Journeys to the Emerald City, Part Three

Part the Third: (Cowardly) Lions and Daleks and Scares, Oh My!

Even with a solid 8 hours of sleep, we still had trouble dragging our butts out of bed. We managed to get ready and mostly packed in time to get down to breakfast by 8:30, and once again filled up on the fabulous offerings. I ensured that each child had some form of protein, so we could delay lunch if we had to. A quick trip back up to the room, and Hubby, Primus and Secunda started taking our things down to the vehicle while I contained Tertius and Quarta in the room, and did a final sweep of it to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything (this included another thorough search for Primus' joy buzzer, as mentioned in Part Two). It was already heating up for the day, but I had told the kids to put their jackets on, because it would make carrying their things down so much easier. We were *sweltering* by the time Hubby and the two bigguns got back upstairs! It was shaping up to be a gorgeous day, and we had planned an entirely indoor activity. Ah, Washington weather, I see what you did there...

We all went downstairs to check out, and to use up the rest of our $20 in convenience store credit. Armed with drinks, chocolate bars and Twizzlers, we were ready for our last day of adventure in the Emerald City.

We set out on the half-hour journey into Seattle proper once again (next time, I'll look into non-toll routes), and once again, our GPS totally failed us. The road construction really threw a wrench in our otherwise seamless commute, and we ended up taking a very circuitous route to find the parkade for the Experience Music Project/Sci-Fi Museum. Can I just say, thank goodness we put money on our credit card before leaving home! I knew what parking would cost ( I do my homework, OCD planner that I am), but didn't know that the kiosk only took coins or credit cards. Not being in possession of $10.25 in coins, I had to whip out the plastic. That done, we had a very short walk to the entrance. I would totally park there again, but I'll remember about the credit card thing :)

 

 

The spring sunshine brightens up the exterior of the EMP/Sci-Fi Museum

When we got up to the counter, the person helping us told us that an annual family membership was literally $1 LESS than a day's admission. Hubby and I figured that this was a GREAT bargain, so we said, "SIGN US UP!". Once the paperwork was filled out, she told us the cost - $95. Whoa. Hold up there - how is $95 one dollar more than the $68 one day's admission is supposed to be?! Turns out, she didn't hear me when I said, "One 11 year old, one 9 year old, one 4 year old and one 3 year old." They shouldn't have charged us for children under 5, and I'm assuming that the young lady does not have children of her own, or else she would have noticed that there was absolutely NO way that Tertius and Quarta are school-age. Honestly, my children aren't that tall. After the initial sticker shock (remember, we were doing this on a tight budget), Hubby and I agreed that since we were returning to Seattle the following month, and planning to pop down at least once during the summer, and the paperwork was already filled out, it was worth the investment. Again, SO glad we'd put money on the credit card. I think it cried a little when I pulled it out of my wallet.

Money paid and stickers acquired, we began our jaunt through the museum, bypassing all of the music stuff, because we were, after all, on a geek pilgrimage.

Hubby and the hobbitses at the entrance to the purpose for our visit: Icons of Science Fiction

Oh, did we geek out.

Primus is a hard-core Whovian - who are we kidding, most of us in this house are - and he was SO stoked to see the Dalek. We were pleasantly surprised to see that they also had an original Cyberman, too!

Primus, expressing his opinion on Daleks

We got to play with a green screen exhibit, turning Tertius into a nameless Red Shirt, fending off the attack of the giant plastic lizard figurine :) Secunda picked the most glittery costume (of course), and Primus refused to try it until the very last second, when another group had already descended on it. Maybe on our next visit *sigh*

We spent a good chunk of time poring over the notes accompanying the items on display, remembering dialogue from our favourite Sci-Fi films, and learning that up close, a lot of the stuff looks pretty crappy, but it looks great on screen. Makes me wonder why I spent so much time trying to get my stitches perfect on the capes I embroidered for Red Riding Hood. In that case, it looked great up close, but mediocre to unnoticeable on-screen. Oh well. It was still really cool to see some of the props, costumes and miniatures used in movies such as Superman, Alien, The Matrix, and other favourite movies and TV series.

Our next stop was another travelling exhibit:

Right this way...

Fantasy: Legends of Myth and Magic

I was very much looking forward to this one, as they had the Wicked Witch of the West's hat - The Wizard of Oz is one of my all-time favourite films! What a treat this exhibit was; not only did they have cool stuff to look at, but they had spent so much time and energy creating an environment in which to view the displays that truly immersed the visitor in another realm.

This great huge tree was smack-dab in the middle of the exhibit!

Even the lighting was cool! The area was filled with little nooks, crannies and wee rooms, offering a taste of different flavours of fantasy.

Neat signpost detailing the different archetypes found in Fantasy

Each display had a nifty little card-shaped sign with it, explaining how it fit within the framework of the archetypes of the fantasy genre. So not only were they entertaining us, but they were educating us, too. Very cool.

Here are a few of what I felt were the highlights of the exhibit:

Quarta checks out costumes from another family favourite - The Princess Bride

A page from George R.R. Martin's manuscript for Game of Thrones

Second printing of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardobe

Best. Display. Ever. How else would one display an Invisibility Cloak?

"I'll get you my pretty; you and your little dog, too!"

Upon leaving this exhibit, we hit the nerd store, aka the gift shop at EMP, and promptly lightened our wallets considerably. Looking at our watches, we realized that it was time for a late lunch, so we headed outside to enjoy the sunshine.

We stayed just outside the building, at Seattle Center, and found this lovely spot to stop and eat our brown bag lunch:

Beautiful view, and perfect shield for the direct sunlight!

PB&J consumed, Cherry Coke downed, and innumerable Cool Ranch chips later, and it was time to head back in.

Heading back to EMP with full bellies

 We discovered upon leaving that there was another entrance we could utilize, and being members now, we could totally bypass the lines! We got back in, looked longingly at all the geek shirts we couldn't afford this time, and headed over to the last travelling exhibit we were looking forward to - Block by Block: Inventing Amazing Architecture.

They had recreations of many iconic buildings the world over, and each had a description of where the building was, when it was built, how many stories high, and how many Lego™ bricks it took to re-create it. Our resident Lego fiends were mightily impressed.

So many cool buildings!

I think the best part of this exhibit was the play area. They had buckets of bricks, trees, doors and windows, and you could spend as long as you liked building something to install in their Lego™ cityscape. They also had an area for non-buildings, and a small kids' Mega Bloks™ area, too! I think we spent about 40 minutes just in the building area.

Nice rendition of a Tardis!

Primus built a yellow robot, which sits in the center of the display

By the time we were finished in this exhibit, it was time for us to head north of the border again. Hubby's parents had invited us for dinner, so we hoofed it back over to the vehicle, and started the drive home. We really appreciated having a dinner that we didn't have to cook that night, and the time spent with family is always treasured. The hobbitses regaled their grandparents with stories from our trip, and they had to endure our impromptu "slide show" on the cell phones. We left with full bellies, hugs, and rolled into the driveway with enough time to get a decent night's sleep to prepare us for the return to school.

What an excellent family vacation!

Coming soon - Once More, With Feeling