The Washington State Fair’s 1917 Merry Go Round is the oldest active carnival ride at the Fair, operating there since 1923. I learned that seniors, 62+, qualify to ride for free! No, I don’t qualify.
The fair had a glorious last day of it’s run with the weather sunny and in the mid-70s. It was packed!
Here are a couple of photos of the merry go round, as well as a couple of other shots. Apparently I can’t stay out of the floral building!
I was pretty excited to read that Stellar Alpacas was having a Open Ranch (think open house) this weekend. I mean who doesn’t love alpacas?! Stellar Alpacas at 27810 16th Avenue East in Spanaway has 54 alpacas though two were off today. I learned how to tell if an alpaca is pregnant! If she is pregnant and a stud male is introduced she will spit at him and try to kick him. The average pregnancy is 11.5 months.
The folks that own the farm are delightful and the man was walking one of the alpacas around. Visitors were allowed to touch them, though they don’t like their faces touched. There was a refreshments stand with free cookies, water and sodas. And a small bag of carrots was only $1. Of course the carrots were for the alpacas. The videos below provide a chance to hear them chewing. There is also a small store with delightful socks, sweaters, yarn, hats, gloves and more made from alpaca fiber, some from right there on the farm. The ranch has a website.
The Water Forest outside of the Museum of Glass was flowing today and made a lovely noise. I was watching folks admire it and almost everybody had to touch the water. I also noted several photographers capturing the moment with friends and clients. I was just reading that the sculpture glows at night. I need to go see that! The artist is Howard Ben Tre’s.
A short, short video can be found here.
Steilacoom Barn
Western State Hospital for the Insane, later shortened to simply Western State, opened in 1871 and soon after included a farm with animals. The farm included several barns and this one, near the entrance to the dog park in what is now Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, is one of them. The farm workers were patients of the hospital and the farm supplied much of the food for the hospital. The farm closed in 1959.
I went in the evening and there was a lovely sunset and a flock of geese.
There is a bike stuck in the pier along Ruston Way toward the southeast end. I searched and searched and can’t find record of why it is there or how it got there. I spotted it as I walked from one end of Ruston Way to the other (Old Town Dock to Point Ruston).
Dear husband and I wanted to stretch our legs today so we went to the West Hylebos Wetlands Park in Federal Way. Our intent was to walk along the boardwalk path, but we turned right instead of left and ended up at Marlake (that’s what Google Maps says it is called). It is really a beautiful spot and some of the surrounding area must have been an orchard at one point because we found plum, pear and apple trees, as well as grapes and blackberry bushes. The blackberries and plums were delicious! The lake itself has a dock with a bench on it to contemplate life. Many of the trees leading up to the lake were actually labeled and my favorite was a ginkgo tree. Such lovely leaves. The park really is a perfect place to take a walk.
On an amusing note, the handwritten sign that greats visitors asks us to protect the wetlands and no dogs (I get it), bikes (still get it) or Pokemon (what?!). I’m not sure what damage the not really there Pokemon could do. Perhaps they meant no Pokemon players. But there were a bunch of players and they were all respectful and having a good time with their families. Perhaps the highlight for me was that I won my first gym (it’s a game thing) and let out a yell of victory. An older teen smiled at me and we talk about the game for a while. He even set it up for me so that I could really win the gym since I obviously don’t know what I’m doing. I love that the game gave two very different people a chance to visit and work together. What fun. 🙂
Four Apples – Prizma
One of my favorite buildings at the Washington State Fair is the Floral/Grange Building and of course while dear husband and I were enjoying the fair I took a bunch of photos there. I thought this time I would try editing each of the photos with a different photo app. The four apples above were made with the Prisma App (a new one for me)
Washington Fair Grange – Brushstroke
Washington Fair Grange – Tomatoes Mobile Monet
Washington Fair Grange – Carrots – Photolab Cartoon
Washington Fair Grange – Onions Toon Camera
Washington Fair Grange – Kaleidoscope
Washington Fair Grange – Pixlromatic
Washington Fair Grange – Pears and Grapes – Photolab Light Boken
Washington Fair Grange – Photolab Pen & Ink Photo Lab – Pen & Ink
Washington Fair Grange – Glaze
Washington Fair Grange – Tintype
Washington Fair Grange – Living Planet
Washington Fair Grange – Distressed FX
Washington Fair Grange – Photosplash
Washington Fair Grange – Sparkle Post
Washington Fair Grange – Juxtaposer
Percolator 2.4 (2.4)
Grind: Extra Fine (Average Circles & Effect: Auto Adjust), Brew: Circles (No Pic & Full Blended Circles), Serve: Black (Clear Tone & Paper Cup Texture)
Waterlogue 1.3.1 (72)
Washington Fair Grange – Photoshop Pro Antique Oil
Washington Fair Grange Photoshop Express – Bright
Washington Fair Grange – PicMonkey
Washington Fair Grange – Be Jealous – PicLab
Washington Fair Grange – Enlight Urban Paintsplat
I don’t love going to the mall, but today was the day since I had a crack on the protective screen on my phone. It was a Zagg protective covering and when the phone folks sold it to me they said I could have it replaced for a minimal cost if it should break. It cracked at a jaunty diagonal. Since I tend to avoid the mall, I put off getting it fixed. But the lady at the Zagg kiosk was really nice and it only took 20 minutes and there is a Starbucks right there. And it was kind of fun to watch all of the mall patrons walking around. What an assortment they are. There were the parents dragging their tweans around buying school clothes, teen girls with little pink Victoria Secrets Bags, a couple of businessmen in suites, the mall security folks on their Segways and moms with strollers.