Magnificence in the Lower 48: Seattle and Gig Harbor, WA

Phew! What an experience Alaska was. The dreams have finally stopped. I think because I caught up with all the posts about Alaska, my mind could rest. I sure miss the wildness of it all, and the constant alertness for wildlife. But to be fair, our experiences in Gig Harbor and Seattle were pretty darn stimulating as well.

Mt. Rainier from Gig Harbor

Our good friends Nick and Cindy were kind enough to pick us up at the airport and once again welcome us in their wonderful home for a few days in Gig Harbor before we moved on. We really appreciated the time to rest and catch up with them and ourselves, plus we had so much fun and felt so comfortable with them and in their home. Cindy cooked some incredible meals for us while we were there; it was a relief to have home cooking again after all that restaurant food. We are so grateful for their friendship and generosity, and look forward to hanging out with them again in Florida, or sooner!

At Nick and Cindy's suggestions we took the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle one day to hang out downtown and to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Seattle Center "under" the Space Needle. What a great recommendation.

Bremerton (above) is one of our favorite places to observe marine life.  Under the marina is home to multiple varieties of invertebrate sea creatures. Below you can see different kinds of sea anenomes and crustaceans clinging to the sides of the floating dock. 

We also saw sea stars, jelly fish, and this cute little guy swimming around. Maybe it was 5 inches long.  I'd call it a sea taco, but I think it's a nudibranch. Flabellina trephina would be my uneducated guess. (Who knew there was a Sea Slug Forum? You can find anything online.)

I'm usually more than camera shy, but Rick managed to get a shot of me enjoying the ferry ride and the beautiful weather we had for it.

As we docked in Seattle, another ferry just like ours was pulling out.

Although we've been to Seattle before, we haven't really given it enough of our time. We aren't so comfortable in cities, and tend to avoid them. But with directions and suggestions from Nick and Cindy, we felt more confident. Walking from the ferry to the Space Needle was a perfect way to see some of the highlights of the city.

Passing through Pikes Place Market is a sensory extravaganza - in good and bad ways.

In case you didn't know, or couldn't guess - this is the Space Needle

The Space Needle is just one of the most visible components of the Seattle Center, a campus of museums and other attractions, originally constructed for the 1962 World's Fair.  Chihuly Garden and Glass is one of the permanent exhibits on the campus. 

Most readers will have some familiarity with Dale Chihly's work, as he is one of the most prolific and well placed artists in the USA. His works are often featured in botanical gardens, arranged  dramatically among the plant life, mimicking and complementing their organic forms.

In this collection, much of Chihuly's work is displayed chronologically in more a traditional gallery setting, surrounded by black walls and strategically lighted to emphasize color and shape.  The first gallery is the Glass Forest, from the 1970s.

The next room also features Chihuly's personal collection of Native American baskets and trade blankets, the inspirations for his works called Cylinders (two photos below) placed strategically in the same space.

The next collection, the Sea Life Room was one of my favorites, and echoed our experience earlier in the day in Bremerton. Here were Chihuly's vessels topped with black and gold sea life forms such as these turtles and octopi. 

After being in the somewhat understated black and gold of the Sea Life Room, the colors and dynamics of the next room were almost mind blowing. There was a total traffic jam at the entry way, with people taking pictures or just being silently stunned by their first sight of the presentation.  I hope you can see why the Mille Fiori is the show stopper.

It kind of reminds me of Pikes Place Market, now that I look back on it. The next room had two wooden boats in it, one filled with glass spheres called Niijima Floats and the other with what Chihuly calls Ikebana Forms, inspired by Japanese flower arrangement. Like so many of his works, the wooden boats reflect images of Chihuly's childhood home in Puget Sound.

The next gallery displayed about five of Chihuly's Chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. This one is in my favorite color.

On to the room holding some of his Persian Forms. Elsewhere they were displayed in smaller, flatter forms en masse in a glass ceiling like this... 

...but sometimes the Persian Forms are these very large containers. 

The apogee of the exhibit was the Glasshouse, right below the Space Needle.

Chihully loved glass conservatories, and has exhibited his works in many. Here he designed his own to house one of his grand "exotic plants."

We exited the Glasshouse into the gardens, and strolled through a more dense and finely integrated version of the Chihuly garden displays we have seen elsewhere. Unlike others, this garden was designed and created to permanently compliment his work, rather than to simply display it temporarily, resulting in a more dense and integrated effect. 

A large sunburst centerpiece of the garden:

What a beautiful day. It seemed to be woven together with some kind of grand aesthetic intention, from the abundant sea life in Bremerton to the flowing organic forms of Chihuly; from the colorful and exuberant sensory experience of Pikes Place to the magnificent intensity of Mille Fiori.

