With our crazy busy lives it’s been difficult to go on proper dates; let alone vacation. L and I haven’t had an official vacation since last year’s spring break trip to New York City.

With three weeks to due-date we decided we would get in one last pre-baby day-cation. Left mid-morning for Seattle and arrive in the city by noon time.

We drove straight to  MoPop formally known as EMP; right next to the space needle and monorail. The Experience Music Project was a modern music and culture museum which hosted concerts and festivals year round. It was known for it’s interactive exhibits especially the sound lab where you could record music in studios and play instruments of all varieties. I was lucky to go to the museum for a college end of the year party and was able to return later bringing my brother and mother as well. L has never been and we thought this would be a great place to spend the day.

It’s been a few years since I have explored Seattle and of course that means some changes. EMP is now called MoPop. It still has plenty of interactive exhibits, music festivals, and the sound lab, but now the focus shifted to a wider Museum of Popular Culture.

We started with the indie-gaming exhibit.  We read he history of gaming technology and tried out demos of recent games put out by local and independent gaming programmers. L probably had more fun than me but I appreciated the history and art of programming.

After this we explored the basement floor exhibits of sci-fiction and horror. We were happy to see props from some of our favorite sci-fi movies and shows including light-sabers and hover boards. L enjoyed guessing which weapons came from which sci-fi shows and confirming it using the computer database. We glimpsed quickly through the horror exhibit and headed back upstairs .

I loved the way the fantasy exhibit was designed. You open a huge wooden door to pine needles on the floor of a dimly lite forest, in the center is a large tree made of silver dragon scales. Highlights of this exhibit include costumes, art, and weaponry from many famous fantasy movies as well as many interactive programs, one allowed you to create your own fantasy world map.

The traveling star-trek exhibit is a celebration of 50 years of the TV series(es) and movies. I only in the last year watched a few TV episodes via netflix and have seen the most recent movies. L who knows more of the star trek world  enjoyed the exhibit but was not impressed enough for the five extra dollars to view it.

Other than these, we explored the exhibit detailing the history of guitar technology over time; especially amplifying sound and the creation of electric guitars. L liked the guitar tree, a staple piece of the museum. However we were a little disappointed to see the third floor interactions with the tree, where you can use computer screens to play guitars on the tree, did not seem to be working. We also walked around the sound lab, which was very busy with high school students on field trips.

We left the museum a little before closing time, drove South to Olympia where we had dinner at a brewpub. Afterwards L treated me to a late night (well at least for us) movie date  before we headed home. A very full day-cation before baby Greene arrives.

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