I love Seattle. I love its zany architecture, crazy ass hill climbs, scenic views, and even its weather. It’s been so awesome having several weeks to explore this city (penthouse living, baby– yeah!), mainly so we can discover random gems like this one:
Quick! RUN FOR COVER!! Baby’s gonna blow!
This is not just any restroom sign. It’s a full-scale, life-sized, labor-intensive tiled mosaic that not-so-discretely lets visitors know where they can do their business at the famed Pike Place Market. I haven’t pictured the ‘mom’ part of the mosaic in this particular photo, but I can assure you she’s pretty casual looking. The Girl Child, on the other hand, seems to have more of an, um, urgent spring in her step, and the Dad? Well. I think that Dad has a Diaper Emergency on his hands… literally, from the looks of it.
I’m just picturing the commissioning process for this mural:
Pike Place Market: We need you to lay some tile downstairs. Huge mural. It’s going to be brilliant. The baby needs to be at arm’s length from the dad. I’m talking Dad Arms at 90-degrees. Everyone except mom needs to be breaking into a run.
Artist: Um, okay?
Pike Place Market: Make sure the Girl Child is almost as tall as an adult female. Dad needs to be a freaking giant. Baby will do a superhero pose– it’s going to be awesome.
Artist:Â And you’ll pay me?
Pike Place Market: Of course! We value all artists here in Seattle!
Artist: In that case, show me that cash money and hand me the grout.
Love you, Seattle!
zona pellucida 
Haha! I love this. I also love Seattle. One day I hope to go back and visit.
It’s a long way from Maine to Seattle, though. But! If you ever make the journey out west, Victoria is a 3-hour ferry ride from downtown Seattle. DO EET!
Wow, you’re that close to Seattle, Dana??
Victoria is a 2.5hr ferry ride from downtown Seattle. (Plus the time it takes to go through customs.) We got to spend 2+ weeks there over Christmas and New Year’s, which is one of the greatest things that’s happened in my life recently. SO FUN!
OMG, this is hilarious, Dana! I’m with you (and Darla). I LOVE Seattle. And I love it even more after seeing this mural. How did I miss it? Must have skipped that bathroom.
Sara and I had guests from the US for the holidays and then did some travel between here and Quito. Trying now to get back into the swing of things.
Hope you and Marty had a great holiday.
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
I think Seattle just has a lovable quality to it. I really, really, REALLY enjoyed our time there (and have been sick as a dog since we got back to Victoria, natch.) If you ever make it back to Seattle, well, obviously you’ll have to check out this mosaic “piece de resistance” in person. 😉
The mosaic is almost as good as your description of it. I love your Sunday signage.
Thanks, Lisa. I love finding signs to use in future Sunday Signage posts, so when I came across this GIGANTIC mosaic, I knew it was meant to be. 🙂
Great way to start my Sunday! Thanks, Dana!
Yer welcome! I noticed later that they also have mini versions of that mosaic posted throughout Pike Place Market. Gotta run with the theme… so to speak. 🙂 Hope you’re having a great day so far!
Whoa, amazing! It’s hard to know what happened there. Artists taking advantage of their power to do something ridiculous? Terrible drawing-to-grout translation? I do appreciate the sheer amount of unnecessary work that went into this though.
Hahaha– I never thought of it that way. Have you seen the movie “This is Spinal Tap”? It reminds me of when they commission that artist to build them life-sized Stonehenge sculptures for their upcoming concert but put 12″ instead of 12′ on their specs. Hahahaha– and then the “dwarves” end up being giants dancing around these 1-foot Stonehenges. LOVE IT! (I’ll be entertained all day just thinking about the drawing-to-grout FAIL.)
Haha, YES I’ve seen that movie! Hilarious.
P.S. you should have seen the Gingerbread Stonehenge we made this year. It was glorious!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen ‘gingerbread’ and ‘Stonehenge’ in the same sentence before! And now, I must know: do you have photos of this festive mastery?
But of course! I needed to show off this magnificent creation. I’ll get them to you somehow.
YES! You can e-mail me: dana DOT m DOT machacek AT gmail DOT com (I know, lots of dots and random letters.) CAN’T WAIT!!
LOVE Seattle and love, Love, LOVE your hysterical Q&A session!
Thanks, Laurie! Every day in Seattle was a goldmine! If I wasn’t finding random signs, I was taking in gorgeous art, amazing architecture, or beautiful scenery. Sigh. It’s hard to believe the experience is over now…
I love this! Part informational sign, part morality tale about the dangers of waiting until the last minute.
Gotta love the tile-and-grout Cautionary Tales! I am almost certain that baby is sprouting leaks…
LOL! I love this. Yet another reason to visit Seattle some day. 🙂
The reasons keep adding up, don’t they? 🙂
Look I can finally post. Wow, now that’s signage is awesome. So glad you are blogging again. Cheers
Yeah! Not sure what the issue would have been before. (Technology issues hurt my brain!)
Thanks for reading, and I hope you and Todd are having a great start to the new year!
This is hilarious Dana! I think I might make it my phone background….
Haha– DO EET! I had the same thought, so great minds think alike. 🙂
Ha, baby’s gonna blow! That’s awesome, Dana. I’ve seen so many guys hold a baby like that and then hand it to mom. I always enjoyed the whole baby thing. Absolutely nothing more peaceful than holding a baby.
You know, I always wanted to see Seattle when we lived on the West Coast. Never made it there. Heard it’s a fab city.
Hahaha, I’m surprised mom’s not pictured to the right of dad instead of nonchalantly on the left. She must have gotten tired of the whole “Blowing Baby Handoff”. 🙂
And yes, Seattle is a magnificent city! It was such a treat to see it for longer than 2 days. (There is a ferry deal between Vic and Seattle, so usually we end up doing a 2 night stay, which isn’t nearly long enough! This time, though, we were staying at a friend’s place right in the center of downtown. It was AWESOME! If you ever get a chance to come back out to the coast, I’d really recommend the city.) Hope your new year is off to a good start, MJ!
Glad you got to stay there for a good long visit. So much better to see a great city for a longer period of time. Seems we working joe’s just don’t get enough vacation days, doesn’t it?
So far 2014 is looking good. Hope it’s a great one for you and you man, as well, Dana!
This is so funny! You gotta love restroom signs. They are the best. And this one might be the winner of all time!
Restroom signs are definitely awesome, Kathy. You and I both know this well. 🙂
HA!! Right on Seattle. I’m glad it’s the dad running and Mom is super casual for a change.
Right? Seattle is so progressive!