Star Trek, music (heavy emphasis on Nirvana), music and video games.

Chihuly Glass and Garden is located directly west of the Space Needle. The facility opened in 2012 and features studio glass sculptures made by Dale Chihuly.

As for the Space Needle the structure is undergoing heavy renovations which is scheduled to be complete in June. The Space Needle is a 605 foot observation tower which was built to withstand earthquakes up to 9.2 magnitude.

Interestingly the Space Needle used to have an almost open observation deck. Suicide attempts in the 1970s led to a higher glass fencing structure being installed. The current renovation includes glass fencing which can be apparently leaned against. Due to the renovations there was only about 270 degree view available from the observation deck. The Olympic Range could be seen westward over the waters of Puget Sound, Mount Baker could be seen to the north over Union Lake and even an obscured view of Mount Rainier could be seen southward over downtown.

Comments

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield. Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away. In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south. Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center. Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat. The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area. In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the stage for the decline of M

The National Road - Pennsylvania - Great Crossings Bridge and Somerfield

West of Addison, US 40 crosses the Youghiogheny River at what once was the town of Somerfield. When crossing the current modern two lane bridge, you many not realize that it is actually the third to cross the Yough at this site. The first - a stone arch bridge - was known as the Great Crossings Bridge. Built in 1818, this three arch bridge was part of the original National Road. The name Great Crossings comes from the men who forded the Youghiogheny here - George Washington and George Braddock. (1) If you cross the bridge at the right time, this historic bridge and what was once the town of Somerfield will appear out from underneath this massive man-made lake. Historical Postcard showing the 'Big Crossings' bridge and Somerfield. Image submitted by Vince Ferrari. The Great Crossings Bridge was located in the town of Somerfield. Somerfield, originally named Smythfield until 1827, would develop as a result of the National Road. (1) Somerfield would go through va