The McDonald’s at 7217 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98408 has a duel entrance for their drive through. I assume that it helps the traffic flow and allows for even more customers. This location was the site of Tacoma’s second McDonald’s, built in 1963 and remodeled in 1977. I remember in 2005 they demolished the building and built the current structure which is larger, has more features and has the before mentioned double drive through.
TACOMA WA 98408-7114
Dear daughter, her dear friend and I had to go to Tacoma’s first Movable Feast, a gathering of food trucks mostly from around the region. It was great. The location in the parking lot of Cheney Stadium was convenient and parking was plentiful. I had 1/2 a pulled pork sandwich, daughter had a burrito and her friend had curry. Then we had strawberry shortcake (only it was really strawberry on a split doughnut) and amazingly good ice cream from Ice Cream Social.
http://www.tacomafoodtruck.com/tacoma-food-truck-festival/
I’ve always wanted to see a mushroom farm and I was delighted when Ostrom’s Mushrooms at 8322 Steilacoom Road SE, Olympia, WA 98513 offered tours as part of the Pacific Northwest Mushroom Festival. The tour began with the plant manager (I think it was the plant manager) showing up how they create the soil out of mostly straw and then how they add the mushroom spores attached to millet. He walked us through each step of the multi-day process. The mushrooms grow in large beds which are stacked one on top of another about seven deep with about a foot clearance between each one. The pickers climb moveable steps and go from the top bed to the bottom. It sounds like very hard work.
http://www.ostrommushrooms.com/
Driving back from an estate sale, dear husband and I stopped at the seasonal produce stand at the northwest corner of South 72nd and Waller Road where Pipeline Road East cuts through at a diagonal. They had a bunch of fresh, local fruits and vegetables and some that they brought in like pineapples. Oh, and flowers, those too. We came away with wonderful raspberries and tomatoes and green beans and walla walla sweet onions. We also treated ourselves to old fashioned sodas (black cherry for him, blood orange for me).
Originally uploaded by Gexydaf
Anthem Coffee & Tea at 1911 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, in front of the Washington State History Museum has been open since November 2011. Dear daughter and I visited today to purchase delicious drink treats and to share a tasty sandwich, which came from Joseppi’s. Anthem has a nice vibe to it, stylish and comfortable. And the folks behind the counter were super nice!
http://anthemcoffeeandtea.com/
I’ve been wanting to go to the Sequim Lavender Festival for years, but it seems like I always have had a conflict. But this year was looking good. Except that we left rather late and traffic into Sequim was awful and I we ran out of time. The festival downtown was great with more lavender stuff then I’ve seen for a long time. Next year I’ll go earlier in the day and right to the farms. Live and learn.
http://lavenderfestival.com/component/content/article/45-15thfestival
The last day in Ireland and my overseas trip was spent in Killarney. We went on boats through several small lakes and a river, then had lunch and then went for a ride on a horse cart.
Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in Killarney, Ireland was my idea of a perfect way to explore history. The castle was built in 1425 and restored in 1954. Visitors get to explore most of the castle, using tight, twisting steps. Folk Park consist of village buildings from the 19th century including farm buildings, a mill, church, homes, school and stores. We had a chance to visit with the mill worker and other members of our group were scolded by the school master.
http://www.shannonheritage.com/Attractions/BunrattyCastleandFolkPark/
I wasn’t excited about going to a sports stadium, but it turns out that Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland was one of my favorite things to do! We had time to do interactive sports and then a wonderful tour guide showed us around. We went way up in the bleachers to take this picture.
This park is the site of the 1920 Bloody Sunday in which 14 civilians (fans and players) were killed when authorities stormed a Gaelic football match. This was done in retaliation against 14 assassinations early in the day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_%281920%29
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, in Wales has one of the longest place names in the world. The village/train station originally had a shorter name, but in the 1800s they were renamed in an effort to increase tourism. The picture below shows the gift store.
