After five nights sleeping in a van (mostly, by a river), we did enjoy the luxury of a hotel room. Hot showers, thick mattresses and layers of warm blankets are all wonderful inventions, and we indulged. BUT, it also felt somewhat sterile. Without the smells and sounds of the forest outside, maybe the plink of light rain on the metal roof, we could have been anywhere. Our sense of immersion in place eroded in the hotel, and it was almost too easy to grab coffee in the morning (without having to fire up the stove and make it). Importantly, though, we had a place to keep our stuff for one more day while we went downtown to play tourist.

Our first stop was an early morning appointment to return Bones to the rental lot. That process went well, quick and easy. The odometer showed we traveled 1,207 miles in the past week, and Bones waw still going strong at over 338k. The van had certainly been good to us, and I’m glad my wife had the idea to begin with!

A couple years ago, my wife had planted the seed to go and visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. There were several reasons – 1) One of our sons is at school at Tennessee in Knoxville (reasonably close), 2) It’s pretty, particularly when all the flowers are blooming in the spring, and 3) the Biltmore was hosting an exhibition of glass sculpture work by Chihuly, whose work she found particularly interesting.

Unfortunately, (certainly more for the residents of NC than for us), Hurricane Helene tore through the area in September of 2024 and made an Asheville visit difficult. (I’ve since contributed to the local economy in other ways, backpacking in the Smokies). That said, Chihuly’s home gallery is in downtown Seattle, adjacent to the Space Needle, so that became a target to-do for us while in town. The combo tickets to go see the Chihuly exhibit and the Space Needle was a pretty convenient opportunity for us to be stereotypical tourists. Space Needle entry is timed because of space constraints, so we elected to go see that first.

But first, coffee and croissants! We grabbed an Uber from Escape Campervans into town and found a nice coffee shop to kill some time.

The Space Needle is an interesting thing. From a tourist’s perspective, it’s really just an elevated viewing platform in unique architecture. It’s a landmark, sure, but the experience can really be boiled down to “tall thing with windows”. I did enjoy it, though. The line to go up winds around the interior perimeter past displays on how it was built. I found the whole space race aesthetic to be interesting – the Needle was built for the 1962 World’s Fair, with the expressed desire to create a distinct skyline for the city of Seattle. When completed, it was (briefly) the tallest structure in the US west of the Mississippi River at 605 feet, with a viewing platform at 520 feet and a rotating restaurant just beneath. Knowing that this structure came together in the age of Buck Rogers, the Jetsons, and the original Corvette Stingray ground it solidly in a time where technology and progress equated to pointy and shiny. It fits.

As was the norm for us, the weather was gorgeous and the views clear. We looked north across Puget Sound, south into downtown Seattle, northeast across Lake Union… I wound up following a seaplane or two out of the Kenmore base on the lake. Most of them seemed to be doing sightseeing flights around the city, and past the needle, though I know they fly out to the San Juans and other points as well. I’ve missed several opportunities to go finish up a seaplane rating (Flying Squirrel, remember), and so I watched these planes with envy. Someday.

The lower level of the Needle’s accessible area is home to the rotating bar and restaurant. Obviously, the center portion is stationary (it holds the elevators), so there’s a seam in the floor here beyond which the whole thing is moving slowly clockwise. It’s not fast, and it’s easy to navigate, but it can be disorienting without outside references. There were times when I found myself looking inward, and it was very hard to tell whether I was moving, or the other section was moving. It’s definitely a place where your inner ear and vision can get into conflict with one another. Sitting out at the bar watching the world go by seems like it would be nice, though.

When we’d had enough, the lines to go back down had started to extend beyond the inner section. This caused some problems when folks realized that the stationary line in which they were waiting was slowly moving past the elevators, and people wound up having to squeeze into the small, stationary waiting area before being swept “downstream” beyond it. It was good for some good group laughter and bonding, dealing with the unplanned difficulty, and we were all happy when the next elevator pulled in a new load of people and gave us all some more room.

Once again on ground level, we headed over to the Chihuly exhibit. It’s really best described as two different experiences: an indoor dark gallery where targeted lighting brings life to glass sculptures, and an outdoor gallery where glass blends with plants.

The glasswork here is really unique. It’s very vibrantly colored, and in very atypical shapes. There are many forms that evoke tentacles or plant fronds, and then others that are spun into shallow crenellated bowls and plates. The indoor galleries are arranged thematically. One room evokes a coral reef and undersea life. Another is inspired by Native American art and basketry. Another is filled with “chandeliers” of clustered shapes hanging from the ceiling. The way the light plays through these clusters is beautiful, and there always seems to be more detail to explore. These sculptures reveal more and more the longer you examine them.

Moving outside, the first stage is a transition through a greenhouse-like structure filled with large glass flowers overhead. From the right angles, the Space Needle looms overhead past the sculptures.

Then outside, there are garden fronds made of red, blue, yellow and purple glass. There are shapes evocative of fungus, and there are pedestals that sprout glass flowers in all directions. The centerpiece of the outdoor area is a large glass “sun”, made from very organic-looking tentacles of yellow and orange glass. It’s extremely pretty, and unique.

Our last experience with Chihuly was an outdoor glass-blowing demonstration. The pair of artists here were making various vases that were being sold to raise funds for the local artisans’ guild. They make it look so simple. The quality of the work here made us go back to the gift shop underneath the Needle to see what glasswork was offered. Had we not feared for its safety during transit, we might have picked up a nice vase, but we elected not to.

From here, we were generally coasting towards home. We had talked about going and taking a ferry across to Bainbridge just to see Seattle from the water, but fatigue was catching up with us. We wound up grabbing lunch at a Greek place, and then walking back toward Pike Place and the subway station a few blocks west. From there, we were able to ride the train all the way out to SEA-TAC airport, which left us only a few tenths of a mile from our hotel.

We’d packed a lot of exploration into a short week, but we were ready to get home. Time zone changes were going to be working against us on the way back home, so we’d have an early morning, a long day, and still get home late.

It was a great trip, and it opened up opportunities and considerations for us as we look at future opportunities. Turns out van life suits us well!

Get Out There