Quick trip to Washington

We arrived in Tacoma late Monday afternoon. The plan was to walk a 1.3 mile trail downhill through an old growth forest and meet Allison after work at a seafood restaurant. The walk down was beautiful. The walk up was something else!

The cousins take a break and pose for the grandmas.

Tuesday morning after breakfast Rochelle drove us to downtown Tacoma for a visit to MOG (the Museum of Glass) and lunch at The Swiss, a historic eatery. The old railway station is in the background, now the courthouse, and is also filled with art glass.

My favorite part of MOG is the hot room where visiting artists and their crews work in a seemingly effortless choreography of glass making.

On display is an example of the work in progress, glass set into a ceramic base -

That is created on this ceramic 3-D printer.

They work,

They blow,

They heat,

And after 30 minutes it’s ready to insert into a ceramic mold that’s held firmly in a bucket of damp sand. This is one of the guest artists.

There’s a dramatic flare of fire, as if in protest.

And what comes out is glass in the shape of a giant quartz crystal. I could have stayed in their arena all day but lunch was beckoning.

I didn’t leave myself much time to zip through the gallery which was filled with the impressive work of Albert Paley, who also just happens to be a printmaker, and then it was time to go!


Our trip to Fort Nisqually had to be a quick one but Allison was in costume and we got to spend about 15 minutes with her before she had to lead a group on a “lock room” escape.

Alexia loves to “teach” Gus things and apparently he likes what she teaches.

We walked the two blocks from Rochelle’s charming bungalow to Jason and Ali’s charming bungalow for dinner. Tacoma is a sea of bungalows!  The kids played a card game.

Wednesday morning found us in a line for the Vashon Island ferry.

Alexia has been on the ferry to Ellis Island but this was her first time on a car ferry. We are still on the island until tomorrow morning.