Wrapping up our Tour of Seattle and tying a bow on it…
On Monday, we spent the day hanging about on the boat. I finally serviced the forward manual head, replacing the top plate valves and the joker valve, the result of which was a like-new head that works well and no longer smells. Yay!
On Tuesday, Eric from Sure Marine Service and Joe Miller from Miller and Miller met us at the boat in the morning as we departed, determined to figure out what was wrong with the heater. Joe brought back our filled propane tanks as promised. While they worked we Uber’d up to the Space Needle to meet my parents and my nephew for a family day at the Pacific Science Center.
It’s the first time I’ve been to the Science Center in many years and it’s certainly been updated but still somehow feels a bit old at the same time. We learned about dinosaurs, space, physics, body health, and insects. There is an awesome butterfly exhibit where you can walk inside and the butterflies live inside. Unfortunately, Morgan didn’t want to go in because she was afraid to let the butterflies land on her. So, we checked out the other insects, naked rats, etc and moved on. Outside we played with some water physics toys, spraying a generator wheel with a high-pressure water gun, and walking inside a water wheel.
After all the science, it was time for some food, so we left the Science Center and walked over to the Armory, another part of the Seattle Center — which in addition to the Science Center and Armory (formerly the Center House) also includes the Space Needle, Key Arena, the Monorail station, and the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit.
The Armory was built in 1939 as an Armory for the 146th Field Artillery Division and its tanks. Later in 1962 the Armory was renamed the Center House as part of the Seattle Center construction for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle. It was the first vertical shopping mall. It now houses offices for the Seattle Center, some theaters, and a large food court. Lunch was a mix of Mexican and Subway sandwiches. After that we walked out to the “Artists at Play” playground which is basically pretty awesome. The playground sits where the Seattle Center used to have some small amusement rides.
After a nice afternoon with my parents they headed back home and Devon’s dad picked us up, took us to the boat to grab some laundry (what is this, college?) and our drone. Devon’s dad is working on a land deal and wanted some drone shots of the property. And we figured we could combine that with a little BBQ at their house for the kids. So we headed on up, dirty laundry in hand. After a run to Arlington for the drone shots, we relaxed at the house, had good food, wine, and discussion. In the end, both girls stayed the night with Grandma and we went back to the boat by ourselves.
While we were out, Joe Miller and Eric figured out that the electronic control module on the boiler was not working properly and replaced it, fixing the heater system finally. We ran the heater overnight and it worked great!
