We had two more items on our list of potentials, both of which we accomplished today.

“Untitled” by Jean-Michel Basquiat, August 2018

The first was the Seattle Art Museum,which is just three blocks (downhill) from our hotel. Honestly, it was never a “definite” on our list. In fact, it wasn’t until we got here and I was browsing the options that I decided it would be a nice thing to do. Interestingly, we’ve probably been to more museums on this trip than most of our past trips.

SAM exceeded our expectations.

Native American sculptures, August 2018

While the exhibit space only covered two floors in the building, we found most of them very interesting (1). The Basquiat piece is phenomenal, IMHO. There was a major exhibit of photographs by Edward S. Curtis, who took on the task of documenting Native Americans and the West while running a photography business in Seattle. There was a large collection of contemporary sculptures by Native Americans (2).

There was a collection of Asian porcelain, some Australian Aboriginal art, some classical American art, renaissance Italian and Spanish art.

After spending more time than we had expected at the Museum, we Ubered over to Pioneer Square.

UPS park and Firemen’s monument, Pioneer Square, August 2018

Pioneer Square is technically a small park at the edge of a district that has taken on its name. It’s billed as Seattle’s first neighborhood, but what we see now is not what was originally built there starting in 1852. Sadly, it all burned in the Great Fire of 1889. Many of the buildings, and most of the architectural styles, date from the rebuilding after the fire.

Wall art and tents on the sidewalk, August 2018

Seattle, like Vancouver, has a very visible homeless population. There was no section of the city that we were in that was free of them, but the small collection of tents pitched on the sidewalk in this area was notable.

We ended the day with dinner in the seafood restaurant in the hotel, as we had a credit from our travel agent to spend. It was very good, and almost everything Sally asked about was available garlic-free. And the credit was useful, as the salmon I had was $4,800 (3).

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(1) That excludes, of course, the modern abstract art like a wooden box that played recordings of the box being made, or the painting of a square titled “Square”. Or the mostly black canvas with a white “X” going from corner to corner, which was described as showing the texture of darkness, and the separation created by the X.

(2) The term “Native Americans” is in some sense misleading – it somehow implies they originated in this country, while they actually migrated (from Asia) like everyone else. I like the Canadian nomenclature: First Peoples. It correctly connotes that they were (merely) the first here, not that they arose here spontaneously.

(3) Just kidding. But it was the most expensive item on the menu.