One Park, One Museum, One Stamp at a Time
After a crazy summer, my wife and I entered into what seems like a just as crazy fall. I started my new job teaching in the Spokane area and my wife began her first semester as a full time student. She had been going to school at night for a couple of years and part of the reason we moved was so that she could focus on school full time. We each had spent long days and nights adjusting to our new environments and lives and were eager to sneak away for a weekend in Seattle, which meant that I could check a couple more NPS units off my list for the year. Wing Luke MuseumLocated in the Seattle Chinatown-International District, the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience is an affiliated area of the National Parks Service. We caught the light rail into Seattle from near the airport (we stayed with my aunt south of Seattle) and were able to get off in the heart of the Chinatown-International District. Seattle has long been a destination for Asian immigrants and, for a long time, Chinese immigrants in particular. The Wing is a beautiful museum in a renovated historic building in Chinatown. The museum has a number of exhibits that highlight the Asian Pacific American experience for people from various countries and cultures. There was an interesting section on cartoons that confront hate for South Asian and Middle Eastern Americans as well portrait galleries exploring the journeys of various Asian American groups. The museum offers a few tour options as well as their exhibit spaces. The admission ticket includes a tour of a historic Chinese run business and hotel which we participated in after a brief tour of the museum. They also offer a Chinatown tour and a Bruce Lee inspired tour that includes lunch at Lee's favorite restaurant. The hotel tour was interesting and provided me a new insight into the lives of recent immigrants to Seattle over the last hundred years. Many laborers would rent shared hotel rooms that provided little beyond a space to sleep while working to send money home to their families. The hotel had areas preserved to give guests a true experience of what the many hotels in Chinatown looked like as well as rooms designed to show what living spaces for families looked like over the years. Your admission is good for the day so I recommend taking the tour and leaving for awhile to grab lunch in Chinatown before returning to check out the exhibits. Klondike Gold Rush NHP - Seattle UnitA brief walk from the Chinatown-International District is the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park Seattle Unit. The Klondike Gold Rush NHP is located in the historic Pioneer Square area of Seattle, one of the oldest parts of the city. The entire area is a trip through history, but the Seattle Unit is a museum dedicated to the role Seattle played in the Klondike Gold Rush. As the nation's closest port city to Alaska and the Klondike, Seattle flourished during the Gold Rush. Thousands of treasure seekers flocked to Seattle to set off by land or sea for the prospect of gold to the north. The museum has two floors of exhibits and offers a couple of films on the gold rush. They have a little passport book of their own that guides you through the museum and each stage of a prospectors journey to the Klondike. They have little rubbing stamps that allow you to pass through each step in the journey. The NHP has also has a unit in Alaska that allows you to greater connect with the gold rush in that area as well. From the museum, we wandered around Pioneer Square and made our way to the Pike Place Market. There are also a couple of stamps available at the REI flagship store in Seattle which we took an urban hike to before heading home. We grabbed a beer at a cool brewery near Pike Place and had lunch at Piorshky Piorshky, which I highly recommend. Overall, we had an awesome day exploring Seattle. We had been to Seattle before but it is such an awesome city to wander around and experience. New Units Visited: 2*
Wing Luke Museum - Klondike Gold Rush NHP Total Affiliated Areas This Year: 23 Total Units: 31
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