Quotes of the day –
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, …… because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win ….” (J F Kennedy, 1962)
“This is what I wanted to do since I was a little kid. If you apply yourself, work hard to be persistent, and don’t give up, you can achieve anything you want to achieve.” (Michael Anderson, NASA Astronaut, 1959-2003)
“A city without a past, has no future” (Ben Speidel, Local Historian, Seattle)
“This is the least worst place” (Arthur A Denny, Founder of Seattle)
Our first full day in Seattle, which is already up there with DC on our list of favourites. On the south side of the city is the airport, the headquarters of the company Boeing, and the Museum of flight – which has several historic aircraft:
The supersonic concorde which could cross the Atlantic in the same time it takes to get from London to Newcastle by train.
The Air Force One plane which served Eisenhower and Kennedy – and in which Lyndon Johnson traveled to Dallas, following Kennedy’s assassination.
There is also an Apollo capsule and a prototype lunar buggy.
Back downtown and the origins of Seattle, Pioneer Square. When the first settlers searched for land on which to build, they chose an area with a bay on one side, and abundant woodland on another. The area was also uninhabited. The local indiginous tribes had decided not to use it over an 11,000 year period – something the foreign novices should have taken into account. It turns out the reason the land was uninhabited is the sea tide, which has a large reach. This and the hill behind the new settlement together created a public health nightmare – to be crude – loads of sh*t everywhere.
A fire in 1887 gave the city a chance to renew…
However the business district started to build again before the city authorities raised up the streets, and added a sewerage system. Ben Speidel’s Underground Tour is a chance to see some of the original buildings underground, before the roads were raised. Highly entertaining and very interesting…
And so another city visit draws to a close. Tomorrow we take the Coastal Starlight train to Emeryville, and a bus to San Francisco. Our next post will be in two days.
Love to all,
Mike x
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