Madame McNutty Needles My Homesick Space Again

Madame McNutty posted the above on Facebook yesterday. The McNutty comment accompanying the photo said...

"Beautiful! Seattle is such a fun city to visit with so much to see and do. Don't you think so, Jonesy? I've got to get back to Pike's Place Market next time I'm in Seattle!"

To which I replied...

"The out of control homeless problem is depressing to see, at least it was the last time I was in Seattle in August of 2017. The encampments along the freeway were shocking. But, other than that, downtown Seattle is like a theme park. Pike Place, Seattle Center, Pioneer Square, the Seahawks stadium, the Mariners Ballpark, the Monorail, multiple vertical malls, Chinatown, Uwajimaya, a transit tunnel zipping you from one end of downtown to the other, the waterfront, hop a ferry, ride the giant waterfront wheel. I was shocked at what it costs now to take the elevator up the Space Needle. Something like 27 bucks. It was under 5 the last time I visited the Needle. The changes wrought by Amazon at the north end of downtown are sort of shocking. Multiple skyscrapers and those cool Amazon spheres. The SLUT (South Lake Union Trolley) is a cool looking transit addition. I am looking forward to seeing the Seattle Waterfront without the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and driving through the new tunnel under Seattle. And I like the Independent Republic of Fremont. It's outside of downtown, but still adds to the theme park, and it's got cool relics of the Soviet Union, along with the Fremont Troll under the Aurora Bridge..."

I was wrong about how much it costs now to ride to the observation deck of the Space Needle. It costs more than I thought. An illustrative screen cap from the Space Needle website...

Yikes! And the price goes up during peak visiting hours from 11 AM - 8 PM.

The Space Needle has undergone a big renovation since I last rode to the top. If I remember right the renovation cost more than the original Needle. A blurb from the Seattle City Pass website details some of the Space Needle upgrades which I have not experienced...

Discover unparalleled views of Mt. Rainer to the south, the Cascade range to the East, and the majestic Olympics to the West from two levels, one with an all-glass floor and the other an open-air deck.

Float over Seattle as you sit back on one of the inclined glass benches in the open-air observation deck. Step out onto The Loupe, the world's first revolving glass floor, with Seattle at your feet.

The restaurant part of the Space Needle has always revolved, one time around per hour. But two observation levels is a new thing I did not know about. And one of those revolves, with, if I am understanding it correctly, both with see through glass floors to make acrophobes nervous. 

The new revolving lounge sounds fun. But, I am not understanding the name. Loupe Lounge? The descriptive text describing the Loupe Lounge, which I screen capped above, along with the Space Needle admission info, makes the Loupe Lounge sound fun...

"Orbit a while on the world's first and only revolving glass floor. Rotating between futuristic signature cocktails and twists on the classics, explore a new world of mixology high above Seattle at the Loupe Lounge."

I hazard to guess that those signature cocktails are likely costly, and consuming one or two would likely make one a bit Loopy, hence, maybe, the new version of spelling Loopy to name this lounge?

Exploring deeper into my revolving Space Needle floors confusions I found a couple illustrative photos, which, though illustrative, don't really resolve the revolving glass floor confusion. I expect I will be getting clarification from my relative Space Needle expert, Spencer Jack's primary paternal parental unit.

The above photo looks like how I remember the interior part of the Space Needle, but with the new glass floor. Is this the level with the Loupe Lounge? The windows also look different than I remember. 

In the next photo we step outside to the open air deck, which we can see does not have a glass floor.

The open air deck is sort of how I remember it. Except it looks like a glass wall has been added. I do not remember what the barrier wall used to be, but I know it was not a glass wall.

There had been a slight problem early on with the Space Needle with suicide jumpers. If I remember right that ring of cable you see outside the glass wall was added to make jumping difficult. And now, with a glass wall, pretty much impossible.

Seeing these photos of the view from the top of the Space Needle I'm guessing there are a lot of people who have seen plenty of photos of the Space Needle, iconic image of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, that it is, but have not seen what it looks like when you are the top of the Needle.

Well, now you have.

I wonder what Madame McNutty is going to homesick me with next...