We’ve spent 3 unexpected days in Gig Harbor. The day we were to drive closer to Seattle was so blustery and showery that we holed up in Gig Harbor. Driving the Lazy Daze with a tow car in bad weather through big cities (Tacoma) and complicated highway connections is not a good idea. So we found a pretty little RV park and settled down for some R&R. (Mostly for the rest, we’ve been doing a lot of recreation lately and could use a break.)
On Tuesday, we drove into Tacoma to visit the Museum of Glass. We found out that it is closed on Tuesdays (I didn’t read the AAA Tour Guide carefully enough) and returned to Gig Harbor disgruntled, though a pleasant lunch at the harbor improved my mood. Wednesday, we tried again and gained access to the really neat Museum of Glass, with galleries displaying a diversity of glass art. One installation titled “Glimmering Gone” by Ingalena Klenell and Beth Lipman, was amazing. Part of it was composed of thin sheets of uncolored glass, hung in layers to compose a landscape with mountains, a waterfall, a river and trees. We weren’t allowed to photograph it, but I’ve never seen anything like it. To see some pictures of the exhibition (but no pictures capture the intricacy and delicacy of this installation), use this link: http://museumofglass.org/page.aspx?pid=386
The Museum also has The Hot Shop, a glass-working area. Resident and visiting artists work with molten glass while the audience watches from a gallery. The artists are so casual, in t-shirts and shorts, handling torches and molten glass, seemingly without care. (I’m sure that’s not true.) The incredible 90-foot tower, pictured below, contains the Hot Shop.
Afterwards, we checked out the adjacent Bridge of Glass, that connects the Museum of Glass, over train tracks and freeway, to the beautifully restored Union Station. The glassworks displayed there are all by Dale Chihuly, and though I think some of his work is florid and over the top, many of the separate pieces displayed here were quite beautiful.
We found Dave’s birthday dinner in the Murano Hotel, a modern hotel that incorporates glass artwork throughout. The centerpiece in the restaurant wasn’t any glass artwork – it was the view of Mt. Rainier, floating in the distance. All of the wind and rain had cleared the air so we could see the mountain clearly. It has an imposing bulk. Dave’s dessert was comped as a birthday present from the hotel. After dinner, we revisited the Bridge of Glass in the dark and I took several pictures that indicate I wasn’t too steady with the camera.
We zoomed past Tacoma on Thursday, on our way to Redmond to visit Bev and Frank Seiter, some old friends who abandoned San Francisco many years ago. We spent a pleasant afternoon and evening, enjoying them and their backyard deck and Lulu, the very large cat. Frank still works (I guess somebody has to keep things running) and so we could only take Bev out for a late breakfast to a busy little Redmond diner. (The food just seems to keep coming.) On Friday we went north to Bothell and had fun in an Edmonds restaurant with my Uncle Stan and Cousin Kim and her boyfriend, Ed. Stan is doing great for being 90. (I missed his big birthday party earlier this year.)
We drove into Seattle proper on Saturday to check out the Photo Center Northwest, a good photographic gallery. We also visited the Frye Museum, but the part of their permanent collection we were interested in (Hopper, Wyeth, etc.) wasn’t up. Oh well. We then went over to Washington Park and walked through the various gardens and an Ikebana display. The weather is cloudy but is holding out, so far.
Sunday we changed RV parks to a cheaper, more convenient place with satellite reception. After all, the new season of Dexter was starting, and we wanted to see what the mass murderer was up to. After settling in, we took advantage of another not-quite-rainy day and drove down to the Space Needle. It wasn’t too crowded and the views were very good, although Mt. Rainier was hiding in the clouds. After relaxing over a coffee at the top of the needle, we dropped down and circled the Experience Music Project, a fantastic building. We’ll go inside on another day.
After enjoying the Olympic Sculpture Park by the water, we got back in the car just as the rain got serious. We experienced heavy rain for the 16-mile drive back, but we weren’t out in it, so we didn’t care.
We drove downtown again on Monday and the clouds never let loose on us. We walked around Pike Place Market and met an old friend, Mike Milne, for coffee at (where else in Seattle?) Starbucks. Mike, poor thing, is still working, so we comforted him as best we could and wandered off as he went back to work. The highlight of the afternoon was the Seattle Central Library. What a great building! We wandered around, inside and out, and clicked away. I love the fact that so many people still use the library (a lot of them are homeless with nowhere else to go). We decided that Pioneer Square wasn’t our favorite place, hiked back to Pike Place and then headed home to do the laundry.
Our final trip to Seattle was straight to the Experience Music Project. Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, loves rock, and had enough money to build a monument to it. Frank Gehry designed the building, and we were entranced with the exterior. The interior is pretty cool as well.
