Space Needle

I drove to downtown Seattle yesterday to check out the Space Needle and the surrounding Seattle Center. I got the sense from my past visits here that natives don’t really do this kind of stuff, so I thought I should get it out of the way before I’m totally submerged in life here and would be too embarrassed to do it. The Needle is quite tall, which gave me a nice view of the sound and the cityscape below. The weather was overcast, but not rainy, and it was very windy up top. The elevator guide pointed out that we could see Mt. Rainier from the top, but I didn’t really discern it. I also rode the monorail from the Seattle Center to the Westfield Shopping Center further downtown, which was a two-minute, four-dollar ride. There’s a small amusement park at the Needle’s base that was creepy because hardly anyone was there and most of the rides were shut down. I tried to check out some kind of sculpture park nearby, but it had already closed. My legs were aching by the time I got back to my car. All in all, a decent venture into the unknown.