Chronicle News Editor Rose Cisneros traveled to Seattle, Washington, recently on her way to Oahu, Hawaii. She spent a full day soaking up the experiences Seattle has to offer. This is part of her series.

As reluctant as I was to leave Pike Place Market, I still had so much of Seattle to see.

I said goodbye to my new friends from my food tour group and set off for my next adventure.

A mile’s walk from the Market is the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit.

I’ve been an admirer of Dale Chihuly’s work since middle school when I saw a photo of the glass ceiling installation he created for the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

Glass blowing and sculpture is a hot, labor-intensive skill which requires the utmost precision. Chihuly’s work makes the craft look easy.

The exhibit was more beautiful than I had imagined. The glass pieces on display ranged from small baskets and drinking glasses, to a 20-feet-tall ocean-themed sculpture which included hundreds of hand-blown fish, shells and sea stars.

My favorite installation was the Ikebana and Float Boats room. It was inspired by Japanese Ikebana rowboats and Finnish Niijima Floats.

The result is a dreamlike spectacle of life-sized wooden rowboats filled and spilling huge glass “bubbles” of every color imaginable. The colorful orbs reflect back against a black, polished marble floor which makes the boats appear to be suspended in a floating pool of water.

It was truly wondrous to behold.

Outside in the gardens, more glass pieces are sprinkled in amongst the flower beds.

The museum even had a glass blowing demonstration set up for visitors. The artist and an assistant spent 45 minutes heating, stretching and rolling a chunk of glass into a small vase.

All that work for something so small. I wondered how many thousands of hours must have gone into creating the beauty I had just witnessed in the museum.

Looking up from the magic of the gardens, I saw my next target – the Space Needle.

The Space Needle was built in the Seattle Center for the 1962 World’s Fair, which drew over 2.3 million visitors. Nearly 20,000 people a day used its elevators during the event.

At 605 feet tall, it would be the farthest I had ever been off the ground, outside of an airplane.

As someone who doesn’t particularly care for heights, I was nervous.

It took 43 seconds for the elevator to reach the tower’s top level, 520 feet above Seattle. Not having a panic-attack during that ride up is still one of my life’s great accomplishments.

Once we reached the top and the elevator doors opened, however, all my fears were forgotten.

Looking out from the 365-degree observation deck, my view seemed endless. I saw the downtown Seattle skyline, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Lake Union, Elliott Bay and its surrounding islands.

I could have spent all day up there at the top of the world, but I had one more fear to face – the rotating glass floor.

The Loupe, as it’s called, offers a view straight down to the ground from 500 feet. Its construction reveals the counter-weights and cogs which allow the entire floor to make a full rotation every hour. The glass garden I was standing in mere minutes ago now appeared smaller than my shoe.

This tourist attraction is not for the faint of heart. But there’s a reason it still stands as an icon of Seattle.

So far off the ground, I felt invincible for those moments. I was able to pause and reflect for just a few minutes about how beautiful this city, this day was. And just how lucky and proud of myself I was for making it to the top.

Next: Straight off the plane to a waterfall in Hawaii