The Jimi Hendrix Experience

I went on a business trip last week to Seattle to attend a few days of meetings.  We had a very nice ride to the airport in an ExecuCar Lincoln Town car and took off from Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Airport at 4:10 PM on Valentine's Day.  We landed in Seattle to dreary grey skies and rain.  Unfortunately, the weather pretty much stayed that way for the whole trip with only a brief glimpse of the sun on one day.  I know for certain that I would need to take antidepressants if we had to live there!

We stayed at the Embassy Suites on West Valley Highway near SeaTac Airport.  Unfortunately, the hotel was undergoing extensive renovations and it was a mess!  Our room was okay, but the heat wasn't working very well.  The maintenance guy was very nice and brought us a space heater to make things better.  He also gave us some vouchers for Dinner at Basil's, which is the hotel's restaurant.  We had an excellent steak dinner with great service there on our second night in Seattle!

Although the weather in Seattle is dismal during the Winter, every meal that we had there was fantastic!  I highly recommend a place named Stanfords at 7380 Southcenter Parkway in Tukwila!  Their Filet Mignon is perfection and the Bread Pudding dessert is to die for!  It was so good that we had dinner there twice during our visit!  Despite the dismal weather, almost every person who we encountered there was very pleasant and helpful!

The highlight of the whole trip came on our last evening in Seattle.  I knew from some of the Seattle folks that I've worked with that Jimi Hendrix's grave at the Greenwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Renton was not too far from the Kent campus.  So, I Googled how far it was from our hotel and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was less than five miles away!   Since the cemetery closes at dusk, we decided to head over there right after I got off of work. 

We pulled into the cemetery and saw the memorial's dome right away.  The Hendrix Family has a nice welcome sign posted in the front.  It reads as follows:  "Welcome.  We are honored by your visit.  This memorial has been erected in the loving memory of Jimi Hendrix for friends and fans to come reflect.  We respectfully ask that you help us pay tribute to Jimi by leaving the memorial tidy and litter free for others to enjoy.  Thank you for your kind consideration.  Stay experienced, The Hendrix Family".

Welcome Sign to the Memorial

As we approached the memorial, I thought to myself that it reminds me very much of Stonehedge:

Entrance to the Memorial

As we got closer, we saw the first etching of Jimi. There is a marble block that looks like a table inside the memorial, which is placed directly over where he is buried.  Visitors often leave beautiful flowers and fan bags here containing photos of Jimi.  When we got to the front steps, the lovely smell of incense greeted us.  There were flowers on the table and several other places within the memorial.

Front of Memorial

We walked inside the memorial and looked around.  Here I am standing in front of one of the three beautiful etchings of Jimi in the marble on each of the three columns:

Mae standing by Marble Etching of Jimi

Many women have kissed Jimi's face on this etching:

So many kisses on Jimi's face!

Here's a closer look at this etching.  All of the etchings in the memorial contain writing in Jimi's hand.  This one contains the Story of Life lyrics:  The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye;  the story of love - is hello and goodbye, until we meet again.

The Story of Life Etching

Here's a picture of the plaque underneath the etching.  It contains what looks like the original draft of  the lyrics for the song Angel:

Angel Lyrics on Plaque

Here's a picture of another beautiful etching of Jimi with his guitar. The writing contains some of the Straight Ahead lyrics:  Straight ahead, woman and child, man and wife.  The best love to have, is love of life. Pass it on.

Pass it On

There's a marble plaque below this etching that contains the lyrics of Voodoo Child:

Voodoo Child (Tight Return) Lyrics

Here is Tegan standing by the etching on the third column, which contains the Message to Love lyrics: Message to Love, everybody come alive, everybody love alive, everybody hear my message.

.Tegan and The Message of Love

The plaque below this contains the lyrics to Little Wing: Well, she's walking through the clouds,

With a circus mind that's running wild, Butterflies and Zebras, and Moonbeams and fairy tales.
That's all she ever thinks about, riding with the wind, When I'm sad, she comes to me,
With a thousand smiles she gives to me free. it's alright, she says it's alright,
Take anything you want from me, anything, fly on little wing.

Little Wing Lyrics on Plaque

Jimi's signature is on a panel outside the memorial:

Jimi's Signature

There's another panel on the outside of the memorial with a beautiful etching of Jimi:

James M. "Jimi" Hendrix - 1942 - 1970

We went outside the back of the memorial and saw a beautiful marble sundial:

Tegan standing by the sundial

Here's a picture of the side of the memorial, where "Jimi Hendrix Memorial" is engraved on the side.  There's also a handicap ramp installed for visitors in wheelchairs.

Jimi Hendrix Memorial

The rest of the cemetery is very beautiful as well.  There is a large South Vietnamese section with a pagoda and unique gravestones:

South Vietnamese Section of the Cemetery

Dusk was almost upon us by the time we made our way out to the sundial, so we had to leave before the cemetery was closed for the night.

We said our goodbyes to Jimi and were very glad that we were able to have such a special Jimi Hendrix Experience!