Tag Archives: Music

Fantasy Lights, Spanaway

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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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The tugs at Harbor Days in Olympia

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imageOlympia’s Harbor Days is held Labor Day Weekend (Friday evening through Sunday) and is always fun. My favorite part is seeing all the vintage tugboats, several of which were available for tour. My least favorite part was when the largest tug sounded its horn right next to me and almost gave me a heart attack! But is was funny later 🙂 There was some great entertainment including music and a juggler. More information can be found here.

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Kinokuniya Bookstore for all your Manga needs

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When dear daughter was in middle school, she didn’t want to go anywhere with her parents. The idea of going up to Seattle was abhorrent to her, but we dragged her along anyway. We stopped at Uwajimaya and the Kinokuniya Bookstore (525 S Weller St
Seattle, WA 98104) and she fell for it — hard. Ever since we have been visiting Seattle’s International District at least once a quarter. Today, my now happy travel companion and I went up to Uwajimaya because we were having an udon craving. We can’t go to Uwajimaya without buying those little chocolate mushroom cookie treats and visiting Kinokuniya. She walked away with a present for her friend, a manga and a CD. The store is packed with manga and all types of traditional, Japanese language books (novels, cookbooks, art, history, etc.). We found both The Hobbit and 50 Shades of Grey in Japanese! There is also a large music selection and plenty of adorable stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, stickers, pens and miscellaneous. Parking is free for up to two hours with store validation.  http://www.kinokuniya.com/us/

By the way, when we got home… she thanked me for taking her!

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Kurt Cobain’s first public show was here

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The theater then church at 5441 South M Street has seen better days. It was constructed in 1924 as an early movie theater with 500 seats. Their first movie was Lights Out. On October 6, 1930 there was extensive damage when a bomb went off (there must be a story there!). Per the Tacoma Public Library, Kurt Cobain and the rock band Skid Row (later Nirvana) played their first public show here! Online information indicates that Templo Maranatha now owns the space.

Go here to see photographs of the property when it was new, http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1up.asp?n=19979

Thanks Tacoma Public Library!

A Touch of Spring at Optimist Park

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I didn’t realize that Tacoma had a park named Optimist Park (1330 N James St.). Today was lovely, so I went to find this darling neighborhood park. There is a baseball field and some really cool playground equipment, some of which plays music!

 

My Greek and Italian Restaurant

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I don’t especially enjoy the South Hill area of Puyallup, but there I was looking for a place to grab dinner before an appointment.  That area of town has block after block of chain restaurants and we were leaning towards Ivars when I spotted My Greek and Italian Restaurant at 13333 Meridian Avenue East in a small strip center. I had the steak salad with blue cheese crumbled on top and it was very good. Dear daughter had a shrimp dish which she enjoyed.  Service was fast and friendly.  I’d really like to go back and try the flaming cheese and hear the live music. I loved that in the sea of chain restaurant My Greek and Italian Restaurant is family owned.

http://www.mygreekanditalianrestaurant.com/index.html

Update: I went by today (7/31/2012) and the space was empty. Their website says that they are moving to Sunrise Village as of September 2012.

Mandolin Cafe

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The Mandolin Cafe at 3923 South 12th Street near the intersection of South 12th & Proctor provides an occasional respite for us.  It doesn’t have an extensive menu, but what it has is delicious. They do have a large selection of teas, quality coffee and wines.  What keeps me keeping coming back to the Mandolin is the atmosphere, comfortable, warm, art filled and often eclectic live music.

http://www.themandolincafe.com/

Sadly the Mandolin Cafe closed in July 2012. It wasn’t because of their business, but instead a problem with the lease. I’m hopeful they will reopen in a new location at some point.

 

Monorail & EMP

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Monorail & EMP by Gexydaf

On Tuesday we did another Seattle day and visited the EMP Museum, which has two main components, the EMP (Electronic Music Project and the SFM (Science Fiction Museum). The museum is located in the Seattle Center near the Space Needle. Because of time restraints, we only did justice to the SFM. I loved the Battlestar Galactica exhibit. It reminded me how much I had enjoyed the series, And the Avatar exhibit was pretty cool too!

http://www.empmuseum.org/index.asp