Museum of Flight

I spent Memorial Day with the 5th attraction in my City Pass at the Museum of Flight. The Museum is affiliated with the Smithsonian, but has strong ties to Boeing as it is on the site of their original plant. There was a lot of history of planes and space travel as well. Oh, and there were a lot of planes there too.

Main Gallery

Blue Angels jet

Interesting to see inside of the cabin of such an old plane.

I think that is Jeff Gordon up there in the DuPont prop.

SR-71 Blackbird still holds the flight speed record

There was a model cockpit of the SR-71 as well

Origins of US Airmail

They even made chips named after me for lunch; must have been expecting me.

The original manufacturing plant of Boeing is attached to the Museum called the "Red Barn." William Boeing made his money in the lumber industry, which is partially why the company did so well early on with seemingly unlimited access to lumber at the turn of the century. Some of the original machines are on display today.

Second Level was where engineers designed the planes

Outside the Museum, there was an airpark with the first Air Force One with a jet engine. It served Presidents Eisenhower through Nixon, and was still flying other VIPs until 1996.  (And yes it is on loan from the Air Force Museum in Ohio, Mom. Even though I do not remember going inside of it there.)

Presidential bathroom 

Presidential office

I'm guessing this was slightly better food than the hospital cafeteria

They also had the first 747 that was built. It never was a passenger plane, but it was used extensively for testing purposes. One example is that they mounted one of the 777's engines on it, which was more powerful than the four 747 engines. During the test flight, the single 777 engine generated enough thrust to fly the plane comfortably.

Another large portion of the Museum was for the planes of World War I and II. There was an incredible amount of history of planes from all of the countries involved, not just from the US.

Even named one after me

French WWI plane

Sunday Museums

I started Sunday by heading down to the Pacific Science Center as part of my City Pass admission. Just this week, the King Tut exhibit opened here for what they are saying will be the last time before it leaves North America. The King Tut exhibit was extra, but I decided it was a rare experience. The Center is comprised of 5 buildings with a water courtyard in the middle with various activities and water cannons.

Random assortment of photos taken at the Tut exhibit.

Sarcophagus for a cat

Golden Mask of Psusennes I 

King Tut's bed

Tut's golden sandals

 The Science Center is in the same area as the Space Needle, so it makes for some good pictures. The Center was a little lackluster overall compared to others like the Minnesota Science Center, for example. One big draw is that it has 2 IMAX screens, and these also show Hollywood movies at night.

They had a great insect and small animal center, but these are the last 2 pictures I took before my camera died (with little warning). They feed the boa constrictors once a week and I was lucky enough to be around right when one of them was fed.

Boa constrictor 

Blue butterfly

After the Science Center I went over to the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum. It combines music, science fiction, and pop culture into one museum centering around influences that came from the Pacific Northwest. Walking up to the building, you know it is a little different judging from architecture.

EMP Museum

Right by the door, there is a large stage with a gigantic screen behind it that had various local bands of all types playing throughout the time I was there (most of them were quite good). 

Sculpture of guitars 3 stories tall

The two main exhibits were about Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana, both from the Seattle area. The place is filled with an incredible amount of cool memorabilia. There was also a large exhibit on AC/DC which was enjoyable. The top floor of the museum was a space to play instruments (drums, bass, guitar, keys) with guided help to some of the most famous rock and roll songs. There were also private studios you could try audio mixing and vocals. The two exhibits I enjoyed the most included a history of horror films and one about the movie Avatar. The horror movie exhibit showcased a progression of films since the early 20th century, movie props, and special effects demonstrations. The Avatar exhibit was filled with some of the technology used in the movie and lots of props and production artwork. I was not a big fan of the movie at the time, but it is incredible to see how much work was put into the film. All of the screenplay was acted out before transformed with CGI.

I would have had a lot more pictures if my camera did not die at the Science Center. You could spend a lot of time at the EMP museum to see all of the memorabilia.