Chewy, gooey gum wall of Seattle
A visitor adds some chew to the gum wall
Having just written about the spines of cacti, I thought it was worth mentioning the other sticky find we made.
I’m talking about Seattle’s gum wall—considered to be the world’s second germiest tourist destination (the Blarney Stone is No. 1). My cousin, Colleen, took us there as part of a tour of the remarkable Pike Place Market.
Officially known as the Market Theatre Gum Wall, this landmark is covered in used chewing gum—lots and lots of it. The 15-foot-high wall extends for 50 feet and some parts are several inches deep in gum! Some people even create artworks out of their old chews.
Dripping good fun
The gum-sticking tradition began almost 20 years ago when patrons at Seattle’s Theatre Sports stuck gum to the wall and added coins to the blobs. Theater workers scraped the gum away twice, but eventually gave up after market officials decided the gooey wall made for a good tourist attraction.
Seattle’s ghost tour starts by the gum wall and apparently it’s a popular spot for wedding photographs. A scene in the movie, Love Happens, was shot there.
This isn’t the only unusual wall we have seen on our travels. Check out our trips to the John Lennon Wall and love locks of Prague.
Where to next? 
Kissed the Blarney Stone as “When in Rome (or Ireland lol) do what the Leprchauns do!!
Never thought at the time, suspended upsidedown kissing this stone about the germs too! 🙂
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Personally I don’t worry too much about germs, but I sure wouldn’t be kissing the gum wall.
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I’m almost sorry I missed that when we were in Seattle.
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It’s quite a sight.
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I’m grateful not to have known about it when we visited. Although that was years ago–maybe it didn’t exist yet.
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Judging from the layers of gum, I think it’s been there for a long, long time.
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My Heart Needs A Home
Doesn’t yours? Roaming Merrie Woods and Toxaway Falls
where kayaks glide, cattails distend into cottony seed puffs,
we discover the essence of each other. Photos snapped as wind
comes to sailing level entertain beneath Jackson’s half dome.
Gems, but mostly agates, sit underground, along river beds,
few found. Lips feel the feathery touch of willow, tangled
hair straightens at fingers command, knees bent, prone to the
correct angle to capture sunbathing elder who reads as he sits
in an Adirondack chair on the eastern continental divide, three
thousand four hundred eighty six feet, make it eighty five,
above sea level. Black bear images at first fool newcomers,
into serenity, but the live scroungers will be around in person.
This is where it all begins. Doe emerges below newly stained
deck, wobbles, shakes off mom’s sticky womb extras. Walking
the lake trail, finding the right overlook, slipping on mossy rocks,
launching tomorrow today. Misunderstandings disappear when
genuine care initiates a navigational victory on the Blue Ridge
looking south to the Smokeys, in the servants’ staircase, among
well-planted gardens, over festive lunch, a metaphor of chicken,
enjoyed with the self esteem of roast beef on gluten-free bread.
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Did the gum wall inspire all that?
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Play
AUGUST 1, 2014 / DOUGSTUBER / EDIT
Play
Brandy barks at swooping swallows,
Life, lowered to one foot or so
In summer time is simple,
As the lure of tired dogs and clover
Greets only those who need to play.
Scampering down outside stairs
Past the skidding bicycle marks
To a tumbling fit of joy
Goes the only daily memory
Of a happiness once known.
Landing in a pile of limbs,
Which includes the golden hair
That shines of wetness on the
Back of Brandy, the player
Laughs at the summer sun.
How long will it be
Before the play begins again,
Before the youthful joy
Once known appears, before
The love, if ever, returns?
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Chewing gum certainly has an effect on you!
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