Seattle’s Space Needle—“The 400 Day Wonder”

Many moons ago I lived in Seattle for a couple of years. Regrettably, I never had a chance to do many attractions like Pike Place Market, Microsoft, Boeing, or the Washington State Capitol in Olympia. Sadly, I was never able to take a ride to the top of the Space Needle. Yes, it is a tourist trap, but one I had wished I had done while living right there. Happily I was finally able to on our last visit to Seattle. It was truly amazing and I am glad Gene and I got to experience it together. Of course it was not typical Seattle weather and it was quite hot that day. I kept telling Gene this is not the Seattle I remember. Not sure if he believed me or not. Either way, it was a beautiful day and the views were phenomenal.

For those of you who may not know, the Space Needle was originally built for the 1962 World’s Fair, which drew over 2.3 million visitors, when nearly 20,000 people a day used its elevators. There was a record-breaking goal of being built in a little over a year, to be featured at the opening of the World’s Fair on April 21, 1962. When construction was successfully finished in 400 days, US Steel dubbed the Space Needle “The 400 Day Wonder.” It is 605 feet high, 138 feet wide, weighs 9,550 tons, and was built to withstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour as well as earthquakes of up to 9.1 magnitudes. That was crazy to learn but does help you feel a little safer while you are up there.

We hadn’t bought tickets before we got there, so we just went up to one of the little kiosks and purchased them right there on to the spot. They are timed, but there was a long line so we got in line and slowly made our way to the elevators. Right before we got to the front of the line they had people taking pictures of your group. The nice thing is they are digital so you can save them and share them (like I did below)

We took a short ride in their glass elevator up 520 feet to their Observation Desk. From there we were able to get our first 360° views of what they call the Emerald City. You can walk around the entire observation deck either outside or inside depending on the weather. I have to say that I actually left later that afternoon with a little bit of a sunburn, which is quite rare in Seattle. I mean who brings suntan lotion to Seattle, lol? I lived there for a few years and I do not remember 4-5 days in a row with so much sun. Sounds almost like an oxymoron, sunburn, and Seattle, lol.

On a side note, we were there the morning before the Angels played the Mariners at Safeco Field and I was quite pleased to run into quite a few Angels Fans 🙂 We even ran into a couple later that night at the game. It was so much fun taking in all the views from the top of the world even if it was quite a warm day. I am not a real big heat person, so I just kept going in and out and grabbed a couple of drinks at their little snack bar. Even inside the views are incredible.

While walking around, besides the city, we were able to see Mt. Rainier, Puget Sound, Lake Washington, just to name a few. We also enjoyed watching a few ships come and go. It was nice that it is timed to go up, but no limit on how long you can be up there. It would have been nice to have planned it like we did at some of the other towers and be there as the sun set on Seattle.

However we had the game later that afternoon, so we just soaked up as much of the ambience as we could while we were there. It would be nice to visit again sometime in the evening and have dinner at their restaurant called SkyCity. It is quite pricy, but it does include a visit to the observation deck. I heard that they have wonderful chefs and the food is superb.

As i sit and write this post, I find it funny to realize we toured the Empire State Building, The Willis (Sears) Tower, the Space Needle, and Lookout Tower at Harbour Centre in Vancouver, Canada all in the same year. Such an amazing blessing that wasn’t even planned, it just sort of fell together. Here is a link to their website if you want to plan your own trip. Happy travels.