Tacoma

We spent the whole day in Tacoma in the downtown area, still quiet as it was a Sunday. Tacoma is home to glass artist Dale Chihuly, and we came to see the Museum of Glass and the Tacoma Art Museum.



Outside the Museum of Glass

Chihuly is obviously a big influence in the city and just near the Museum of Glass there is a bridge called the Bridge of Glass. It has case upon case of Chihuly work and a section under which you walk and look up into sea themed glass art. In the middle of the bridge are two large, blue glass sculptures. The whole installation is fantastic.


On the Bridge of Glass

On the Bridge of Glass

Sea-themed ceiling on the bridge

The Museum of Glass is in an interesting building, with half devoted to the 'hot box' and the other half to gallery space. They have a nice children's program in which visiting children are invited to design an artwork, and each month they choose one to make.

Liam's design

After lunch we headed to the Tacoma Art Museum which is a fantastic gallery. They have an amazing range of Chihuly works including a great outdoor installation. We were lucky that when we were there, Chihuly's current exhibition of glass art and the native baskets that inspired them, were on display. There were huge planks of red cedar with the pieces on them. It was really beautiful.

Some Chihuly works in the TAM.

We had a walk down the main street before heading back to the hotel. The town itself is very pretty, with some very nice old buildings and wide streets.

Downtown Tacoma

We had a great supper that night at Red Lobster. We (and many of our guests) have enjoyed the ads for Red Lobster on TV in Kamloops, but they are not on this side of Canada. We were VERY excited to find one in Tacoma and we all had a great meal!!

The seafood platter.
Consensus is that the lobster was the best!!

On our way home the following day we stopped off at an amazing toy store on the main street of Tacoma where we spent quite some time. They really had everything there. Then we went to Macy's just to see what was there, and there was plenty!! We had a late start to our trip but finally made it home.

 

Some traffic lights that I liked.

Approaching the Canadian border at Abbotsford

Sleepless in Seattle

We arrived in Seattle in the late afternoon. It is about 300kms south of Vancouver, and we passed over the border at Peace Arch.

The Peace Arch border crossing

 
We spent two and a bit great days in Seattle. We spent the first day exploring the Seattle Center area. We went up the Space Needle and had a good play in the Children's Museum. We finished the day with a duck tour of Seattle on an amphibious vehicle that was a leftover from WWII. Our captain was 'Beau Dayshush' and he gave an excellent tour with information, dance and music. We drove through down town before heading to (and into) Union Lake. A highlight for me.....I got to see the house from Sleepless in Seattle!!!

The Space Needle

View from the Space Needle



Some architecture at Seattle Center



In the children's museum



We did it!



Liam with Capt Beau Dayshush on the water

The house from Sleepless in Seattle.
It's to the left of the yacht in the centre.






Enjoying some street art

The second day we walked to the Seattle Art Museum Sculpture Gallery and then along the Puget Sound and up to Pioneer Square. We arrange tickets for the underground tour and then filled in the waiting time by visiting the Seattle Art Museum. They have, amongst other things, a porcelain room with cups, saucers and other accoutrement on the walls. It was very pretty.

A stainless steel tree

Russian sailboat on harboured on Puget Sound

Pioneer Square

Exterior of the Seattle Art Museum

Present day Seattle is built on top of a previous Seattle that was burnt out earlier in the 1900s. There are retaining walls and the new city was built on top as the old one was below the tide line and flooded daily. We were able to walk under the city in an old city - quite weird!

This is actually a city under present day pavements!

We had an amazing meal that night at a creole restaurant that included alligator, craw fish pie and jambalaya. It was a memorable meal.

On our last morning there we took the monorail into town to visit the Pike Place markets. They were so alive with all sorts of food and had a truly beautiful flower market. It was lovely.

Fish market

We actually saw it!

We then hit the road to Tacoma via Gig Harbour. We had a late lunch and wandered around this beautiful little town on the water. It was so picturesque.



Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Gig Harbour

And then on to Tacoma, where, on a Saturday night, downtown was lifeless and we had to search very hard to find anywhere to get a meal! It was very strange, as the city itself was very pretty with old buildings and full of businesses, just not restaurants, not even the golden arches!!

Is this like drug rehabilitation?
(Just joking, Dad!!)

Elvis had his car washed here!

Space Needle at night

Bon Voyage!

We had a day in Kamloops to recover before taking off again. Joel and Leslie kindly invited us for supper and we enjoyed some gamey delights including deer and moose sausages! They were very tasty. (Maybe THAT's as close as I'll get to the moose? I guess that is pretty close!!)




The kids' table

At Joel and Leslie's

On Tuesday afternoon we took off for Vancouver. We stayed overnight in North Van and were able to deliver Mum and Dad to their cruise ship in good time.




Bon Voyage at Canada Place

It was great to have them here and to have the opportunity to travel together.

After having such a great run of visitors we felt a little lonely as we drove off onto our next adventure!



RR episode 4 - homeward bound

The next day was our travelling day back to Kamloops. We stopped off at the Johnson Canyon where we walked to the lower falls before heading back visiting the Spiral Tunnels, Golden, Revelstoke National Park Giant Cedar walk and the Last Spike before arriving home in Kamloops.

At Johnson Canyon

 

Grizzly mama and cub

Cub on the move

 

Liam in the giant cedarwalk

Black bear

The drive to and around that area is so picturesque and we are very glad we were able to experience it twice. Once certainly wouldn't have been enough.

At the Last Spike

RR episode 3 - to Banff

We finished off the Icefields Parkway the following day stopping at Mistaya Canyon, Peyto Lake, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake before arriving in Banff.


Along the way

Mistaya Canyon

At Peyto Lake



The fam at Lake Louise



Moraine Lake

Elk

The hotel we had been booked in at had had some water damage and we were moved to the place we had stayed at with Helen, Peter and the girls. We had two apartments and were very comfy!

We were just in time to catch the Park Rangers' performance we had so enjoyed last time. Liam loved singing along. Phoebe wasn't so keen on the guy dressed up as a wolverine trying to touch her! We followed that up with the good fish and chip deal we discovered with Peter, Cheryl and Amelia last time.


B-bear and G-bear

Squirrel

The next day was in Banff and we went up Sulphur Mountain, visited the Cascade Gardens and then explored the Whytte Museum where we discovered a lot about local history, families and identities, including Mary Schaeffer, an early 20th century explorer and photographer.





Mum and Dad on Sulphur Mountain

Cascades Gardens

Cultural clash??

 


A: Looking at a black bear!

Q: What are they doing out of their cars?