Did you know Friday was National Bubble Gum Day? I posted a snap on my Instagram in honor of the day, but thought I would share a few more related pics in a blog post. While I haven't shared much from our west coast trip from last year (me being lazy, like usual), I did get some of my pictures sorted to finally start sharing with you all. On the last morning of our road trip, we woke in Seattle. We had a few early hours to kill before having to catch our flight, so we caught an Uber to Pike Place Market. We were just going to grab a Starbucks at the original store, but Allison mentioned maybe taking a short walk to The Great Gum Wall. Now, this was before Coronavirus was making news, so we didn't think much about walking this weird, but overall nasty little alleyway. Today, though, I'd probably need a hazmat suit just to go anywhere near it LOL.



People have been sticking their used chewing gum to the brick wall since the 1990's, and since it's only been cleaned once since, there is A LOT of gum accumulation on the walls! It is said that when it was cleaned in 2015, some sections of the wall were thick with several inches of gum, and 2,350 pounds were removed in total. They did try to keep it clean, but people were sticking gum to the wall at rates faster than it could be cleaned off, so they gave up on the effort. Allison and I did leave our own little mark, because when in Rome...
Yes, we did sanitize very well after leaving our mark. Seattle's Gum Wall made the list of top 5 germiest tourist attractions in 2009, right up there with
The Blarney Stone, which we did kiss on our visit to Ireland a few years back. I suppose we have a subconscious desire to tempt the fate of the germ gods while we travel.
Some people get creative with their chewing gum and draw pictures or spell out words. Others use it as a sticky tape to post messages to the wall.
I hear it gets to smelling really rank in the hot summer months. Thankfully, we were there in January, so there wasn't any heat to warm up the stench. It didn't smell bad during the short time we were there.
I did have to wonder what anyone from somewhere like Singapore would think of coming to Seattle and seeing the gum wall. They can't even have chewing gum there, confiscating it before you can bring it through customs, I'm told.
Once you get over the ick factor, it is a wild little area that makes for a colorful backdrop for pictures. Probably not something I'm keen to visit during a pandemic, but overall I'm glad we ventured over for a peek.
What's your favorite flavor of chewing gum?