Seattle Centre Monorail & Space Needle

We booked a 10am time slot to go up into the Space Needle so we had about an hour to kill. Fortunately, the Seattle Centre Monorail was open at 9 so we hopped on for the short ride down to the Downtown Area and back. 

The Monorail was constructed in 1962 for the Seattle World's Fair and the Alweg rail cars carry the 1950s diner look that was in fashion in those times.

My experience is that monorails are a bit boring and lame. This was no exception. There wasn't much to see and the trip didn't last long. Nice to photograph, but a bit of a waste of time & money otherwise.

Right! 10am and time to get serious!
The 184m high Space Needle was also built for the World Fair, and is a much more iconic tourist attraction than the monorail.

Once you reach the viewing deck, you are treated to 360 degree views of Seattle and beyond. The needle is perched on a hill enhancing the aspect.

Some of us had more trust in the engineering than others.

We saw a few of these Kenmore Air Turbo Otters cruising past at eye level on final approach onto Lake Union below.

Mounted in the ground floor gift shop is a minifig scale (1:40) Lego recreation of the Space Needle. An extremely well presented model.

Olympic Scupture Park

 

We were out & about early this morning because we have a lot of things to do. The weather is clear with pleasant temperatures, so we need to make the most of it. Many of the attractions don't open until mid morning so we started with the Olympic Scupture Park.

Olympic Scuplture Park is a greenspace on the banks of Elliot Bay, and just on the outsirts of Seattle's downtown area. It contains a diverse array of outdoor sculptures that are rotated in and out from time to time. At the time of our visit the following sculpures were there. 'Father and Son' (above).

One of the more striking art works was 'Echo' which has some echos of the Easter Island Moai.

This abstract one is called 'Incredible Bench'. The name is almost more abstract....

My personal favourite was 'The Eagle', that looks like a completely different sculpture depending on viewing aspect.

A large part of the charm of the park, is the setting. There is a great network of pathways to walk run or ride, and the views across Puget Sound as far as the Olympic Peninsular or magnificent.

There's no shortage of wildlife around the park. We saw a couple of grey gulls searching for their breakfast.

We were lucky to see a small pod of Harbour Porpoise.

And a noisy flock of Canada Geese were on the move.

The park is spilt in two by a rail line that is a corridor for both BNSF freight trains and the Sounder commuter train.

Museum of Flight

Harry and I caught the bus down to the The Museum of Flight at King Country International Airport (Boeing Field). The Museum has an impressive collection of aircraft from over 100 years of history. Boeing has a heavy representation as Seattle is the birth place of the company and the adjacent airport is still very much a collection of active company assets.

We began our tour in the Great Hall.

The Great Hall has aircraft ranging from the very first powered aircraft, a replica Wright Brothers Flyer (the original is in Washington)...

...To the SR-71 Blackbird.

The Great Hall has two cockpit sections that you can sit in. Above is the SR-71 & below, the F-18.

From the Great Gallery, we moved on to the Personal Courage Wing where the WWI and WWII aircraft are housed. This area is very well done and all seemingly quite new.

All of the aircraft are restored in pristine condition like the Corsair above. And each has an excellent information board and other associated artifacts.

The famous Spitfire above.

Above, the formidable P-51 Mustang

 

A number of aircraft from adversary air forces are also represented.

Between the Great Gallery & the WWII Gallery is the Apollo Exhibit where the Apollo 11 command module & a spent booster rocket are on display.

Next up, we walked over the bridge to the West Campus where there is the Space Gallery. It has a very odd full sized partial Space Shuttle that we ignored and moved through to the Aviation Pavillion which has some truely unique aircraft.  Above in the foreground is a Boeing VC-137B 'Air Force One'based on a Boeing 707. The White aircraft in the background with the orange stripe is the prototype B747 Jumbo.

Above is a British Concorde that you can walk through.

One of the more impressive displays was the Boeing 787 Dreamliner prototype.

The display included this impressive Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engine.

Not to be over-shadowed by the commercial aircraft, the military aircraft were also well represented. Above is a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortess. Below, the Boeing B-29 Super Fortress. Both were renowned WWII bombers.

The aircraft in the foreground is one of the very early commercial air liners, the  Boeing 247D. Behind is is the predecessor to the formidable Boeing B-52, the Boeing WB-47E Stratojet.

Somewhat hiding under the wings of the passenger jets, is a small collection of navy aircraft. Above L-R. Grumman EA-6B Prowler; Grumman F-14A Tomcat; Boeing CH-47D Chinook.

Above, a retired Blue Angels A-4F Skyhawk & an MD  AV-8C Harrier.

While we were admiring the myriad of aircraft in the Aviation Pavillion, this beast landed on the runway in front of us. It is a test aircraft that is part of the Boeing 777X program. The airfield is a test site for some of  Boeing's development aircraft.

Set up outside the museum boundary is this mighty Boeing B52G Stratofortress. The sheer size of these aircraft is phenominal. Little wonder, they are able to wreak havoc on enemy strongholds.

The dining hall and balcony overlooks the airstrip, so if you're a bit of an aviation fanatic, it's the perfect place to stop for lunch. There are plenty of private jets that take off and land on this busy air strip and if you are lucky, you may even see one of the 777X or 737-Max development arcraft.

The Museum of Flight is very impressive and I thoroughly recommend a visit if you are in Seattle. 

King Country Airport is a delivery site for Boeing where they put the final touches and fit outs on the aircraft before they are delivered to customers. There is an array of commercial jets (mainly B737s) all lined up in one area with many different liveries. Adjacent to the Museum, is the Military delivery Center where they are currently fitting out the KC-46 Pegasus refuelling tankers (above) and the P-9A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (below).

For Harry & I, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. Kerri would have been bored out of her brain.