Books

Come on by for a book signing event in Seattle

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THURSDAY: a “Chat & Chew” at Ivar’s Salmon House in Seattle

When we’re not visiting airports, we’re checking out odd museums and unusual attractions in Seattle and beyond.

We often write about those places here. And once in a while, we put them together in a book.

The 2nd edition of our guidebook, “111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss,” is just out. And on Thursday, October 12, 2023, from 6 pm to 8 pm, we’ll be at Ivar’s Salmon House in Seattle for a meet & greet to celebrate some of the city’s most amusing & intriguing attractions featured in the guide.

Ivar’s Salmon House is one of the chapters in the guidebook and the evening will begin with a manager’s tour of the hidden and not-so-hidden treasures on site, including whale oosiks, wonderful carvings, and a collection of antique canoes.

The evening will also feature a heavy appetizer buffet with crab cakes, salmon skewers, Ivar’s famous clam chowder, and more plus a short program highlighting a handful of favorite spots in the book.

Representatives from some of the places featured in the guidebook will be joining us, so you’ll get to meet them as well.

We’ll of course have copies of “111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss” available for sale at a great price. (Think holiday gifts, date nights, and places to send your out-of-town visitors).

This is a ticketed event (the appetizer buffet alone should make it worth it!) and you’ll get 50% off if you use the code FRIENDSANDFAMILY when purchasing your ticket online.

If you’re in or around Seattle on Thursday evening between 6 and 8 pm, we hope to see you at Ivar’s Salmon House for a chat & chew, tour, and book signing event at Ivar’s Salmon House.

Enter through the giant whale’s mouth.

Guest Appearance On The ‘Eat Drink Sleep Repeat’ podcast

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Allison Ramirez and Omar Lewis host the Eat Drink Sleep Repeat podcast in which they chat with all sorts of people about all things travel, with an emphasis on food and culture.

They were kind enough to invite me along for one of those chats. During the wide-ranging podcast recording, we covered a lot of topics, including odd and quirky museums, old food, our favorite cities, and many of the places I included in the “111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss” guidebook (now going into its 2nd printing).

If you’ve got some free time this weekend, give it a listen. And sign up to follow the Eat Drink Sleep Repeat podcast for more.

For National Book Lovers Day: our new book

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Amelia Earhart Reading,” International Women’s Air & Space Museum,

August 9 was National Book Lovers Day and we celebrated by visiting some of the places in Seattle that are featured in our new book, 111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss, which begins shipping today.

The book is part of the international 111 Places series, which offers locals and experienced travelers guides to hidden treasures, overlooked gems, and charming curious places in great cities.

For the Seattle guide, I’m pointing readers to many airport and aviation-related items around town, including the art collections at both Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and King County International Airport – Boeing Field (BFI).

Richard Elliot’s ‘Eyes on the World’ at SEA
Brad Miller’s “30,000 Feet” Photo by Joe Freemans Courtesy 4Culture

The Museum of Flight is represented in the book, with the story of the Taylor Aerocar, an early flying car that worked.

Taylor Aerocar III, one wing folded back for ground travel, one wing attached for flight.

And we also point people to the tiny pocket park on the shores of Lake Union where they’ll find a plaque marking the spot where the first Boeing plane took off.

The plaque reads “From this site, Boeing launched it first airplane, the B&W, in 1916.”

Of course, there are plenty of other non-aviation sites in the book, including the Giant Shoe Museum, the world’s greenest commercial building, a haunted staircase, the Rubber Chicken Museum, a shop where you can buy personalized magic wands, the place where you can rent a rowboat for free, and lots more.

We hope you’ll get a copy of 111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss from your favorite bookseller.

More libraries at airports for Nat’l Library Week

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This week we’re marking National Library Week by highlighting libraries of all sorts at airports.

We started earlier this week with an airport library list put together by the Stuck at the Airport librarian that includes libraries, book exchanges, and short story dispensers at more than 10 airports stretching from Amsterdam to Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Here are some more libraries to look for at airports around the country. Let us know if we missed yours.

Here’s the FLYBRARY (get it?) at Redmond Municipal Airport (RDM) in Oregon.

And here are some little libraries from Houston’s William B. Hobby (HOU) and George Bush International Airport (IAH).

And Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) is very proud of its library too.

Celebrate National Library Week – at the airport

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Once upon a time, libraries were common at airports. Imagine being able to take out a book at the library branch at Nashville International Airport (BNA)

Airports still have libraries, and places to get free books. But now they take a different form.

For National Library Week, we’ll see how many examples we can find.

Here’s the free Book Exchange in Terminal A-West at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Aiport (AMS) has a free 24-hour library.

Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) has a Free Take Book, Leave a Book Library that, evidently, will be larger soon.

San Fransisco International Airport (SFO) is home to the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum (long title!) – but as of this writing, the website says the space is currently closed for construction.

And last time we checked, more than half a dozen airports, had short story dispensers on site.

PHL short story dispenser
Courtesy PHL Airport

The list includes:

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)

Eastern Iowa Airport (CID),

Akron-Canton Airport (AK)

Dane County Regional Airport, (MSN) Madison, Wisconsin-

Oakland International Airport (OAK)

Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)

Capital Region International Airport (LAN), Lansing, Michigan

We’ll try to add to our list of airport libraries later in the week. Let us know which ones we’ve missed.