Tacoma was one of those cities. I returned or passed through Tacoma many times over the almost two months we were staying with Christina. I truly felt at peace when I was approaching the town...it just had that appeal. Add to that the wonderful museums. It is worth the stop if you are ever in Washington.
June 8
Our first trip to Tacoma was to go to the Glass Museum. I mentioned this trip in an earlier post as we were trying to find ways to entertain ourselves while waiting for Miss Madison. We found out about it because of a summer program designed to assist military families enjoy museums across the United States (Blue Star Museums).The glass blowers were amazing as they created their special art piece. The museum also had a special exhibit. Children were asked to design an art piece. Artists then had the children assist in creating their design. These pieces were on display the day we went to the museum. There was a youth group in the classroom when we arrived. Maybe their art work would be on display in the future. The building was large with room for expanding the art displayed; however, it had just the right amount of art to view in an afternoon with young children.
The artistic nature of this museum did not stop at the doors. There was a beautiful glass blown piece inside a pool outside of the museum. I am sure it would be beautiful to see at night. We then took a walk across the glass bridge. The bridge itself was not glass but there was beautiful glass work on display. We had a lot of time to look at the art pieces as we began a search for a puzzle geocache. Somehow after all of our puzzling we did not find the right coordinates that would lead us to the final cache. That's ok...you find some, you DNF some...that is the fun of the geocache hunt. If it was easy, we probably would not enjoy it so much. 
This took us Union Station that looked a lot like the building on the other side of the coast in Washington DC. It was once a train station as well but now it was being used as a federal court house. It was once the end of the line for the transcontinental railroad with its last passenger train in 1984. 
Outside of the building was the statue that paid tribute to the history of the area...of a man with a suitcase. Edward immediately tried to pick up the bag convinced it was full of gold! Even with all three of them...the bag just would not move! As I took pictures of them in their efforts, I realized that I never would have even taken much time looking at this statue alone. I am so thankful the children are walking along with me on this adventure! They bring everything into a new light. Their energy is quite contagious.
We were allowed to enter the center of the building after going through a brief scan of our belongings. It was a building with a few artistic pieces and some history of its days as a train depot. It is nice to know this amazing architecture has been given new life and purpose so it can continue to be maintained. I do not think a lot of people come into the building. It was very quiet and the guards and staff we encountered were all eager to help us and answer questions.
June 25
 |
| photo credit |
When the older boys arrived, I was quick to make our way back to Tacoma. We have always enjoyed finding the places mentioned in our state study books. One place that sounded fun was "Never Never Land" outside of the Point Defiance Zoo. It was supposed to be a park with large structures to represent nursery rhymes and fairy tales. We circled the zoo several times looking for the location...I finally stopped in a parking lot to check the internet for more information. We sadly found out that the park had been torn down in 2010. Too bad...it sounded like it would have been fun.
We followed the back roads to the other museums we were going to for the day. I had not been this way as I had always gone the highway route. Along the way we found a fire boat that Brendan insisted we should stop and explore more closely. It turned out to be Fireboat No. 1. It was built in 1929 and used for over 50 years at the Port of Tacoma. It was the only boat protecting the area all of those years!
We parked by the Glass museum hoping to start there...however we arrived too early and the museum was not open. So we made our way to the bridge. The older boys tried there luck with the cache but there were still no different results.
We planned to go to some of the other museums that were on the list of Blue Star Museums. The first was on the other side of the bridge. Now..I love a good museum but I normally do not go to state history museums....I have always found them...well...boring! However, we arrived at the Washington Historical Museum and it looked interesting from the outside. It was still a little early and as we waited I was getting second thoughts about going in...maybe we should go to further down the street to see what we could find. Just as I was gathering all the children, the doors opened and we were waved in..."What's a few minutes early...we would love to have you here." So we entered into an amazing museum! The entire place was meant for hands on learning and well made displays. It was meant to be a history of the state of Washington but it seemed more like the history of the United States. To add to the enjoyment the staff were very friendly and helpful. There was even a scavenger hunt to make sure we did not miss the details in the exhibits. The children walked away with a prize and a good start to our day!
We then passed Union Station...sure enough...the older boys had to try their luck at picking up the luggage! Sean was convinced it was full of gold! LOL! They had no idea Edward had done the same thing just a few days before them!
The next museum was the Tacoma Art Museum. We thought it would be youth friendly as there was fun artsy work outside. However, it was probably not used to having children walk through their exhibits. I decided right away that we would not stay long...afraid the children would be bored and cause trouble. There was, however, a LARGE puppy statue in the front lobby (the only real sign of welcoming children) that Zaira fell in love and wanted to hug. The funny thing about the museum...I was the one who ended up causing trouble! Henry and I had switched cameras earlier in the day...so I thought I had changed the camera to no flash mode...I took my first picture in a room obviously not intended for flash photography. The security guard was immediately on his radio dispatching a level 5 disturbance in the gallery. I apologized profusely but his dirty looks made it evident that he was not impressed. We quickly went through the remaining exhibits and left.  |
| infamous photograph |
It worked out well...the next museum was a much better choice...The Tacoma Children's Museum. The best part of this museum for me was the size...had I chose...I could have sat in one spot of the center of the museum and seen all the rooms. There were many activities for the children and it was a lot of fun. The older boys were kind enough to sit back and watch the others play as well. They might have even liked some the exhibits as well. The favorite of all was the tubes that shot air through them...the children put balls and scarves in the tubes and sent them through the tubes to shoot out at random (or directed) locations.
We finally made our way back to the Tacoma Glass Museum. I am glad we had the chance to bring the older boys back. It was a lot of fun and worth the wait...since we had so many things to do in between. Another fun day in Tacoma!Many side trips through Tacoma were made as we traveled around the area...the bill for the toll bridge can attest to that....The Tacoma Narrows became our gateway to the "world" around us. It was also the landmark that let us know we were close to the house when we had gone on our longer day trips.
One thing that kept us stopping was our little bit of Texas on the weest coast...Sonic Drive In. We would often stop at this spot during happy hour sour our Route 44 drinks!
No comments:
Post a Comment