Tacoma Glass Museum, Bumbershoot

The weekend started off early as the first of our visitors, Jen from North Carolina, flew in late Thursday night. Amy had me cleaning and cooking all week, so I was already a bit tired by the time the weekend came, but it was nice to finally meet Jen, and have our first visitor to take around Seattle. Friday morning Jen went into the city while Amy and I worked. Jen did her own exploration of museums and other sites. That night, I made reservations to eat at Salty's restaurant in Redondo Beach, which was right on the water overlooking the Puget Sound. Amy and I had gone to the Salty's in Alki Beach before, and just like the last time, the food didn't disappoint. The seafood was fresh, and the meal was delicious. The next morning we had plans to visit Tacoma, Washington (a first for Amy and I too) to visit the Museum of Glass featuring the works of Dale Chihuly, probably one of the most renowned glass artists today. Here's Jen standing next to the "Nice Glass" banner outside the museum. We've seen Chihuly's works on the ceiling of the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, in the Naples, FL art museum, and in the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. As we drove towards Tacoma, the oddly shaped spiral cone could be seen from the highway. It is the glass works hot shop where they have live exhibitions of glass making featuring artists from around the country. We also drove beneath Dale Chihuly's "bridge of glass" that is suspended over the highway to the museum. The bridge of glass was very interesting, first with big blocks of blue glass on poles that jetted hundreds of feet up into the air, very much resembling ice cubes or rock candy. Then, as you walk across the bridge, one of the walls consists of a large display of different pieces of glass art. Then, while walking in the tunnel, the entire ceiling holds more different pieces of glass art, much like the ceiling of the Bellagio hotel lobby in Las Vegas. Inside the museum, as soon as you walk up the stairs you are greeted by a beautiful reflecting pool, which is tiered from floor to floor, like a waterfall of pools. Inside the museum, they had some exhibitions closed, but we were able to see the Lino Tagliapietra exhibit, learning how he brought old Italian styles of glass blowing, and


basically transformed the art of today's American glass blowing culture. The pieces of glass art are amazing, and I personally like it because of the amazing symmetry and balance of all the
pieces. Also, the colors and shapes of the intricate pieces of glass were incredible. We also got to go into the Hot Shop where a small auditorium lies where you can see the artists actually make and blow glass art. You can feel the heat emanating from all those gas powered ovens and gas torches that were strewn about the shop, fires lit. It was amazing to see how they shape and mold the molten glass to just the right shape, but also, how tedious it is, putting in and taking out the glass from the oven, dozens of times before the shape is just right. They had ingenious ways to color the glass and mold the glass from different directions. It was very cool to see. We, well just Amy and Jen, saw a 45 minute movie on Lino, I fell asleep. Afterwards, we had plans to do a short little hike near Mt. Rainier so that Jen could have an up
close view of the mountain. We actually spent a little more time than we thought at the glass museum, and underestimated the time it would take to get to Rainier, so by the time we got up to the trails at Rainier, not only was it sunset, but the temperature had plummeted to a brisk 40 degrees. We didn't end up hiking at all, but got to stop at a small bridge to get a glimpse of Mt. Rainier as it had been hiding in the clouds all

day. Also, we stopped at Narada falls and took a few pictures. The scenic drive back was nice too...I just wish I had my


sports car and not Amy's big SUV to tackle those curves and turns. We stopped by a little restaurant on the way back called Copper Creek Inn, and had a decent dinner with some Awesome blackberry pie for dessert. We got back late that night, and prepared for Bumbershoot the next day. Bumbershoot is a big 3 day music festival that happens annually in Seattle Center. Early Sunday we woke up, met with some of my friends from work, and all headed down to Seattle. At first it wasn't that busy, but towards the end, the crowds were enormous. We stopped and listened to a few bands here and

there, we walked out of Keyshia Cole and T.I. because they were bad, but more thoroughly enjoyed the comedy shows. We got to see the stand up comedian, Greg Behrendt, who wrote the book, He's Just Not That Into You. We also saw comedians from MTV's Human Giant. We also got to see Australian Dancers, Strange Fruit, who were attached to these long poles and they swung back and forth acting out skits and plays. The highlight was seeing Doug Benson the stand up comedian from last comic standing last year, he was hilarious. After a long day of eating, listening to music, and watching comedy, we headed back to the house. The next AM we woke up late and drove out to visit 2 wineries and a brewery. We drove 45 minutes and first

visited the Red Hook Brewery. After an entertaining 45 minutes of tasting beers (for only $1) and going through the tour, we were nicely buzzed. So, we walked to the next winery called Chateau Ste. Michelle where we did a tour and some tasting. We countered the wine with some cheese curds from Beechers, and bagel chips. We then walked to Columbia Valley winery where we just did a tasting. We came out very buzzed and with only 1 bottle of Muscat Canelli white wine. We decided to sober up and eat before we went back home so we stopped back at Red Hook Brewery where Amy and Jen got to try their black porter ice cream




sundae before making the trip back home. We tried to have a relaxing evening as Jen packed for her flight the next day, and Amy napped. We watched a movie, had some cheese and crackers, and relaxed. Having Jen visit was a blast, and we look forward to seeing more friends come out and visit. Hopefully, by that time we will have moved out of this "Ghetto" and into a nicer place (I'm working on it). We have officially extended until 10/31 so if anyone wants to come out, they are welcome too....well actually, maybe not everyone....Until next week!! Puyallup Fair and maybe staying in a cabin up on Mt. Rainier depending on the weather.