Call me names like “promdi” “inosente” or “manul” (Ilonggo term for innocent and naïve”), etc., I don’t really mind as long as I have expressed how happy and excited I was with my first hand snow encounter. It was on a summer when I last visited the Land of Honey as the United States of America is known for. That was several years ago after which I told myself that if ever I should have a chance to come back, I’ll make sure it would be on a winter time so I can experience snow though I know that it doesn’t snow in Daly City where I normally stay with my childhood friend Carina except when we go to Tahoe.

I was so much blessed this time when my long time friend way back in my college years invited me over and sent me a round-trip ticket to Seattle Washington to spend a week with her. My snow hunting arounf the City proved unworthy but thanks to Rhona’s friend Teresa who happened to know my desire to experience snow so they drove me to Snoqualmie and Leavenworth which was about 2 hours drive from North Seattle. So there! It was a dream that came true! No wonder I couldn’t express how grateful I was for the “snow experience I had. It was a once in a lifetime experience not everyone can have the chance to.

Thanks to my longtime college friend Rhona for sponsoring my Seattle spree from the – round trip plane ticket from San Francisco to Seattle, accommodation, good food, souvenir items and the tour. Succeeding posts will feature Seattle’s bests!

The Space Needle is a tower in Seattle, Washington and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World’s Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over 2.3 million visitors in all for the World Fair. The Space Needle is 605 feet (184 m) high at its highest point and 138 feet (42 m) wide at its widest point and weighs 9,550 tons. When it was completed it was the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River. It is built to withstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour (89 m/s) and earthquakes of up to 9.1 magnitude, which would protect the structure against an earthquake as powerful as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. The tower also has 25 lightning rods on its roof to prevent lightning damage.

The Space Needle features an observation deck at 520 feet (160 m), and a gift shop with the rotating SkyCity restaurant at 500 feet (150 m). From the top of the Needle, one can see not only the Downtown Seattle skyline, but also the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay and surrounding islands. Photographs of the Seattle skyline often show the Space Needle in a prominent position, even appearing to tower above the rest of the city’s skyscrapers, as well as Mount Rainier in the background. This occurs because the tower, which is equivalent in height to a 60-story building, stands more than a kilometer northwest of most downtown skyscrapers.

Visitors can reach the top of the Space Needle via elevators that travel at 10 miles per hour (4.5 m/s). The trip takes 43 seconds, and some tourists wait in hour-long lines in order to ascend to the top of the tower. On windy days, the elevators are slowed down to a speed of 5 miles per hour (2.2 m/s). The Space Needle was designated a historic landmark on April 19, 1999 by the City’s Landmarks Preservation Board.