Anyway, Kat, Phil and I decided on a whim yesterday morning to go get some breakfast at this really hip little old-style restaraunt. Really neat place, built up like an old-tyme country store.... and their breakfast was absolutely the best I've ever had! It was an odd eclectic little mix of things... avocado, zucchini squash, spinach, tomatoes (yes, i'm finally trying to expand my palette a bit :), apple sausage and a muffin! That was several plates, but we all ordered something different and kinda split it all up since no one could make a decision on one thing to order :)
This place was so unique that I had to get a few shots. Here's a couple shots of the front porch.
And another, down the side...
We left there and headed toward downtown Tacoma and check out the Tacoma Glass Museum (turns out that the guy who is most famous for using glass as an art-form is originally from Tacoma and started a school and has been selling glass pieces worldwide now for many years, so there's glass sculpture EVERYWHERE! Pretty neat stuff really.
The glass museum is right on the water, in one of the many trade channels that run from Commencement Bay (South Puget Sound) into Tacoma. This entire channel was basically one gigantic marina.
All over the waterfront area there were these old buildings that had been turned into fancy condos. I was tempted to walk into the leasing office just for entertainment purpose, but managed to hold my curiosity back... I know they're waaaay more than I'll be able to afford for quite a while.
The glass museum had this HUGE thing sticking up out of the ground. It was pretty neat lookin.... I kept referring to it as the 'cement mixer' but It was meant to be the 'afterburner' of a downed spacecraft (a play on the space needle's landing coverup? j/k)
At the top of the stairs, just up from the marina was a good size reflection pool, fed by (man-made) waterfalls that stretched down from the top of the building...
Here's the feeder falls...
I got a kick outta these... they were up all around the many reflection pools surrounding the museum.
And now for the highlight of the museum...
These were all on a bridge over the interstate between the two main sections of the museum in a huge outdoor exhibit.
They're all lit up at night... neat display.
Here's a shot of the bridge (that all the glass is on...). The big blue things look like rock candy or balloons as you approach from the interstate.
They separated the two exhibits... the second was all a part of the ceiling of a covered part of the bridge.
I tried to get a few shots to get perspective....
... and one close enough to get some detail
The old train station had been restored and converted into the Tacoma courthouse.
A random shot across the street... they had historical figures up on banners all over the area.
Lots of archways.
Phil and I got cozy with the traveler (outside the front entrance to Union Station -- now the courthouse)
Really neat architecture everywhere...
After the museum we decided to just hike around the city center.
There were these cool little parks in random places throughout town, great place to sit and eat lunch, or just reflect.
The old Tacoma clock tower -- this thing was HUGE!
We also saw the 'largest totem pole in the world' in Fireman's Park.
Or so the inscription read...
Another really cool building, hard to tell here, but that brown granite had water flowing over it.
Looking up...
Some say that you haven't really seen a city until you've spent some time in it's alleyways :)
After our walk we found a neat bar downtown, just up from the University of Washington Tacoma (go figure eh?) that was having a benefit blues jam. There were some great tunes there, so we spent the rest of the evening here.
That's all folks! Well, at least until next time anyway.
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