Was it art reflecting life, or life reflecting art?

Nashville, TN: LIGHT by Bruce Munro at Cheekwood Gardens

Cheekwood Gardens and Art is located southwest of Nashville in the upscale suburb of Belle Meade, which was once a single plantation of 5,400 acres. Cheekwood was the home of the Cheek family, who made their fortune with Maxwell House coffee.  Incidentally, the Maxwell House was a hotel in Nashville where they served Cheek's unique coffee blend, which Teddy Roosevelt supposedly called "good the the last drop" - thus the well known slogan.

Cheekwood is now a botanical garden and art museum housing antiques and contemporary art.  This summer and fall they were hosting an unusual kind of exhibit, LIGHT, by Bruce Munro. We arrived just before sunset, and parked very close to the Visitor's Center.  On our way out, about two hours later, we saw cars parked much, much farther away, on either side of the entry driveway all the way to the road. Our early arrival was a great idea.

We strolled through the gardens, waiting for darkness and the illumination of the exhibit.  This is what the section called "Field of Lights" looked like before dark. 

We took the Carell Woodland Sculpture Trail through the woods and saw about eight permanent large sculptures before emerging at the Japanese Garden where we saw Munro's "Candelight" against a back drop of golden gingko trees...

..."Blue Moon" in the Japanese dry lake

...and "Fireflies" in the bamboo forest.

The path led us to "Light Reservation," a grouping of about ten blinking neon tipi-like structures, 

just as the sun disappeared and the sliver of moon appeared.  I thought the natural twilight outshone this one by a long shot.

As we approached the mansion, it was finally dark enough to appreciate the "Field of Lights."

We didn't even know that the museum was going to be open, but inside there were more surprises awaiting. It was a truly elegant building. Rick was completed enamored. It's architectural style was balanced and subtle, yet finely detailed. We walked through a few rooms filled with china and silver collectibles and then came upon two glorious creations by Munro that were part of the LIGHT exhibit.  The first was "Light Shower."  The effect was created by curtains of fiber optics ending in crystals. The reflections in the windows looked like brilliant stars. 

Here's how it looked from outside.

And here's how it looked from below.

The second, and most breathtaking of the evening, was the "Bell Drop Chandelier" 

hanging in the grand central staircase. 

Each filament ended in a silver light emitting bell. Here's the view from below.

The three story staircase wound around it, allowing a 360 degree view from top to bottom. Here is the side view, looking through the shower of light at other traditional chandeliers down the hall.

After standing entranced by the "Bell Drop Chandelier" with our mouths hanging open for long enough, we exited the mansion to see yet another view of "Field of Lights."

We made our way back to the entrance of the park, to see the last segment of the exhibit, "Water-Towers." The towers were made with recycled one liter bottles filled with water and fiber optics. 

The jewel colors of each tower changed very gradually, and on top of that, beautiful music was coming from inside each tower. As we walked through and around the towers, I found the experience completely enchanting. 

It was such an unusual and inspiring evening. It felt like we had been in another world. 

Well, that's the last of our reports from the world of Music City. We always end these extended visits saying to each other that one month is just right to get to know an place, and we felt that way again, about Nashville. It's quite a town, and we're ready to move on. 

Nashville, TN: It' all about the music

...and we did our very best to honor Nashville's title of Music City. After getting warmed up with the Country Music Hall of Fame last week, we ventured on to the live music venues. (Even before arriving in Nashville I stealthily procured tickets to the Grand Ole Opry to see a "Big Name" in country music.) But our first live music experience was at Music City Roots at the Loveless Cafe, or actually the Loveless Barn out back.

The Loveless Cafe is one of the those places my hair dresser recommended, and though we didn't get there for a down home country dinner, we did get there for the music. In back of the cafe and the cutesy little Southern tourist shops, is the music venue that houses Music City Roots. Roots hosts the new and aspiring musician crowd, about five bands per evening. We saw Jonathon Scales Forchestra, Daniel Romano, Sturgille Simpson, Amanda Shores, and Leftover Salmon. One of the hosts, in the photo above, is a good ole local favorite, Jim Lauderdale.  Now, to be completely frank, we weren't wild about any of these folks, though they all had plenty of talent.  The big problem was that the volume was so loud that we were blown out of our seats by the second act. Too bad, because some of them might have been much more enjoyable with better sound engineering. 

