Day 56: Last Day in Seattle

A Trip to The Museum, a Trip to the Bookstore, & a Final Trip to The Market


Off Our Balcony at Sunset (With Active Stack)

For our last day in Seattle we finally made it to the Seattle Art Museum (though we walked by the famous Hammering Man just about every day).  Unfortunately we just missed the big Japanese Art special exhibit, and they had not yet mounted their next special exhibition, so we just got to see the regular galleries.

For a big museum they have a relatively small collection, but it is very wide ranging with pieces as old as 2000 BC, and contemporary pieces from as late as the 1970s.  The museum has two main sections-- one dedicated to contemporary art, and the other to geographically based collections--American, Asian, African, European, and Ancient Mediterranean & Islamic art.

I was definitely partial to the contemporary section, and Bob was won over when he saw that the museum included a barbed wire exhibit (his benchmark for a great museum).

Bob's Favorite Sculpture at SAM


I was particularly intrigued by a stone carving from 2000 BC that clearly depicted someone smiling-- which just goes to show that some human behavior is truly innate and not culturally imposed.  The giant china cabinet (also known as the Wyckoff Porcelain Room) was impressive with floor to ceiling glass cases showcasing china from across the world and across the ages.

While most of the African Art did not really resonate, we were both captivated by this piece:

Mercedes Car Coffin (Ghana)

It was done by an artist/carpenter from Ghana who specialized in creating coffins that reflected the lives and interests of their occupants.  The workmanship was as exquisite as the idea.

After the museum we headed over to the Seattle Mystery Bookshop, which we had briefly stopped in yesterday. (We didn't want to carry a load of books while gallery hopping-- so decided upon a return trip today.)

Sadly (but luckily for us), they were going out of business after 27 years curating a bookshop dedicated to mystery novels of all types, including signed and rare volumes.  Apparently between Amazon and the fact that the cruise ships no longer dropped passengers near the shop they could simply no longer make a go of it.  We were there for the very last week of the sale, and the remaining inventory was still substantial, and was being sold at 75% off.

We both picked up some readers and some signed first editions at bargain prices.  We also picked up these two signed book posters for free-- they were just sitting with others in a stack outside the door with a "free" sign.  

Signed Book Posters from Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Clearly the shop owners are trying to make a clean break, and didn't want to relive all the memories associated with those signs. We love the two we selected, especially the one with the Deco car (which will go perfectly in our basement of auto-related art), and will give them a good home, so at least that's something (and better than just throwing them away).

So, if you need a reminder to support your local businesses-- this is it.

After dropping our book stash off, we headed back to the Pike Place Market for the final time to pick up the makings of our last diner in Seattle.  Each day we headed over the crowds thinned out, and shopping got easier and easier.  I'm betting it will pick up again tomorrow as we head into the weekend and that we're heading out of the area just in time.

Shopping done, we finally got a chance to sit out on our little balcony and watch the sunset.  Here we are doing just that:

Bob & Lisa on the Balcony in the Evening

This video (taken by Bob of course) presents the highlights of the view-- boats, the wheel, and of course an active boiler stack:




The main blog picture today includes that stack at sunset, and this one is of the Seattle Great Wheel all lit up with the setting sun in the background (Gene, if you're still reading, we also like sunset photos!).

Sunset on the Seattle Great Wheel


We'll spend the rest of tonight getting our things together, and will head out for Gig Harbor in the morning.  It is a rather short drive, so we'll have to think up an adventure to have on the way, as we can't check into our house until 4.

Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what we do...

--Lisa


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