Books

Fresh art at MSP + Airport libraries

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Fresh art at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

The Arts@MSP program at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) presents to new temporary exhibits.

Purely Textual Map Point, by Alison Price,  is a collection of organic and mineral structures on canvas wity metal leaf, glass, handmade paper and found metal. Look for the display in MSP Terminal 1, near Gat C6 through April 1, 2026.

Chorus, by Alexandra Beaumont, celebrates “the freedom and power of the dance floor,” and is a 12X48-foot artpiece made up of 36 hand-sewn squares of textile collages.

Look for Chorus in Terminal 1, on the Tram East platform through March 1, 2027

Pick up a book at the airport

Last week was National Library Week and a good time to remind travelers that many airports maintain book corners where travelers can leave a book they’ve finished reading and pick up a new one. For free.

The tradition of airport libraries goes back to 1962, when a branch of the Nashville Public Library opened at Nashville International Airport (BNA).

Staffed by a librarian who received an extra $4 in her paycheck to cover airport parking, the Nashville Public Library reading room was the first time a public library was established in a municipal airport.

As a bonus, patrons could check out reproductions of well-known artworks.

These days, airport libraries come in a variety of formats. Here’s a sampling.

Miami International Airport (MIA) has a mini-lending library that holds up to 100 books at a time.

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) has a book exchange center in Terminal A.

And at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library shares space with the Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum on the Departures Level of the International Terminal Main Hall.

You’ll also spot Little Free Libraries at many airports.

Here’s a pretty one at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).

Let us know when you spot a library at an airport you’re passing through.

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.