observatory glory
Well, after writing all about my Labor Day Weekend last night, in the interest of wasting way too much time, this morning I discovered my "Observation Decks" collection of photo sets on Flickr was getting a little unwieldy -- after finding a few more that needed to be added this morning, it's got 31 photo sets in it, dating all the way back to 1992. I decided these also needed to be broken up into separate photo sets, specific to individual observatories.
After going up with Ivan last month, I had already created a collection of photo sets dedicated just to going up the Space Needle -- that's got 15 sets, and doesn't even include all known times I've gone up. (In the late nineties, for example, I took Jennifer to dinner at the restaurant there, and even though it was perfectly timed to revolve once all the way around during sunset, for some reason I took no pictures that day.)
I now have separate collections specific to the Columbia Center (10 known visits since 1992; 9 since 1999; 4 in the past decade); the Seattle Great Wheel (8 visits total; 5 of them in 2012 alone, the year it opened); and the Smith Tower (5 known visits since 1992; the other four in 2000, 2008, 2011 and 2012 -- I began thinking yesterday it may be a good time to get some photos from up there again, the view of the Seattle skyline has changed so dramatically in the last six years). I also have a separate one dedicated just to Seattle views from skyscrapers without official observation decks, which includes two visits to what was then called WaMu Center, and one set of photos Andrea took for me from the top of First Hill Plaza when she attended a New Year's Eve party there in 2003. The earliest, which went into most of these separate collections, was from the 1992 weekend trip to Seattle Grandma and Grandpa McQuilkin took me on with Auntie Rose when I was 16, and it included basically joyriding elevators to the tops of random skyscrapers, which Auntie Rose could get away with more than I could both because she wasn't a teenager (I could never have roamed around like that on my own at sixteen) and because she herself worked in the Columbia Center at the time and knew other people working in downtown high-rises. She even got me into the private observation deck owned by a firm on the top floor of Two Union Square -- not at all a public space. I would love to get out there again, but see no realistic way that I'll ever get to again.
Apparently I went up to the observation deck of the Columbia Center in 1999, less than a year after I moved to Seattle, and for some reason the 16 photos I took then were just part of my "Misc 1999" photo set. Today I moved them out to create their own photo set so they could be part of the Columbia Center collection. Maybe that 1999 one was when I happened to stumble upon it and was stunned to find it only cost $5 to go up. That has long since passed: after a major renovation to the observation deck around 2013, they raised the price to $12.50 per person. As I noted in my journal at the time, having gone up with Evan in January 2014, that was a more than fair price. I just checked and now they're charging $20 per person. I'd get annoyed by that, except it's still about 1/3 less the cost of the Space Needle, and the rationale is the same as with the Space Needle: a) if people will pay it, they may as well charge it; and b) they may very well have gotten overrun with crowds at the lower price. I'm sure I'll go back up again one of these days and whatever they're charging, I'll be happy to pay.
I remember when the observation deck at the Smith Tower was only $7. Now it's $12 for locals with a Washington State ID if you buy in person, and $17.10 if you buy online. Considering how close I live to downtown, that actually strikes me as better for the value than either the Space Needle or the Columbia Center. So, still more than fair -- and I'm honestly surprised the Smith Tower prices have not gone up more than they have. Hey, how about we compare respective heights of local observatories? Fun!
(These are the heights of the space where you go for observatories or observation decks -- not the total height of the structures.)
Columbia Center: 902 ft (73rd floor)
Space Needle: 520 ft
Smith Tower: 432 ft (35th floor)
Top of the Hilton Restaurant: 237 ft (25th floor)
Seattle Great Wheel height: 175 ft
I nearly spaced o the Top of the Hilton Restaurant, actually -- and only added that collection of 8 photo sets after thinking about it when writing out the above list. I had brunch there for my Birth Week with Auntie Rose every year between 2005 and 2011, with an extra meal there with Nikki during her weekend visit in 2009. Auntie Rose and I finally stopped going there every year for my Birth Week after the visit there in 2011 disappointed. But! That was now seven years ago, and who knows, maybe the food and service is better again? I'd be willing to give it another try -- if for no other reason than, again, the view would be much different now with all the new skyscrapers having been erected in the meantime. Oh, wait -- Yelp indicates the place is now closed, and their most recent review is from 2014. It looks very much now like it's been converted to a private event space. Shit! Just like the restaurant that used to be at the top of the Roosevelt Hotel!
I guess the Top of the Hilton collection won't be getting any more photo sets added to it any time soon.
Oh, I just remembered -- there may be a new one, though, to kind of replace The Top of the Hilton! I also discovered this morning that the Hotel Deca in the U District was closed down, but soon to be re-opened as a "Graduate Hotel," complete with a rooftop bar and restaurant!
Now, that building is only 16 floors, and with a rooftop height of 194 ft, the dining height at the Top of the Hilton at 237 ft would be replaced by about 182 ft. But it's better than nothing! Also, a completely different neighborhood and thus a much different view -- expansive view of the Seattle Skyline, if from much further away. I'm really looking forward to it, in any case. I guess once that happens the list would have to be changed to this:
Columbia Center: 902 ft (73rd floor)
Space Needle: 520 ft
Smith Tower: 432 ft (35th floor)
The Graduate Hotel: 194 ft (16th floor)
Seattle Great Wheel height: 175 ft
I do feel like Seattle needs more observatories and/or top-floor restaurants and bars. This is a pretty good list to choose from, though.
Oh hey I guess we shouldn't discount the view from work! I do love the view from our 5th-floor patio, to the south (skyline) and to the west (Puget Sound / Olympic Mountains). That doesn't quite qualify as an "observatory," of course, but from this position right by the water, you don't have to get that high above the ground to get spectacular views.
Was there something else for me to tell you about today? Not really. It was relatively late in the evening once I finished writing about my Labor Day Weekend last night (also it just occurred to me I'm wearing white today). Then I watched episode 3 of season one of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which I am enjoying, but I must say it's really contrived -- nothing even remotely realistic about it. But, still fun to watch, so whatever. I watched on my iPad as I put the just-washed linens back on both Shobhit's and my bed and on the guest bed. So I already don't have that to worry about. Then I put away the just-washed (and of course, like the sheets, just-dried) towels and then I went to bed.
[posted 12:34 pm]