Blogs from Bell Town, Seattle, Washington, United States, North America

Are You Experienced? The Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum, Seattle, Wa. Bonus: Hendrix’s gravesite in Renton, Washington. Thursday, August 12, 2010 (Hendrix site: August 19th) Of course, Jimi Hendrix being from Seattle provides an excellent excuse to open a museum in his honor, which is exactly what Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen did in 2000, with the building designed by Frank Gehry. His personal music collection, beginning with the purchase of an assorted lot of Hendrix’s person effects, was too precious to be locked away in some McMansion. This leads us to the Experience Music Project, the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” of the left coast. Situated at the base of the Space Needle, the $15 dollar admission price ($12 for students/teachers) covers both the Experience Music Project (EMP) and the Science Fiction Museum (I’m not ... read more

Up at 3:30 this morning. Gawd that's early. We arrived in Seattle about 10:30 this morning. Raining cats and dogs. It's beautiful here. I forgot what fall looks like. All the bright colors of the leaves. The smell of rain. Really a nice day. Our flight was without drama, as was picking up the car at the rental. We were able to check into our hotel early and did you check out that view? We are on the 32nd floor. Really nice, except for the letter left by the hotel that said "The towers of the Westin Seattle are designed to be flexible in the event of high winds or an earthquake. This flexibility allows the building to absorb energy while remaining structurally sound. High winds may cause noise in your guestroom as energy is dissipated ... read more

After landing, we caught our Towncar into downtown with our friend Elias. We are staying at the Hotel Andra again, as it has become our favorite. It sits right above Lola, our favorite restaurant, and across the street from Dahlia Lounge (tonight's dinner), Serious Pie, and the Dahlia Bakery. We trotted across the street to Serious Pie for the best pizza in the entire known universe. We had the cherry bomb pizza,of course. It has the shape of a rounded rectangle, with home made sausage and cherry bomb peppers. Then to Pike and Western liquor store for some good champagne. Dinner last night was at Lola, of course. Another Tom Douglas invention, it has a modern vibe, with a definite Greek/Mediterranean flair. Our favorites are the kabobs, usually very inventive. Last year, our favorite was a ... read more

On one of our two or three annual trips to Seattle, we got so hungry for lunch that we headed to Serious Pie for a cherry bomb pizza, salad and ice tea. We got a ride over to the restaurant and our next hotel from our driver, who just happened to be out front when we were ready to move!! Now some people say pizza is pizza, but they have never been to a Tom Douglas restaurant in the Seattle area, have they? For those of you unfamiliar, Tom Douglas is the Seattle restaurantuer who more or less made Northwest cuisine famous. He owns a seafood place (Etta's), Dahlia Lounge, Dahlia Bakery, Lola (a Greek place), and Palace Kitchen (Northwest grill), and now pizza at Serious Pie. From the time it opened, the crowds have been ... read more