Am I A Traveler Or A Tourist?

 Travel can be an enriching experience that helps people grow and discover their true selves. However, there is a supposedly a difference between being a tourist and a traveler. A definition that I found online is “Being a traveler means going beyond just visiting popular tourist destinations and instead immersing oneself in the local culture”. Being a tourist has a really bad rap – there is such a big deal that one should blend in and be a traveler, not a tourist.

I've been thinking about this for a bit. I do try to learn the local customs and try to learn the polite words in whatever place I'm in, whether it is Iowa or Prague. I also try to visit the famous sites, the 'touristy sites' that an area is famous or infamous for. I mean, that is why I'm there.  There is nothing wrong with that. I heard somebody say that they would rather be a tourist someplace than sitting in front of their TV at home.

So what did I do in Seattle? I went to the top of the Space Needle. You can't get more touristy than that. Of course, it was another height challenge for me. It was built in for the 1962 World's Fair. After waiting in an ever moving line (cause there were a bunch of tourists there), you take an elevator up 520 ft. There used to be a revolving restaurant there but it is no more. The floor still slowly moves around the indoor observation area and can be a little disorientating. The real fun though is to go outside onto the observation deck and walk around looking at the city, Puget Sound AND AND AND Mt. Rainier. I had to go to the big city but I finally saw her. She was glorious.

Seattle Space Needle
One of the names that was considered was Star Tickler.  Too bad that name lost out. 

Somebody put giant spiders on their roof

There she is - off in the distance - Mt Rainier

Isn't she magnificent?

Another touristy place was the Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP). Hey – it is about culture, I guess that makes me a traveler. I was most interested in the music culture part of the museum but they also had science fiction and fantasy areas. They had a whole room dedicated to Seattle native, Jimi Hendrix.

These two need no introduction.

No visit to Seattle would be complete without another Chihuly visit. This was the Chihuly Garden and Glass. Besides the normal museum type displays, there was a huge conservatory type space and a garden which had Chihuly art glass interspersed in the greenery.

In the conservatory

It is glass

And more glass 

Not glass - nature

Last but not least was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center. The Foundation's goal is to “enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty across the world”. The current exhibit was about Sanitation – toilets and waste. It was actually pretty interesting. The Foundation's motto is “Arrive Curious Leave Inspired”.

Language Lesson

And with that, I shall end this blog.