Tacoma and Seattle

In April of this year, I had a work trip up to Washington state. After it was done, I had a 4-day weekend, so I decided to head over to Tacoma to spend some time with my cousin (many thanks for the hospitality, R&J), then head up to Vancouver. I’m splitting this into two posts – this one is Washington, and the next will be Vancouver.

I said I’d post pictures of my trip on the blog, so now I have. (Yes, I know it’s 6 months late.)

I spent a day trekking around Point Defiance park in Tacoma, which had a great view of the Tacoma Narrows bridge (you may have heard of it). I mostly just enjoyed walking through the woods, so I didn’t get many pictures.

Then, I spent a day up in Seattle. First was a trip up the famous Space Needle, and in true Seattle fashion, it was raining. Some great views of Seattle (when not obscured by fog), and a glass floor. In true nerd fashion, the most fascinating part to me was the motors and gears used to turn the revolving top. The rest of it was cool, too, I guess.

At the base of the Needle is the Chihuly Garden & Glass exhibition, which is basically a small museum of Chihuly glass sculptures. It is worth every cent of the admission price – seriously, don’t miss it if you are ever in Seattle.
Inside, there’s some neon-filled spikes, a black-and-gold octopus, a room with a ceiling of glass flowers, several hanging sculptures, a couple of boats, the classic bowls, and the centerpiece: an entire (large) room with a massive glass garden in the middle.

In the greenhouse and outside, they also had set up a garden that features a bunch more of his works, all very nicely color-coordinated. There’s a massive hanging flower sculpture in the greenhouse, lots of spikes, and a ball or two, all set right below the Space Needle.

In the next episode, my trip up to B.C.