Scottland . . . Freak Out!!!

So, as I was saying before I got derailed by relating my impression of the train wreck that is "Paul Allen's Science Fiction Hall of Crap I Think Is Cool" I was talking about how I finally "did" the Space Needle.

It was a lot more interesting than I expected, for a couple of reasons. Suzanne had told me that I would find the description of the markers pointing out various buildings a lot more interesting than your average tourist, on account of actually knowing what those buildings are. She was correct about that, though I already knew what most of the buildings were. I finally did learn what that big building on top of Queen Anne Hill used to be. Yes, that used to be Queen Anne High School. I think I might have heard that before, but it never really stuck in my head for some reason.

The ride up the Space Needle in the elevators was exciting, as I haven't been in exterior elevators with glass walls very often before. The observation deck was interesting in that it was completely encased in fence now. There's literally no way to jump off the space needle unless you're a Chihuahua (and if you are please jump) or somehow manage to sneak up bolt cutters and a hack saw. The view was about the same as the view from the 65th floor of the "Columbia Tower" as it used to be called. One major difference though was that the lack of a glass window between you and the rest of the world really brought things into sharper focus. I'd also recently had the lenses on my glasses updated, and I was amazed at how sharp and crisp everything looked.

But really, the most entertaining part of the whole experience was Scottland. Before we'd left his place for the Seattle Center, he'd informed me that he didn't like heights. I think maybe I didn't understand just how serious he was about that. I mean, I get a little uneasy about heights, but usually only in a situation that provides some real amount of danger. His fear borders on an actual phobia.

As we exited the Science Fiction Museum, I noticed that the clouds were looking pretty ugly, so I suggested we skip our plans to eat first and just go straight to the Space Needle. That's when his face turned a little white and he got a lot less relaxed. The whole way from the Science Fiction Museum to the base of the Space Needle I kept giving him the chance to wait for me at the bottom, but he kept refusing. Once we actually bought our tickets I could sense that his dread had bumped up even more. He started telling me that he was going to have to turn towards the inside wall of the elevator once we got into it. At this point, I was taking everything he said literally, so I wasn't surprised when he walked back and stood facing the wall of the elevator while the other passengers and myself piled on. I wish I'd thought to take a picture. It was kind of amusing.

Once we got out of the elevator, things were a lot better for him. He managed to walk around the deck with his eyes open and didn't seem to nervous. He even managed to get near the edge with me for some photos of the two of us and the Seattle sky-line. I was very proud of him. At one point, as we were walking around the outside deck, the wind started blowing very hard. I got a little worried that it was going to whip my glasses off my head and blow them into the abyss below. Scottland had gone completely silent at that point and I turned to see where he was. He was following close behind me, only he was hunched over to about 3/4 of his normal height and was somehow managing to walk forward even though he was turn inwards towards the wall. Once we got out of the windy part, I stopped and he sat down near one of the benches.

We went inside after we had the before mentioned pictures of us taken and stood in line for some hot drinks. While waiting, I made a joke about wondering if I could knock the space needle down if I jumped hard enough. Scottland was relaxed enough at this point to laugh and try to take a picture of me as I bounced up and down while in line for coffee. Isn't it great? It sorta looks like one of those weirdly angled pictures that guys online take to make themselves look different, if they think that a normally angled picture is unattractive. We did one for Scottland too. Doesn't he look fantastic? I love a man with gigantic nostrils.


After we got our hot drinks we took the elevator back down to the gift shop and looked around. Sadly, there were no books on the geology of Washington or Seattle, so I left empty handed. Scottland has subsequently remarked about a thousand times how amazing it was that I was able to get him up to the Space Needle at all, and how relaxed he was about the whole thing.

All in all, the Space Needle was fun, and everyone should do it once. Just don't eat at the restaurant. I hear it's awful.