Have a Couple Billion? Save the World

To find out what Trump could do with his billions other than making a fool of himself, he should come to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Visitor Center in Seattle, across the street from the Space Needle.  "Arrive Curious.  Leave Inspired," signs tell us on entry (admission is free) to the building.

In words, pictures, video and interactive displays you learn what the Gates Foundation has done around the world (did you know polio has been 90% eradicated?) and what the foundation has done in partnership with countless other foundations to make the world a better place.

There are so many needs from health to education to women's rights to agriculture to childbirth education and so many more...but changes are being made.  I am particularly interested in the water situation worldwide.  There was a great display about that, showing feet on the walkway.

There were standard buckets of water for you to pickup, like those on the heads of these children.  I could barely hold the weight, let alone think of carrying it 3 miles.  There were displays of simple water purification systems and one of the new design toilets.  I can't remember the percentage of the world population that has no sanitary place for elimination.  And to reinforce that message, if you take a run to the ladies' room, each door has a picture of toilet facilities in some 3rd world country.

And when you go in and sit down, there is a message on the inside of the door as well.

The whole thing was really a lot to take in but I left...inspired, so the center fulfilled its promise.

Then we walked across the street and through the park where the Space Needle is, to the Chilhuly Gallery, where we ate in the cafeteria.

Our table looked like it was part of the cafe at Lourdes.

But then we went into the gallery itself.  To call Dale Chilhuly a "glass sculptor" doesn't begin to do him justice.  There aren't enough superlatives.  The man's works are amazing...breathtaking.  This one was my favorite.

There were rooms after rooms of these gorgeous sculptures, some small, most very large, like this one which has a whole solarium devoted to it.

And in the garden there are globes and trees (that chartreuse thing on the right is a gorgeous tree) and grass like things.  Many of the globes reflect the Space Needle.

(If you look carefully you can see me at the bottom of the Space Needle shooting the photo.)

This was truly the highlight of the trip for both Ellen and me.  Spendy to see it, but worth every penny.

In the evening we went back to Dimitri's for dinner, this time joined by Mary's husband, Joe, who was finally able to get away.  We had a nice dinner (again) and then walked down by the shore to watch the sunset.

Tomorrow we are all headed home, and I will be sad to say goodbye to Mary and Ellen.  It has been wonderful spending time with both of them, and getting to know their respective spouses better.  The guys bonded over planes and trains.