A while back while we were having that string of lovely weekends, dear husband and I were exploring and came upon the Des Moines Marina and Creek. It is a lovely area with a marine (you might have guessed), a large parking lot, some public art (including a way cool mural) and to the north end trails and beach. The Fish/man in the mural is also a statue elsewhere in Des Moines.
Dear husband and I braved the drizzle today to join the Downtown on the Go group stroll through Tacoma’s Brewery District. It was really a fun, free tour and the light rain hardly slowed us down at all. It read more about On the Go, look here.
One of our stops was the site of a natural springs at the corner of South 25th and Jefferson proximate to the Prairie Line (the historic rail corridor). Our wonderful guide said that the water is still visible, but I didn’t see it in the quick glance I had time for. But I could tell by the vegetation that it is a damp area.
The lovely Lake Steilacoom contains and area of 53 acres and is entirely within the city limits of Lakewood, WA. It is a man made lake that was created at the site of a small pond in 1853. Per Wikipedia “The Nisqually Indians say this lake was possessed by an evil female monster known as Whe-atchee. Legends of the creature attacking people go back over a century.To this day, Nisqually refuse to fish or swim here.”
A group of women with vintage campers that go fly fishing and camping together? How cool is that?! Of course I had to go check it out when they convened at Cabela’s at 1600 Gateway Blvd NE Lacey, WA 98516. The mission statement of Sisters on the Fly is “Offering empowerment and sisterhood through exceptional outdoor adventures. As a group of women we challenge ourselves in all that we set our mind to. There is no age, color, religion or political group. All women who want to share in the adventure of “sisterhood” are welcome. This “sisterhood” has grown to more than 2,400 women since inception in 1999.”
As you can see from the photos the vintage trailers are darling and lovingly decorated. Bare in mind that these are little spaces which usually have a bed, table, stove, fridge and some storage. Because of the size, they are difficult to capture in a photo, but the website has more photos and there are a couple of books available. The women are really nice also!
http://www.sistersonthefly.com/
Cabela’s is the world’s foremost outfitter (that’s their tag line!) and it is indeed a huge store with a large display of animals arrange in a nature setting. There is also a piper cub plane hanging from the ceiling. Besides an abundance of merchandise, there is a gun library and a restaurant. It reminds me of REI, but with more of an emphasis on hunting/fishing. There are 39 Cabela’s with more being planned.
http://www.cabelas.com/
So a while back I won a nights stay at the Silver Cloud Hotel in Mukilteo. We went this weekend and while I my dear husband napped, I slipped out to explore the near by Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. It was a glorious evening, unseasonably warm and the high school students were enjoying the breeze in their prom finery. There were couples in love and families roasting marshmallows in the fire pits. And the Mukilteo Ferries traveled to and fro.
The Place of Circling Waters at 1621 Marine View Drive in the Port of Tacoma is a splendid example of morphing something ugly (a gravel mine) into something wonderful (a habitat at the mouth of Hylebos Creek ). I remember when it was a gravel mine and for a while I thought it was turning into a vineyard, but this year it opened as a habitat.
We arrived during low tide, the muddiest time to see the habitat. Dear daughter and I were the only two civilians there, though there was a friendly Port Police Officer who was taking a quick check. Apparently thieves have been going into the fenced off areas to steal the irrigation wiring to strip it for the copper! Jeez!
While the terrain consists of 26 acres, only a small portion is accessible to the law abiding public. The rest of the area, which can be viewed from the observation platform, is left to nature. We did see geese and apparently there are all sort of other birds including a kingfisher (I’d like to see a kingfisher!). There was also a sign on the fenced off hillside that warned of bee nests. Not the kind of nature I want to experience up close.
It is difficult to capture the scale of the project from the observation deck, so check out the Port’s webpage.
http://www.portoftacoma.com/hylebos-creek
Once in a while I go to two wonderful, new places in one day and I usually decide which one to blog about. But Saturday’s two places are just so wonderful that I’m doing a double entry — Wiener Dogs and Windmills!
We went to Ellensburg for a quick get away and where delighted to find out that it was the 9th anniversary celebration of Dachshunds on Parade. We got there late for the parade (next year!), but made it in time for the pet tricks and races. Apparently Dachshunds have their own thoughts about if they should be racing. There were races in which all of the dogs flew from one end of the track to the other. There were races where the dogs got away from their owners before the ready-set-go and races where none of the dogs went anywhere (except maybe rolling over on their backs!). One race, a dog ran right into the stands! It was really a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours! And I’ve never seen so many Dachshunds at once!
http://www.dachshundsonparade.com/
Afterward, we traveled about 15 miles outside of Ellensburg to the Wild Horse Wind Farm. I’ve always wanted to see the wind turbines up close and they were glorious! It was pretty windy when we got to the information center and the employees explained that they don’t give tours when the wind is over 25 miles per hour. But still we looked all over the information center and got to touch one of the blades that they have at ground level and see the solar panels and hear the wonderful whomp, whomp, whomp of the blades as they turned. The view was wonderful also.
http://www.pse.com/inyourcommunity/kittitas/Pages/Wild-Horse.aspx
All in all, it was a very successful day!
