Lazy F Camp and Retreat Center at 16170 Manastash Rd Ellensburg, WA 98926 is indeed restful and lovely. I spent a couple of nights there enjoying the community we created and the lovely camp center. It was unusually warm, though of course cool at night. I stayed in a cabin just like the one in the photo. There is a charming river through the property and a labyrinth. http://www.lazyfcamp.org/
A local coalition of Tacoma Urban Landscaping, Downtown On the go, Coalition for Active Transportation, 35 Ways to Safer Streets, The Grand Cinema and the New Tacoma Neighborhood Council organized the yarn bombing on the chain-link fence on St. Helens Avenue at 6th.An article about the project can be found on the News Tribune Blog. In addition to the knitted flowers, there were real flowers, banners and the word Spring in fabric. While I was checking out the art, I was asked for money by a guy just out of jail with a DUI, I visited with two legit looking young men scoping out location for a movie and visited briefly with the man moving the Ferrari that was in his shop.
So the plan was to have my meeting and then walk around the charming city of Edmonds, snapping photos of the lovely murals and sculptures and whatever. But that plan was foiled when it started raining really, really hard and then sleeting! Fine. On the way out of town I stopped at perhaps my favorite pizza chain, Pagliacci at 10200 Edmonds Way. This Pagliacci is in a new building, I assume designed for them. It’s really nice looking, great angles and lots of light. The staff was friendly. After I paid for my large Margaretta Pizza, I checked in with Four Square. My phone happily chirped at me that because I checked in I deserve free bread sticks! So I danced back to the counter and showed them my phone and they said “of course”. Now that is customer service!
Just as well that I got the free bread sticks because the drive home to Tacoma was awful, pouring rain and so much sleet or hail that it seemed like there was a slippery inch of it on the highway! Crazy. The delicious bread sticks filled my belly and helped me resist trying to take a slice of pizza out of the box 😉
When I went to the University Pigliacci (the original one) last June, the chain had 22 locations and now they have 24. None in Pierce County though.
And for a joyous moment watch this video of workers tossing pies!
Tacoma’s Urban Exchange at 1983 Pacific Avenue in the University of Washington Tacoma Branch area is pretty cool. I didn’t have much time to look, but they had some really cute clothes and shoes at dynamite prices. The space is in the McDonald Smith Building which was constructed in 1890.
Valhalla Coffee at 3918 6th Avenue is a wholesale and retail coffee roaster. I stopped in after work to brace myself for a long meeting that turned into a short meeting (and now I won’t sleep!). But it was darned good coffee and while there isn’t any food available, there is a nice reading selection. They roast their coffee on the premises in the fine roaster pictured below. Their client list includes other places I’ve made my new place of the day including Corina Bakery, The Grand Cinema, Metro Market, Puget Sound Pizza, Rosewood Cafe, Tacoma Food Co-Op, Tacoma Boys, The Spar, Indochine and Northern Pacific Coffee Company.
Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 in Lake Union Park.
It is impossible to walk around the new Museum of History and Industry without remembering something or learning something new. It is like a trip down memory lane! I went with a group and had lunch and heard a lector and got to explore the museum. At first blush the museum looks lovely, but not very full. But the opposite is true. There are a bunch of areas devoted to different themes all over the building. The 4th floor shows off the wonderful view and there is even a telescope! In addition there is a gift store and a cafe. It was a great time 😀
Some of the Seattle icon’s displayed include:
I was delighted by the musical presentation on the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. The museum is next to Seattle’s Wooden Boat Center, which is free and had the Foss Tugboat available for touring. The ship below wasn’t open when I went by, but I thought the light was lovely.
One of the best finds of the day was the parking lot, which is just on the other side of the trolly tracks. For $2 I could park for up to 9 hours! And while I didn’t do it this time, next time I might just take the trolly off somewhere!
Old Town Dock at 2123 Schuster Pkwy, Tacoma, WA 98402 is currently being renovated. I had stopped at Great Northern Fish to pick up some Valentine’s dinner and in the six minutes it took them to fry my fish, I walked over to the dock and captured this photo. Per the Metro Park’s website, the renovation includes replacing the piles, deck and pavilion, adding handrails, security and moorage floats. The dock will reopen in the summer of 2013.
The original dock was constructed in 1873 and served fishing boats and then as public space. The dock was closed in 2008 when an engineering study indicated that it was unsafe. The renovation comes at a cost of $2 million dollars. The photo below isn’t of the Old Town Dock, but instead is over the property next to that.
Until today, I hadn’t realized this six theater Regal Cinema existed. The Regal South Hill Cinema 6 is located at 3500 South Meridian, Puyallup, WA. More importantly it is located in the back of the mall, behind Target, so it is easy to miss. It was the only theater playing The Impossible, a striking movie about a family of five’s experience during the 2004 Thailand Tsunami.
Friday night I went to The Tripod Show at the Madera Fine Decorative Furnishings Facility at 2210 Court A, Tacoma. The Tripod Show consists of three local artists each presenting a slideshow around a theme. Each of the presentations was great! They ask for a $5 donation at the door.
More information about the Tripod Shows can be found here http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/entertainment/spew-blog/2011/09/Behind-the-TRIPOD-Slide-Show-in-Tacoma/
Allen C. Mason was a real estate developer who coined the phrase City of Destiny for Tacoma. He arrived in Tacoma in 1883 with almost no capital and eventually became a major developer for Tacoma’s North End. His statue festoon in holiday finery is located in Allen C. Mason Plaza at the southeast corner of North 26th and Adams Street near the Wheelock Library. The plaza also features six pillars from Mason’s mansion. In addition there is a replica of the Star of Destiny, which is pretty interesting.
http://www.proctordistrict.com/index.php/aboutus/masonplaza/
Dear daughter and I hadn’t actually had this plaza in mind when we set off in the night, but the parking lot and ancillary parking lot for zoo lights was full! The plaza is pretty cool anyway. I’m glad I saw it!
