Our last day in San Francisco we discovered a rocketship on Pier 14 near the Ferry Building. This distinctive piece of public art is a 40 foot rocket built by Black Rock Arts.
Raygun Gothic Rocketship
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USS PAMPANITO
We were visiting San Francisco with my dad to attend a reunion of the submariners that served on the Triton Submarine. My dad was on the first submarine to circumnavigate the world submerged, the USS Triton SSRN/SSN-586. This submarine is not his. The keynote speakers of the reunion have worked tremendously hard to restore this sub, the WWII USS Pampanito on Fisherman’s Wharf. It was kind of cool that because we had our reunion badges on, we were allowed to tour for free! And to make it even better, the Bless of the Ships was happening in the harbor, so there were all kinds of water craft circling around. And it was 70 degrees and sunny! Really, I had a moment 🙂
While touring the USS Pampanito, I couldn’t help but to wonder what life must have been like for the men out at sea. There is practically no private area except the head! One of the keynote speaker told the tale of rescuing 73 mostly Australian sailors that were lost at sea. Really, I can’t get my mind around where they put an extra 73 men!
http://www.maritime.org/pamphome.htm
 
Musee Mecanique
 
San Francisco’s Musee Mecanique at Pier 45 at Fisherman’s Wharf is “one of the world’s largest privately owned collections of mechanically operated musical instruments and antique arcade machines.” It is fascinating and free. We happily whiled away the better part of an hour playing games and watching amusements from our youth and earlier.
http://www.museemechanique.org/
  
  
The Letterman Digital Arts Center
Last week we took a four day jaunt down to San Francisco to meet up with my dad. While there we investigated the Letterman Digital Arts Center at One Letterman Drive in the Presidio. The center is the headquarters for Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts and some of Lucasfilm’s. We made a brief visit, since we could only park for 1/2 hour, but we did get to see the Yoda Statue, a full sized Darth Vader and the amazing view. We even stopped at their Starbucks for a quick cup of coffee. It must be wonderful to work in such an amazing environment!
 
J. M. Marinac Shipbuilders
The J. M. Marinac Shipbuilders at 401 East 15th Street in the Port of Tacoma is visually striking. There are two main shipbuilding buildings and they can support buildings 250 feet long and 48 feet wide. Per their website, since their 1924 beginnings they have constructed “300 vessels, including tuna seiners, harbor tugs for commercial and military customers, oceangoing tugs, factory trawlers, ferries, yachts, U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats and a research sailing vessel”. In February of this year, they won a contract to construct 184-foot Northern Leader at a cost of $25 million. The ship will be the largest new fishing vessel to be constructed in the Pacific Northwest in more than two decades. More information about the most recent contract can be found here http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017508024_longlinevessel15.html
The firm’s website can be found here http://www.martinacship.com/location
Tacoma Glassblowing Studio
The Tacoma Glassblowing Studio at 114 South 23rd Street in Tacoma offers glass art that is lovely and unique. We got there almost at closing and were told that there was no rush. We came for the charity bake sale to benefit orphans in Romania, but ended up with a lovely blue class ball and information on taking a glass blowing class. Dear daughter is pretty enthused about the possibility.
I especially liked the way the evening light made their pumpkin glass pieces glow. They make pumpkins year round and in the fall they have pumpkin patches in different spots. How cool is that?! I’m looking forward to going to a couple already. 🙂
Their website is here www.tacomaglassblowing.com
The Panama Hotel Tea and Coffee House
The Panama Hotel Coffee and Tea House at 607 South Main Street in the International District of Seattle has a fine selection of teas and plenty of history. I learned of it because my book group read The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Though it is a work of fiction, it is based on historical facts about the treatment of the West Coast Japanese during World War II. The book opens with artifacts being found in the basement of the hotel and now a days one can view some of these artifacts through a plexiglass in the floor.
Have a Smiley Day!
Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt in Sunrise Village (10306 156th St E Suite 101
Puyallup, WA 98374) was packed yesterday! It was a lovely, warm Saturday — just right for a frozen treat. I had read an article in the Tacoma News Tribune reviewing all of the new frozen yogurt shops in the area and thought trying out a new one sounded fun. I love Gibson’s in Tacoma (blog entry here http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2891) and Black Bear (blog entry here http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1355). Menchie’s staff is wildly friendly. “Have a smiley day”, they gushed at me after I paid. Ummmm. OK. “You too”! I purchased coconut and cake batter swirl with coconut chips and whipped cream and ate it in my peaceful car.
Menchie’s Website http://www.menchies.com/ says they have 170 locations worldwide. There are seven locations in Washington State and seven more in the works including one in Gig Harbor. While it was a treat to visit, I would just as soon go to Gibson’s or Black Bear for their quirky home grown feel. But even those two will soon be a chain (of two each) since new locations are forth coming. 🙂
The Red Dragon
My husband and I are having a debate about the Red Dragon Oriental Restaurant at the northwest corner of South ‘G’ Street and South 34th Street has been vacant for all the years that we’ve lived in Tacoma. I thought I remembered it being open for business at some point. In either case, it has been vacant for sometime and is in pretty bad shape. I noticed that one of the windows in the glass atrium area were broken out. There is a for sale sign with a phone number and email.
Update, we drove past today (8/21/12) and it was gone! Or at least a pile of rubble. I had also learned that long ago it had previously been an A&W Restaurant and a popular hang out for the Lincoln High School students.
Fircrest Park
Fircrest Park is located at 471 Electron Way, but also fronts on Contra Costa Avenue and Spring Street. It features a community building, an outdoor pool, picnic areas, ball fields and a sidewalk area around the perimeter.