Travel Diary: Seattle, August 2018
If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm obsessed with Marvel movies. Specifically, those of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (though I also enjoy X-Men: First Class, Logan, both Deadpool movies, and have a retrospective appreciation for Fantastic Four. No, not FAN4STIC, I mean Fantastic Four, as in pre-Captain America Chris Evans and Jessica Alba). During my final year in KPU's fashion design program, my instructor suggested we find something we could watch to comfort and inspire us as we worked on our thesis collection. Some of my cohort had Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday, others had Gilmore Girls and Friends.
Mine, however, was Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which I watched a whopping ten times that semester (or more, I lost count in my sewing-induced delirium). I also watched Parks and Recreation, too, since I adore Amy Poehler. But there was something soothing about the familiar character beats and electronic-heavy score that had me always coming back. I could also write an entire essay about how perfect the hand-to-hand combat is during the freeway fight - that switchblade flip gets me every time.
So, when an exhibit at Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture was brought to my attention, Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes, I knew immediately that I wanted to go. Costumes, props, and history? You had me at "Spider-Man's beta costume from Homecoming is going to be there".
PLANNING THE SEATTLE TRIP
Finding people who wanted to go with me wasn't a problem, thankfully. My friend Mona and I have been going to Marvel movies together since Captain America: Civil War came out in 2016 (along with a misguided choice to see DC's Suicide Squad in theatres, but we don't talk about that. Just know that we wanted to leave about 20 minutes in and stuck around, anyway). We also invited our friend Celia, another Marvel fan and seasoned traveler, who I suspect spends more time in Japan than she does in Canada.
Did I plan an entire weekend trip around a museum exhibit about superhero movies? Why yes, yes I did.
Seattle isn't too far from Vancouver and I've been there a few times before. Concerts, mostly, for performers who don't have shows further up north. There's a familiarity to the city that makes it feel like home, but with more museums and coffee shops. We met up for cake to plan the rest of our trip - the non-Marvel parts, that is - and away we went.
AUGUST 25TH, SATURDAY | 1:00 PM | NEKO CAT CAFE & PIKE PLACE MARKET
After a sleepy, early morning 4-hour AmTrak ride, we arrived in Seattle and stopped for a quick bite before heading to Neko Cat Cafe. There, we had an hour to wake ourselves up and play with adorable kitties. I had cats when I was younger but haven't really been around them since. It was a calm, meditative experience, especially since most of the cats spent our allotted time sleeping. I have a soft spot for torties and multi-colored toe beans.
After the cafe, we went to Pike Place Market, one of the most famous spots in Seattle and somehow a place I'd never been to despite being in the city before. We waited for over an hour to get lobster rolls and clam chowder from Pike Place Chowder. The line went all the way down the narrow alley and wrapped around the corner. We did not wait for anything at the original Starbucks - as in, the first Starbucks to exist. It was also located in Pike Place and even more overcrowded than anything else in the area, which was really saying something.
Before leaving Pike Place Market, we took a quick wander around the shops. The artisans reminded me of the vendors at Granville Island and Lonsdale Quay back home. There were plenty of quirky animal-related products which Mona especially loved for her dog, Link. Another store tempted us with an enormous floor-to-ceiling wall of collectible Pop Funkos.
7:00 PM | CHIHULY GARDEN & GLASS
Our last stop for the day was Chihuly Garden & Glass, a glass museum that we thought would look especially beautiful at night. The techniques and use of color and texture to build shape and form were absolutely stunning in person. It was hard to do them justice in my photos.
One of my favorite pictures I took during the entire trip was in the Glasshouse, a covered dome right beneath the Space Needle. Huge red-orange-yellow flowers were suspended above our heads, trailing along the entire stretch of the Glasshouse. The entire piece was about a hundred feet long.
While we were pretty tired at this point, it was a serene experience that I would definitely recommend for nighttime viewing. Seeing the glass in the garden especially, backlit by moonlight, was kind of magical.
2:00 PM | MUSEUM OF POP CULTURE
I probably looked like a kid in a candy store, wandering around the Museum of Pop Culture, also known as MoPOP. Marvel exhibit aside, they also had fantasy and science fiction exhibits featuring costumes from the Narnia movies, The Wizard of Oz, and Star Trek. There were lightsabers from Star Wars, swords from Lord of the Rings, and hoverboards from Back to the Future Part II. Another exhibit featured indie video games, complete with demos. Needless to say, I was excited.
The Marvel exhibit was absolutely packed, unsurprising since it was a summer Sunday afternoon, and getting close-up to the displays was difficult. Still, I ooh-ed and ahh-ed over Okoye's spear, Thor's hammer, and Gamora's blade. There was tons of blurbs about the company's history, too, and original copies of Spider-Man comics from the 60s and onward.
Seeing the costumes up-close was absolutely incredible. I love hunting for all the details that go into making them functional, personal to the character, and stand out on the big screen. I saw some little things I'd never noticed, such as the textures on Star-Lord's coat and the stitching on Captain America's uniform. It made me realize how much I want a whole documentary on costume design for movies of all kinds. I later got a taste of it in Ruth E. Carter's episode of Abstract: The Art of Design. She talked about her process for films like Black Panther and Dolemite Is My Name.
AUGUST 27TH, MONDAY | 9:30 AM | WOODLAND PARK ZOO & PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTRE
The last day of our trip was a little less hectic. We visited staples of Seattle that I also had not been to before. I didn't have too many photos of the zoo worth sharing, since the animals were usually too far away for me to capture. There was one particular penguin who liked hamming it up, swimming along the glass to wave at the children of young families around us. He then climbed up onto a rock to sunbathe standing up with his head hung backwards.
By the time we got to the Pacific Science Centre, we were worn out, though we did have some fun while we were there. Sound experiments, kinetic sandboxes, and animatronic dinosaurs kept us going to the end.
We returned home from Seattle the next day with a...less-than-desirable AmTrak experience. Long story short, we had a three-hour delay with zero updates and no indication of when we'd get home. Even if it wasn't quite as exciting as Mona and Celia's trips to Japan, it was a fun long weekend with friends.
