The Infamous Space Needle

 View from my hotel

 Cruise ship docked in Puget Sound

 Looking out into Puget Sound

 City of Seattle. Mt. Ranier is in the background but the snow-capped mountain top looked more like clouds

 From the ground looking up

Weird straw garden at the base of the space needle

Today I went to the Space Needle after the conference. The sky was a beautiful blue with only a few small clouds here and there, so the visibility was great. I can see the needle from my hotel, so the first thing I noticed is that it is colorful and not nearly as tall as I thought it would be. Maybe it's an optical illusion from the ground, but I expected it to be more grandeur than what it actually is. From watching the opening of Grey's Anatomy for the past several years, I expected the needle to be solid white and  towering over everything. The observation deck is 520 ft. above ground making it the tallest observation tower in Seattle, however, there are 5 skyscrapers that are actually taller than the needle. Perhaps a helicopter tour of Seattle and an aerial view of the needle would make it appear more like the movies do. So, for $19, I was a bit disappointed. It's one of those things I can say I did but I wouldn't pay to go to the top again.