On the other hand, our evening at the Grand Ole Opry was acoustic perfection.  I had been at the Opry about 40 (gasp!) years ago and saw some of the old timers: Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, Tex Ritter and more. That was some experience. Then the Ryman Auditorium, which was synonymous with the Opry, closed down and the Opry show moved out to Opryland. I never saw it there, but I am in vicarious agreement with common sentiment that it just wasn't the same. But, the happy ending to the story is that now the Ryman Auditorium is refurbished and open again and hosts the Grand Ole Opry show about half the time.  

We got there early and had time to look around, take pictures and wear out our butts on the hard pews that are still the only seating at the Ryman. Smart audience members bring cushions. 

There are two levels, and our seats were on the lower level, under the balcony, and (apologies to Rick) behind a pillar. Well, not completely behind it; we could still see around it, but had to do the "lean to the left - lean to the right" dance all evening.

Here's the view from the tip-top location of the sound booth. And, as I mentioned, the sound was perfection. Not too loud and clear as a bell. You could understand what everyone was saying all the time. The Grand Ole' Opry has always been a radio show, so there are announcers who orchestrate the whole thing and engage the audience in clapping at the right times.  

By the time the show started it was a completely full house. The show is divided in to four equal sections, with a different musical host for each, and one or two artists per section.  The hosts for the evening were Jeannie Seely, The Whites, Connie Smith and John Conlee who I gather are the regulars. They each sang a couple of old favorites and introduced the featured acts. Those were: Sara Haze (sweet), The Roys (traditional bluegrass), Jesse McReynolds (mandolin player extraordinaire, Opry member since 1964), Josh Turner (a very handsome baritone - popular with the young women in the crowd), Jim Lauderdale (yes of Music Roots - sounding better here), Chris Janson (young and exuberant!!!), and...

...Little Big Town!!! You may (or may not) know them from their very fun hit song "Pontoon."

They were all great. Although some were more well known to us that others, they were all performers of the highest quality, and the Ryman just takes the cake. If you're ever in Nashville, DO THIS.

The other place where Nashville music and party lovers go is "honky tonkin'" in "The District." A honky tonk is a dive where there is live music, plenty to drink and few inhibitions. Broadway and Printer's Row are the prime locations to go honky tonkin', so that's where we went.  Here you see the intersection of old and new on Broadway. That's the AT&T building, looking like Batman overlooking Gotham City.

Now, those readers who know us probably know that we are not bar hoppers, and one of us does not, has not ever, imbibed.  So this was a really unusual event for us. We got some support from our good friends Nick & Cindy who stopped in Nashville on their way to Florida.  We couldn't have done it without them.  We headed downtown early, before dark and before the crowds, we hoped. It was a good plan, because by the time it got dark, the place was hoppin'. In fact, it was hopping when we got there, but not as crowded as it would get later. 

Our first stop, or pass through I should say, was Legends. 

Most of the places have front and back/side doors to ease "just passin' through."

Here's a snap of the inside. It's a typical setup. 

Bar near the back, seating or dance floor in the middle, and the loud band in the window. 

The music up and down the street is a mix of top ten country, rock/country fusion and some older country here and there.  We stopped for a snack and beverage at Rippy's, where there were three bands in three rooms on two floors. In any location you could hear all three, so they had to play loud enough to drown one another out. You can imagine, I'm sure. The open air second floor of Rippy's seems to be a favorite spot. We actually found a room right next door to sit for a drink and a plate of nachos where there wasn't a band, so we could hear each other talk.

We got a great view of Broadway from Rippy's. We even saw Elvis. 

Across the street is the infamous Tootsie's. We braved that place last. 

Just a few doors down the street was Ernest Tubb's Music Store, a traditional place to get your country and blue grass CD's if you haven't discovered I-Tunes yet, or if you're just caught up in the whole country music thing of the moment.

As the evening progressed, we had only one encounter with a drunk local boy at the Swinging Doors Saloon, who took offense at Rick's Patriot's hat.  I'm surprised it didn't happen more than once.  

Later the carriages came out to convey weary or romantic music lovers around the town. 

But for the fun-loving hard-drinkers, the Pedal Tavern is an alternative mode of transport, as long as you have the strength and where-with-all to stay on your seat. We stuck with walking.

Finally we tackled Tootsie's, thanks to Cindy. She was right, as long as you're here you might as well see it all. And Bobby, the nice guy who cut my hair, said that Tootsie's was the most disgusting place ever but we had to see it. He was right too. Here's a view from the back stairs, looking through the bar toward the front. The walls are lined with old autographed photos that are coated with smoke and dust and seem to be rotting in their frames. The floor is sticky and littered. And everyone is having a ball. We got in and out long enough to get the idea. 

Now here's the kicker. The best music we heard all night was coming out of this utility box.  

Really. Only in Nashville.