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Dolce Si at Point Ruston

image Dolce Si Bakery and Gelateria  in the Point Ruston Complex opened in November 2015 and I’ve been itching to go visit.  I finally got there and altogether it was a good experience. The space is charming and the counter person was delightful. I got my pastries to go and enjoyed them at home.  It was very busy while I was there and good for them! My only tiny wondering is why they didn’t have a pitcher of 1/2 and 1/2 for customers to doctor their to-go coffee. Instead they had flavored coffee creamers, which to me didn’t fit with the otherwise classy feeling of the place.  I’m sure Ill be back to checkout additional pastries and some of the house made Gelato.  The local newspaper, the News Tribune recently said that Dolce Si was one of the best restaurants to open in 2015.

More information can be found here.

Right near by Dolce Si I would some darling otter sculptures. The single one is right outside the cafe and the mother/child is in the traffic circle.

 

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McMenamins’ Anderson School, Bothel

imageI was pretty excited to hear that the newest McMenamins had recently opened in Bothell. It is known as the Anderson School and is located at 18607 Bothell Way NE, Bothell. So dear husband, dear daughter and dear daughter’s friend went to explore it this weekend. The complex includes a restaurant/tavern, several small bars, a lovely heated saltwater pool, a movie theater (in the previous gym), an area for a reception, a small store, outdoor areas with fire pits and of course, the hotel which is in the original junior high school which has 72 rooms located in the original classrooms.

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Fantasy Lights, Spanaway

imageI’ve always wanted to see the Fantasy Lights in Spanaway around the holidays, but somehow it has never happened until this year. The very last night dear daughter, her friend and I finally gave it a whirl. The line to get in only took about 10 minutes and the tour of lights went on for much longer than I expected (two miles)  It is the largest holiday drive-through display in the Northwest. It was a lovely display and a great value. We stopped at Starbucks on the way there, likely it was also a drive through since I was the only person not in pajamas!

More information about the display can be found here.

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Hip Hop, Point Ruston

imageIt was a lovely day to start the new year and dear husband and I went to check out the ever developing Point Ruston. Hip Hop is a recently installed sculpture. The piece was created by Georgia Gerber. and her blog entry can be found here.  Ms. Gerber also created The Gardner in Woodenville and Rachel the Pig at Pike Place Market.  Mt. Rainier was out in her full glory!

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Little Free Library #13705 Tacoma


This Little Free Library is located at 4339 Tacoma Avenue South, Tacoma and is part of the Little Free Library Project. This Little Free Library has two parts, a children’s box and an adult box, one on each side of the gate to the house. It seems like I always have read at least one title, but not this time. Though I have read several of the authors: Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, Mary Dahem and even one Nora Roberts! There are even some little toys for the kids in the children’s box. Also of note is the whimsical found art that is atop of each of the fence posts.

Little Free Libraries is part of a community movement which offers free books. When I considered my first Little Free Library in November 2012, a Wikipedia article informed me that there were over 200 of these libraries. Per their website, there are now over 25,000!  Each of the libraries is registered and can be located by their GPS coordinates.

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Little Free Library,

imageThis Little Free Library is located at 3215 Centerwood Court SE, Olympia and is part of the Little Free Library Project. This high quality Little Free Library has bright, cheerful colors and inside there are over a dozen books, mostly children’s chapter books. It seems like I always have read at least one title and this time the title was Gone Girl.

Little Free Libraries is part of a community movement which offers free books. When I considered my first Little Free Library in November 2012, a Wikipedia article informed me that there were over 200 of these libraries. Per their website, there are now over 25,000!  Each of the libraries is registered and can be located by their GPS coordinates.

imageLittle Free Library

 

Amazon Books and the art at University Village, Seattle

imageAmazon.com went online selling books in 2005, a brief 10 years ago. This past Tuesday, November 3, 2015, they opened their first bricks and mortar bookstore. It has several unique features.

  1. All of the books face cover out.
  2. Each book has a little card in front of it that says a little something about it’s Amazon reviews.
  3. The prices fluctuate as they do online. To find out the price, the customer uses the Amazon app to scan the book’s barcode.
  4. The store also sells other Amazon technology which customers can use.
  5. The record of the sale has appeared on my amazon account.
  6. And there was a line to get in!

There is currently only this one Amazon Books location in University Village in Seattle.

While I was there I strolled around the entire shopping area, which was very busy! Aooarently dogs of all size and shapes are allowed in all of the stores, but not restaurants or the grocery store. I snapped a couple of shots of the outside art.

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Naked Pizza

imageNaked Pizza at 417 Ramsey Way (Kent Station), was a takeout stop for me after my dentist appointment today.  It is part of a small chain that has 7 US locations (this one, 4 in Virgina, one in New Jersey and one in New Orleans, LA) and one location in Kenya. I really enjoyed the mason jar lighting system over the largest table in the restaurant. When I finally got home almost an hour later (I5 traffic is crazy!) the pizza had to be reheated, but it was very good. Their website tells me that the pizza is made with an abundance of good stuff.

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Fremont Sunday Market, Seattle, WA

image1(4)Dear husband and I had a quick day trip up to Seattle and we stumbled upon the Fremont Sunday Market which operates every Sunday from 10 to 4 (5 in the summer). It had a great selection of crafts, vintage goods and clothes and some wonderful food trucks all at one end. It even had a dinosaur eating a meatball! I walked away with the scarf for myself and a holiday present for my friend Susan. Of course since I was there I snapped some other Fremont photos 🙂

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The plethora of pot stores on Pacific Avenue

imagePer the News Tribune Tacoma has 60+ medical marijuana stores. It’s always seemed to me that Pacific Avenue has more than its share, so today I drove by and counted them. There are 13 retail locations between I-5 and Highway 512. In comparison, there are two dedicated liquor stores, though of course other places to buy liquor both for on site drinking and take out. One mentioned by the News Tribune is no longer there, but I found two new ones. In one case the owner was actually hanging up his open sign for the first time.

So, just for the record, no it isn’t my vice and I didn’t go inside. But I do think there is a place for medical marijuana. It just seems like like 13 is a great many. The article said that most will be asked to close their doors, so I thought if I was going to take their photos that now was the time. Maybe I’ll revisit next year and see what remains.

My favorites were Pacific Rush which has flames and the drive through (yes, drive through, my mind boggles). My favorite name was Ancient Medicine Collective.

Starting at the north end near I5:

  • 3421 Ashley’s Medicinal Garden
  • 3716 Ancient Medicine Collective
  • 3833 Natural Resources
  • 3837 Elements Sunshine
  • 4300 block Pacific Rush
  • 6532 Tacoma Cannabis Collective
  • 8223 The Green Warehoue
  • 8236 SMC (Seattle Medical Clinic)
  • 8808 TMC
  • 9027 Northwest Natural Medicine and Services
  • 9050 Drive Thru (that’s probably not it’s name)
  • 10018 Green Collar Club
  • 10625 Tacoma Healing Collective

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